Beyond Bills and Receipts
To whosoever reading this blog right now, I hope you stay until the last sentence because believe it or not, it’s a long post. So yes, this activity is one of our most exciting tasks we did for our Communication Planning course with Mrs. Janet Tibaldo facilitating and we were tasked to create our ideal wallet and share its details, back stories and other features to a partner. In my case, I chose Leila Bation. But before I start sharing you her wallet, allow me to present mine first.
As you can see, my ideal wallet is in color brown that is associated much with the Earth, my favorite element which I believe represents much my steady, solid, strong and resilient character. You can also see here a guitar representing my love for music and my present role at our church as one of the worship leaders who leads the congregation into the singing of praise and worship songs for the Lord. In addition, we also have the quill-pen (feather pen) symbolizing my passion for writing. I am very grateful to God because with such skill, I am able now to fund my education and help my family in paying major bills. You can also see here that I have three ATM cards, one for savings (for my dream house, dream car and dream family), one for monthly personal allowances (tithes, skincare products, clothing etc.) and one for monthly expenses (internet, tuition, electric). I also put a couple of receipts as constant reminders that I am now paying my own bills — and I am glad that at this point of my life, I am already becoming more independent. And of course, I put inside what really makes a wallet ideal! — money! Yes, it’s complete from color orange to pink, violet, green, yellow and course the blue bill! I just hope I had more of these blues than the first colors from the left.
Lastly, I have here my favorite verse: 1 Corinthians 13:13 that reminds me every time I open my wallet to always be consumed by love and always act out of love — a secret ingredient why I always pursue my passion no matter how painful the process is.
This is Leila Bation’s Ideal Wallet…
ENGAGE
INTERVIEW
Leila’s wallet in general is very fresh to the eyes and its features are actually very interesting to digest. As you can see, the color of her wallet contains shades of pink which according to her represents much her very vibrant feminine character. For her, the color pink is always associated with elegance, sophistication and grace — qualities which she believes are what identifies her. For the front design, we can see embedded sketches of flowers which for her are reminders that just like one, she is made to bloom.
For the inside design, we can see some of the most common or usual items present on any regular wallet. To start with, we have here couples of receipts which according to Leila are constant reminders of how impulsive buyer she is. We also have here two online shopping stickers to let people know that she is an online seller marketing many of her family’s handmade and homemade products such as honey, cakes and other pastries. Having a wallet with a good number of compartments for identification cards is also ideal for Leila. Her identification cards provide her easy and quick access to prove her age whenever she is doubted to be minor especially when she goes to minor-restricted places or events due to her height. In addition, Leila also placed here her self-portrait picture. According to Leila, putting her picture inside her wallet is a reminder of her dream of becoming a very famous celebrity or broadcaster, whatever what comes first despite having a small body. Her picture here is a sign that she has little to no insecurities about her body — one of the biggest takeaways I had after interviewing her.
And what makes our conversation so interesting is to find out that Leila is a person who never sees an ideal wallet as something that is thick-filled with blue or yellow bills. This is the story behind the phrase, “Love, Leila” — a beautiful reminder to her that to become rich is not to own a gazillion number of pennies contained in wallets. For her, true wealth dwells in our heart and that wealth is our ability and willingness to love even when situations blind us to do so.
DIG DEEPER
My talk with Leila is a revelation to me. We did not have this kind of talk when we were still in Baguio and I am grateful because now, I found out that just like any other teenagers out there, financial management is also something she’s struggling with.
However, there is something that really caught my attention and it is the Bible verse placed on the back design of her wallet. It’s Malachi 3:10 saying “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it”.
Knowing Leila as someone who tends to be impulsive in buying based on how she interpreted herself on how she manages her money, this is a catch phrase here! And when I asked her the story behind this Malachi 3:10, I am in awe because here, I was able to see a new Leila — someone who is continuously trying to be more disciplined with how she spends her money and someone who is doing her best to give what is due to the Lord.
As someone who shares the same faith with her, I am challenged here. Leila putting Malachi 3:10 on her wallet is somewhat a declaration that yes, it is highly possible that her earthly wallet might not be full at all times, sometimes it contains less or maybe most of the time it contains nothing but the storehouse of riches that the Lord has made and prepared for her is already overwhelming. Leila said that it does not matter if she loses Earthly possessions because for her, what matters the most is the kind of service she is giving and offering to the One who created and saved her.
GOALS AND WISHES
Leila wants to achieve a beautiful and peaceful life. She wants to become a successful actress and a broadcaster someday and finally prove herself to others that she can do big things despite her small body. She is striving for her studies to have a passing grade and also strive financially so her parents won’t be pressured so much because of her school expenses. Aside from that, she wants to become independent, she doesn’t want to cause inconvenience to others due to her lacking. Lastly, she wants to be known because of her skills and talent. Leila always wishes to show the world what she got, to be treated the same way she treats others. Finally, to give back and give gratitude to the Lord for everything He is giving to her.
INSIGHTS
My talk with Leila is a new experience. It is more than a dialogue of what composes physically her wallet. It goes beyond that. My conversation with Leila is a proof that our inner selves can be extended to tangible things that are so dear to us and the way we crafted or designed our individual wallets speak so much about us. I have also realized that what sets our line of equality is our dream. And that I think is what keeps Leila in moving and believing that better days are served in the future. Generally, the experiences of Leila is a testimony to me that dreaming knows no body status and at the same time a story of faith that challenges her to go beyond her limitations and to conquer what people know about her.
EXPLAIN
TAKE A STAND WITH A POINT-OF-VIEW
GENERATE ALTERNATIVES TO TEST
ELABORATE
SHARE SOLUTIONS AND CAPTURE FEEDBACKS
Solutions
Attend Webinars on Financial Management
Present a Booklet on Financial Management
Open a Bank Account
Provide Budget Plan
Hire a Financial Advisor
Feedbacks
The first solution according to Leila is not ideal for her because of the very poor Internet connection on their area. However, if connection and network improve, she’s interested to attend as many webinars as she can
For the second solution, Leila is not that very interested to open booklets believing that her preference of learning is not on text materials. According to her, she is more into visuals now and learning from booklets would only make her bore.
For the third solution, Leila is very much interested because she doesn’t have a bank account yet. It would help her save much also from her earnings on online selling and in addition to that, it could also open up chances for her to get insurance.
For the fourth solution, according to Leila, she already made one before and it did not work.
For the fifth solution, Leila stated that it is costly to hire a financial advisor and for her, it would even lose her more than gain gains.
ITERATE BASED ON FEEDBACKS
Based on the solutions presented to Leila and after capturing her feedbacks, it is then decided that the most ideal and practical solution/idea that would address her problem on financial management is to open up a bank account.
BUILD YOUR SOLUTION
The prototype of the solution here that I proposed to Leila is an infographic containing the various banks offering the lowest maintaining balance, suitable enough for students like her. They were also chosen because they are the nearest to Leila’s geographic location
SHARE YOUR SOLUTION AND GET FEEDBACK
What Worked
Leila commends the completeness of the information about the different banks as well as the available accounts that she can choose from based on her needs.
Leila also appreciates how the infographic was lay-outed. According to her, the color combination is very relaxing to the eyes, the font size and the font style are also readable and it caters easy understanding/comprehension.
Leila also stated that she can share also the infographic to her parents hoping that they too could open their individual bank accounts.
What Could Be Improved
More bank choices
Requirements how to open bank accounts were not also stated on the infographic. This is another point to be improved.
Questions
How can Leila assure that the solution would address her concern on time management?
How can Leila discipline herself not to withdraw her savings on her bank account when temptation to impulsively buy suddenly strikes?
How can Leila be assured that her money deposited on her bank account is secured?
Ideas
Financial management is really a very challenging task for anyone regardless of how many bucks of money they are earning. It requires high level of discipline and patience. However, with the right people, tools, resources and alternatives, it is still possible to achieve it.
KEY 3 QUESTIONS
1. How did talking to your interviewee inform/influence your design?
Being able to know her needs, encounters, experiences, pains, emotions, motivations, goals and wishes or her life story in a bigger picture through interviewing Leila influence much how I designed the prototype of the solution that I proposed to address her concern on financial management. By interviewing her, I was able to see what features or solutions might be attainable or feasible for her to do given the limited and available resources at her place. The conduct of the interview generally helped me clear out assumptions or doubts whether how effective my design would be.
2. How did testing and getting feedback impact your final design?
Getting to test my initial work and know the feedbacks of Leila impacted much my final design because at last, I now know what might possibly work for her and what might not. It also provided me an opportunity to enhance the features of the prototype that I proposed in order to fit with the needs, desires and goals of Leila.
3. What was the most challenging part of the process for you?
To be honest, the most challenging part of the process for me is the stage where I am already proposing my solution/s to address the problem of my partner primarily because I have the tendency to push my ideas to people regardless of the uncertainty if they will accept it or not. However, I was able to conquer this very negative habit of mine because in the whole process, I am constantly reminding myself that it was not about me, but it’s about thinking and doing solutions to resolve my partner’s solution. Therefore, I should have to be more open to suggestions because naturally she knows better the nature of her problem and so, all I did is to listen and prepared myself with humility for whatever kind of development and adjustment can be made.
KEY TAKEAWAY
To end this, allow me to say that this activity is actually an analogy that reminds us that life is like a wallet. What matters is not what we see in the outside but more of those that is contained in the inside. And just like a wallet, I hope that whatever we choose to place inside our hearts are what truly puts us in the realization of our highest value and somehow awaken us to see that life remains a mystery for those who don’t dream but a journey for those who do.
