Designing Financial Interactions

Abstract

Financial interaction design is an emerging field in human-computer interaction. In this chapter, we address the design of interactions around financial technologies and provide insights to create financial interactions that are efficient and secure, socially meaningful, and contextually appropriate. Peoples’ attitudes to and interactions with money are often deeply wrapped up in their fears, worries, hopes, and aspirations, making financial interaction design a particularly challenging application area. The chapter identifies methods to understand current financial practices and in evaluating new payment systems and financial services. Interaction design concerns are addressed in the contexts of digital and mobile payments, blockchain, and financial management, emphasizing the unique challenges and opportunities they present. The key to understanding the distinctive challenges of financial interaction design lies in recognizing the perceived and real risks associated with financial transactions, and this chapter identifies approaches to minimize user error and enhance trust. Money also plays a critical role in social relationships, and the chapter also addresses the design of coordination mechanisms to support communication and collaboration in socio-financial activities. The chapter concludes with future directions for the development of this field.