VENMO REDESIGN
Reimagining the bill-splitting and app navigation experience
OVERVIEW: Redesigned Venmo’s bill-splitting feature to allow for even and custom bill-splitting and app navigation to reduce friction in managing payment requests.
TOOLS/SKILLS: Figma, UI/UX Design, Usability Testing
TEAM: John Hong, Ryan Oosting
TIMELINE: 5 weeks
Overview
PROBLEM
We focused on two tasks:
I. Many people split bills using Venmo, yet it is not possible to do custom bill-splitting, and the flow for bill-splitting is unintuitive.
II. Managing requests can be difficult, since incoming and outgoing requests exist on separate pages and are difficult to locate.
CHALLENGE
How might we make bill-splitting and managing requests easier on Venmo?
OUTCOME
I. A user-friendly bill-splitting flow that allows for even and custom bill-splitting.
II. A new landing page that displays key features (bill-splitting, requests, past transactions, etc.) for ease of navigation.
Note: This was done for a class, and we did not officially partner with Venmo.
Understanding existing user flows
In order to identify areas for processing improvement, we conducted hierarchical task analyses and usability testing on the existing Venmo app.
BILL-SPLITTING
Poor signifiers for bill-splitting
Did you know that bill-splitting exists on Venmo? In order to do so, you have to select one person, then tap their name to add more people. It’s not made clear that bill-splitting is a feature.
No custom bill-splitting
While custom bill-splitting happens often (i.e. ordering different dishes at a restaurant), Venom’s bill-splitting doesn’t accommodate for this.
MANAGING REQUESTS
Requests partitioned by type
Incoming and outgoing requests exist in different locations. This makes keeping track of all requests more difficult for users.
Ambiguous page icons
It’s not clear where exactly incoming and outgoing requests exist. The upper icon is simply a notification symbol, while the lower icon is an unidentifiable symbol.
Solution
Before getting to our solution, we ideated, created flow diagrams, paper prototypes, and conducted heuristic evaluations to see which solution tackled our problem best.
We opted for a drastic overhaul of Venmo, consisting of the following changes.
NEW LANDING PAGE
The user profile page will replace the current landing page containing “Stories.” We wanted to make essential functions, like managing requests, easily accessible.
NEW BILL-SPLITTING FEATURE
Bill-splitting will allow for even and custom bill-splitting in an easy 4-step process. This feature also includes tip and tax functionalities.
Usability Testing
To gain insights on our prototypes, we conduced usability tests with 3 participants, each of whom are regular Venmo users. We identified three main insights to consider for the final prototype:
I. POOR BILL-SPLITTING FEATURE LOCATION
Originally, we placed bill-splitting as a tab in the bottom navigation bar, which was difficult for users to locate.
II. NEW BILL-SPLITTING FEATURE
Calculating tip off the app adds friction to the user experience.
III. CONFUSING VERBIAGE FOR REQUESTS
The words “incoming” and “outgoing” on the user profile page are difficult to process, which adds unnecessary cognitive load and delay to managing requests.
Next Steps
If I had more time to work on this, I would integrate bill-splitting into the pay/request button. This is the universal button to create a transaction, so it would make sense to have bill-splitting accessible through this button.
Additionally, I want to explore better ways to organize incoming and outgoing requests. While organizing all requests into one card reduces cognitive load, the issue of confusing verbiage still arises on the “Requests” page.
Final Thoughts
This was my first UI/UX project, so it was fascinating to understand the overall process, from task analyses, to prototyping, and usability testing.
In a broader UI/UX sense, one of he biggest takeaways was learning and applying Nielson’s 10 usability heuristics. These principles helped me understand the core foundation of good UI/UX design.