How we design magic moments at Monzo 🪄

Hi everyone :wave:

I’m Vuokko and I’m VP Design here at Monzo. I lead design across Product and Brand and I’ve taken some time to write a post about the principles we use in design to help make the app feel magical :rabbit: :tophat:

This post is based on a talk I gave at our internal Tech All Hands in August. I got lots of feedback about it so we wanted to share it more widely too.

Would love to hear your thoughts or any questions about the topic!

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This is all I can think of

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In the Monzo app examples of these signature moments are our playful Get Paid Early drag interaction

@vuokko

While many of these signature moments are small nice touches, Monzo really should allow customers the facility to opt out of the Get Paid Early interaction in particular.

While it’s nice the first or second time you see it, I find afterwards it just adds additional friction and delay to the process making it a negative interaction (for me) not a positive one.

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The Monzo paid in and out sound is the best sound in the history of music.

The paid in sound is one of my favourites! :money_with_wings::money_with_wings::money_with_wings:

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The paid out sound is one of my most despised sounds ever.

Love the paid in one though.

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Plus Monzo is the only UK bank to have unique sounds for each of its functions.

Children would love it especially, which brings me onto a new idea for Monzo. Kids accounts under 16.

Now there’s a topic - and it isn’t new.

I’ve tried all the GoHenry’s, HyperJar’s, Revolut Kid’s and they’re all out for a cut.

So after trying & giving up on all of the above, I use Virtual Cards with a :monzo: Premium account which are linked to dedicated pots. The Virtual cards are entered into the Apple Pay of the kiddo’s accounts and spending is funded from their own dedicated pot, which money is transferred into by us each weekend/occasion.

The kidz get to tap-and-pay with their phones & I get to control the spending. But it’s only a workaround - they don’t have physical cards and they can’t see their current balance. Potential ouch.

One of 'em is old enough to get a :monzo: account later this year. This’ll solve 50% of my headache in this area. Until then - Virtual cards & Apple Pay…

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A current account though for children would be a good option, with a lot more restrictions.

So no direct debits, much lower spending limit and parental controls on what they can and can’t do.

The parent should be able to turn off contactless, freeze the card, add money into his/her account etc.

Give this a vote! :slight_smile:

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All those apostrophes though :grimacing:

Like (even) Lloyds does? :joy:

I like the idea of that! For children under 16 this would be awesome.

Just remove the ability to have direct debits and have a spending limit of around £50-£100 so the child doesn’t overspend on anything.

Remove the ability to spend gambling transactions and because the account would be linked to the parents Monzo, have it so Plus or Premium subscriptions are linked to both the parent and child.

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