LOAN GIFTING
A digital service experience that redefines student loan debt.
What We Did
RKS has designed hundreds of products for companies big and small. The team was drawn to do an independent project, something different, something to make a difference… something for the world. The RKS team looked for problems hiding in the world around us. Student debt stood out. They sought out to offer a solution to the 40 million graduates suffering from debt and the distress that comes with it. Student debt has taken the form of an epidemic affecting two thirds of college graduates in the US. Education is the future, but these enormous educational costs are holding students back from reaching their bright futures. Graduates worldwide are buried with stress and discouraged by the piles of debt on their shoulders. Starting an adult life is extremely daunting with the added burden debt provides. Graduates are trapped as they are limited by the daunting decades of payments ahead.
Psycho-Aesthetics™
Product design is more than just winning awards; it’s about creating emotional connections between the product and the user. Our human-centered approach, Psycho-Aesthetics, helps us understand and quantify these connections. We approached the development of LoanGifting and Finnita with a keen focus on understanding the emotional landscape surrounding financial services. Through extensive user research, we delved into the nuanced feelings associated with student loans and financial empowerment. This insight guided our design process, influencing choices in visual elements, user interfaces, and language to evoke trust, confidence, and empowerment. The design of our platforms was meticulously crafted to create user-friendly and trustworthy environments, ensuring accessibility and clarity throughout. Our branding and marketing strategies were tailored to inspire a sense of stability and reliability.
With a commitment to making a difference, the team set out to create LoanGifting, a unique solution that empowers individuals to overcome the financial burden of student loans. By combining their expertise in service design, business strategy, and branding, the team elevated LoanGifting into a transformative platform that connects borrowers with their networks of family and friends who can contribute towards their loan repayment. LoanGifting simplifies the process of seeking financial assistance by providing users with a user-friendly website. Through a personal dashboard reminiscent of social media profiles, borrowers can share their stories and create gifting campaigns that resonate with their supporters.
Innovative in its approach, LoanGifting offers an alternative to traditional gift-giving occasions. Friends and family can choose to contribute towards loan repayment rather than purchasing material gifts, enabling borrowers to make significant progress in paying off their debts. By redirecting funds directly to borrowers’ student loan accounts, the platform ensures transparency and trust in the process. The impact of LoanGifting extends beyond monetary assistance, as it provides individuals with a means to ask for help without feeling burdened or ashamed. It empowers both borrowers and their supporters, fostering a sense of community and shared purpose.
The Business Strategy
These insights combined with a rising trend in crowdfunding spawned the development of LoanGifting, a platform which enabled young professionals with student loan debt to raise money utilizing their friends and family.
The impact is significant, as even receiving $60 a month in LoanGifts can reduce the duration of a 10-year loan by four years, considering an interest rate of 6.8% APR. Students can ask for help without feeling burdened or ashamed, knowing that the money contributed goes directly towards their student loan account. The transparent nature of the platform encourages supporters to give more, recognizing the value of their contributions in helping borrowers overcome the challenges of student debt. RKS Design’s creation of LoanGifting showcases our expertise in service design, business strategy, and research, resulting in a solution that addresses a pressing societal issue and offers hope to graduates burdened by debt.
LoanGifting represents a shift in traditional gift-giving practices, enabling friends and family to support individuals in paying off their student loans instead of offering material gifts. While the long-term solution to eradicating student debt lies in reducing educational costs, LoanGifting offers a tangible means of making a difference. The platform encourages individuals to make small sacrifices, diverting gift funds towards loan repayment. The strategic vision and thoughtful execution have elevated LoanGifting into a transformative platform that brings hope and relief to graduates burdened by student debt.
Finnita
Finnita was conceived, developed, and deployed by the RKS Design Team. Finnita is a market leader in student debt repayment and the only platform built specifically to manage employees’ student debt, empowering employers with a powerful tool – or – a platform for recruiting and retention.
The solution began as LoanGifting, an internal RKS project meant to challenge the team to create impactful solutions to real-world problems. The team devised a concept for a social media-like platform where users could create a portal, tying their loans and getting insights into their debts, prioritizing payments, and potentially receiving loan gifts instead of material presents. The initial focus was to help users pay off loans sooner to reduce interest accrual. However, they found it challenging to make a significant impact since the debt students owed far exceeded their ability to fundraise with friends and family.
This led to a strategic pivot toward a B2B offering, where businesses could attract and retain young talent burdened by student loan debts, hindering their ability to invest in retirement plans. The idea was for larger companies to include student loan debt relief as part of their employment packages. This shift garnered attention when LoanGifting became a feature in ADP Total Source’s benefit packages.
Loan Gifting and Loan Benefits merged with Finnita to solidify its market advantage aS a cutting-edge SaaS HR-Tech solution.
RKS Project Spotlight
LOAN GIFTING
What We Did
Psycho-Aesthetics
Product design is more than just winning awards; it’s about creating emotional connections between the product and the user. Our human-centered approach, Psycho-Aesthetics, helps us understand and quantify these connections. We approached the development of LoanGifting and Finnita with a keen focus on understanding the emotional landscape surrounding financial services. Through extensive user research, we delved into the nuanced feelings associated with student loans and financial empowerment. This insight guided our design process, influencing choices in visual elements, user interfaces, and language to evoke trust, confidence, and empowerment. The design of our platforms was meticulously crafted to create user-friendly and trustworthy environments, ensuring accessibility and clarity throughout. Our branding and marketing strategies were tailored to inspire a sense of stability and reliability.
The Business Strategy
These insights combined with a rising trend in crowdfunding spawned the development of LoanGifting, a platform which enabled young professionals with student loan debt to raise money utilizing their friends and family.
Finnita
Finnita was conceived, developed, and deployed by the RKS Design Team. Finnita is a market leader in student debt repayment and the only platform built specifically to manage employees’ student debt, empowering employers with a powerful tool – or – a platform for recruiting and retention.
RKS Project Spotlight
Intel
FloWater
