Hi, having to see the icon of the business/category in HOME view is a great and very useful feature.
I see one big problem design-wise currently.
The issue is that the ‘business’ icon (Starbucks, Tescos) is interchangeable with ‘category’ icon (grocery, eating out etc).
This easily becomes confusing and also strips the user of important usability features of seeing at a glance:
- how much he’s spending overall in a particular category, simply by visually scanning the feed.
- whether the system assigned the correct category to those transactions with brand logos replacing categories, without digging deeper into the transaction itself.
Why Monzo chose this approach
I believe I understand the aesthetic issue is that many businesses don’t have a brand logo which would leave Monzo empty-handed in their case.
It makes sense, yet at the same time I believe it could be approached in a clearer, more consequential way.
Rationale
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Every single transaction will always have a category.
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Only some transactions will have icons representing businesses - each business is already represented by a proper name/title anyway, making the logo a variable element.
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Therefore one element is a constant and the other is a variable.
Solution
For each transaction use category always and exclusively as the first row of icons.
For those transactions where business icon exists, add them as a second (smaller?) icon, next to the name of a business. It could be smaller, it could be square instead of a circle in order to make category and business uniquely distinguishable (or the other way around); it’s just a minor aesthetic obstacle.
This way, I believe you will achieve a perfect consistency of design which significantly improves information flow at a glance in the Home tab.
Best,
Michal