Karina Davila's Portfolio

UX Research + Service Design · Visa · Lima, Peru

Building a Cashless Campus — and a

Financial Partner for Life

A cross-functional research and co-creation engagement helping a leading Peruvian financial institution design a cashless university ecosystem and earn students' trust as their long-term financial partner.

Innovation

UX Research

Service Design

Co-creation Workshop

Lima, Peru + Miami, FL

Financial Services

Visa

The Challenge

Two goals. One complex ecosystem.

A major financial institution in Peru partnered with a prestigious Lima university — and with Visa — to

pilot a cashless campus experience. Their goals were straightforward to state, but complex to solve:

turn the university into a cashless testing ground for the rest of the country, and become students'

trusted financial partner after graduation.

A major financial institution in Peru partnered with a prestigious Lima university — and with Visa — to pilot a cashless campus experience. Their goals were straightforward to state, but complex to solve: turn the university into a cashless testing ground for the rest of the country, and become students' trusted financial partner after graduation.

The challenge wasn't technological. It was human. Before any solution could be designed, we needed to understand how students actually related to money — their habits, fears, and gaps in financial knowledge — and map the entire ecosystem of stakeholders their experience touched.

The challenge wasn't technological. It was human. Before any solution could be designed, we needed to

understand how students actually related to money — their habits, fears, and gaps in financial

knowledge — and map the entire ecosystem of stakeholders their experience touched.

My Role

My contributions

What I led and owned

✦

Scoped the research initiative and identified stakeholders across the client, university, and student ecosystem

✦

Co-wrote interview guides with the on-site vendor and conducted in-person 1:1 and group

interviews with university students

✦

Led on-site observation and shadowing sessions on campus to capture contextual insights

✦

Synthesized and analyzed qualitative data to surface primary themes and actionable insights

✦

Mapped stakeholder personas — capturing needs, pain points, and inter-relationships

✦

Facilitated cross-functional ideation sessions with designers, business partners, product, and tech architecture

✦

Prepared and led workshop materials including empathy exercises, presentations, and co-creation breakout sessions

✦

Co-created the financial literacy curriculum prototype with the client during the Miami workshop

Process

From discovery to co-creation

The project followed a structured design process across four phases — built to ensure every solution

was grounded in real student behavior, not assumptions.

The project followed a structured design process across four phases — built to ensure every solution was grounded in real student behavior, not assumptions.

Discover

– Defined project scope

– Mapped stakeholders

– CSD matrix +

assumptions

– CSD matrix + assumptions

– Remote stakeholder

interviews

– Remote stakeholder interviews

– Framed research

questions

– Framed research questions

Research

– On-site observation +

shadowing

– On-site observation + shadowing

– 1:1 and group student

interviews

– 1:1 and group student interviews

– Data synthesis +

themes

– Data synthesis + themes

– Persona mapping

– Journey mapping

Ideate

– Opportunity area

identification

– Opportunity area identification

– Cross-functional

brainstorm

– Cross-functional brainstorm

– Wireframe creation

– Workshop agenda

planning

– Workshop agenda planning

Workshop

– Presented findings to

client

– Presented findings to client

– Validated opportunity

areas

– Validated opportunity areas

– Co-created final

solution

– Co-created final solution

– Rapid clickable

prototype

– Rapid clickable prototype

Key Insight

Cash wasn't the problem. Confidence was.

A week of in-person fieldwork revealed a clear pattern: students weren't using digital payments

because they didn't trust themselves with money, not because they lacked access. Cash felt

controllable. Safe. Familiar. Students lacked the financial literacy to confidently choose a bank — let

alone navigate credit, savings, or investing.

A week of in-person fieldwork revealed a clear pattern: students weren't using digital payments because they didn't trust themselves with money, not because they lacked access. Cash felt controllable. Safe. Familiar. Students lacked the financial literacy to confidently choose a bank — let alone navigate credit, savings, or investing.

This finding reframed the entire project. The path to a cashless campus wasn't about better payment infrastructure. It was about building financial confidence first.

This finding reframed the entire project. The path to a cashless campus wasn't about better payment

infrastructure. It was about building financial confidence first.

Solution

A curriculum that grows with students

"How might we partner with the university and provide a curriculum that gradually brings

students into the economic fold, while encouraging them to learn new ways to handle their money?"

Working with the university's existing app as a foundation, the team designed a holistic financial

literacy experience — one that evolves alongside students throughout their college career. Rather than

pushing banking features, the solution meets students where they are and builds trust gradually.

Working with the university's existing app as a foundation, the team designed a holistic financial literacy experience — one that evolves alongside students throughout their college career. Rather than pushing banking features, the solution meets students where they are and builds trust gradually.

Budgeting tools

Hands-on money management

built into students' everyday

campus life

Hands-on money management built into students' everyday campus life

Card controls

Shared visibility for students and

parents during the transition to

independence

Shared visibility for students and parents during the transition to independence

Peer-to-peer payments

Familiar, low-stakes entry point to

digital transactions

Familiar, low-stakes entry point to digital transactions

Graduating loans

Credit products that scale with

students' advancing financial

maturity

Credit products that scale with students' advancing financial

maturity

Tutorial videos

Bite-sized financial education for

budgeting and investing basics

Bite-sized financial education for budgeting and investing basics

University partnership

Embedded within campus

infrastructure for seamless

adoption

Embedded within campus infrastructure for seamless adoption

Deliverables + Impact

What the client walked away with

The project concluded with a co-creation workshop in Miami, where research findings were validated

with the client and refined into a concrete starting point for their university partnership.

The project concluded with a co-creation workshop in Miami, where research findings were validated with the client and refined into a concrete starting point for their university partnership.

User journey map

Current and ideal-state journeys

with opportunity areas across the

full student lifecycle

Current and ideal-state journeys with opportunity areas across the full student lifecycle

Actionable insights

Research-grounded findings on

student financial behavior and

barriers to adoption

Research-grounded findings on student financial behavior and barriers to adoption

Curriculum prototype

A clickable financial literacy