Reality Cheque

Inspiration

How can we give millennials confidence in their ability to save money?

When you don't believe you have money, you don't think about saving. We aimed to create a simple, fun, and engaging tool that shows you - literally - how effective saving even the smallest amount can be.

Rather than display yet another screen full of unclear calculations and pie charts, we use augmented reality to pile up stacks of cash right in front of the user to show them how their small savings can become big.

Money has become too abstract and the conversation has become too heavy. We need to make it real again. We need a Reality Cheque.

What it does

Reality Cheque is an Augmented Reality iOS app built using ARKit with custom 3D and 2D assets.

The user enters their monthly income and any savings they may currently have. Then the app mathematically places their current savings in the form of AR stacks of cash. The experience takes them through ten and twenty-five year jumps to show how that small investment will balloon with compound interest.

AR is a perfect conversation starter, so we added a screenshot-and-share function that lets users snap pics with their massive pile of future-saved cash. At the end, the app redirects that positive energy into a call-to-action: go even further by getting in touch with a local bank.

It's fun, goofy, and finally paints small savings in a positive and understandable light!

How we built it

We chose to create the application in iOS so that we could utilize the iPhone’s AR capabilities. As the main developer, I began by learning how to place an AR anchor and drawing a 1-dimensional square on a horizontal plane. I then began generating random objects on that plane and focused on organizing them neatly into stacks. By dividing the horizontal plane into a matrix, I was able to safely place objects into neat rows and columns on the plane. 

After the core functionality was secure, I began implementing the UI based on the mock ups and 2D assets produced by my teammates. Once the flow of the application was established, I used the user inputs to calculate exactly how many stacks of money (5 x $20) would amount to the money the user would expect to receive upon their preset time periods (1 year, 10 years, 25 years).


The AR app was then able to dynamically generate accurate money piles based on the personalized input and expected return of investment. Once all main items of the app were completed, I worked on adding a share screen that would allow users to photograph and send via various applications on their phones.

Challenges we ran into

A big starting challenge was figuring out how to place the objects in a random order so that they made “chaotic piles”, and also tracking these piles to make sure no objects were floating above the ground. Once a prototype of the money pile was developed, I was given the model for the actual 3D money we were going to use. There were some slight modifications to be made to the model as the orientation and scale changed when converted from .DAE to iOS’s .SCN filetype.

To add dynamic polish, I challenged myself to animation the money falling from the sky. Finally, the calculation for compound interest over time was confusing, but luckily I was able to cross reference my own numbers with online calculators to make sure our algorithm was correct. 

From the user experience point of view, the UX team was challenged in trying to determine how much or how little functionality to add. Ultimately we stayed focused on our user base: unconfident and underpowered millennials who felt they didn’t have money to save. Keep the experience incredibly accessible and fun so that people would be more likely to try it, share it, and think about it. We didn’t want to replace proper retirement and savings tools - we simply wanted to instigate the desire to use them.

Accomplishments that we're proud of



Our team really came together to produce what we believe is a strong marriage of modern technology and unique user experience. We aimed from the get-go to keep technology and UX in balance to produce a high-quality app, and we’re very proud of what we accomplished. This was achieved by high-quality assets, a simple and relatable user flow, and detailed use of modern technology.

What we learned



We have a multidisciplinary team which meant we all learned new things in totally different directions. The main developer had to dig deep into iOS UI and ARKit, the 3D artist had to push their abilities in working with complex UV maps, and the 2D artist extended their practice into vector art for mobile UI.

What's next for Reality Cheque

We envision this app as an added feature alongside a financial institution as a form of social outreach. It could help young people feel more positive about saving money while providing them with stepping stones towards seeking more advanced financial advisement. The app can be white-labelled according to the bank's branding and redirect the user to specific, entry-level forms of investment channels.

_ "See the value of starting small." _

Built With

• arkit
• swift