Introducing TipIt
Splitting a Bill
Setting a Custom Tip
Customizing User Settings
Sharing a Bill
Getting More Information
Understanding the Motivation
As a college student, dining out is a key social experience. Over the past few years, I've heard many complaints about bill splitting and tipping, which inspired me to explore a new solution.
Outlining my Design Process
Defining the Problem Space
People dine out all the time, but it often comes with complications. Splitting the bill, calculating each person’s share of tax, and sharing payment information quick turns into a logistical headache. This begs the question:
"How might we reimagine the bill splitting process?"
Setting a Preliminary Goal
The preliminary goal for this project is to streamline the process of splitting bills so that users can dine out in large groups with ease.
The high level goals were to:
1. Design a mobile app bill splitting app that is both easy and delightful to use.
2. Implement a fun, reliable way to split tip and tax
The high level goals were to:
1. Design a mobile app bill splitting app that is both easy and delightful to use.
2. Implement a fun, reliable way to split tip and tax
Discovering our Users
I conducted research to discover which people are most likely to benefit from a bill splitting solution.
“On an average day, approximately 10% of the U.S. population eats at sitdown restaurants [and] leave a tip.”
- International Hospitality Review -
“More than 1/3 of [US] respondents prefer family and friends as dining partners.”
- Handbook of Contemporary Behavioral Economics -
- International Hospitality Review -
“More than 1/3 of [US] respondents prefer family and friends as dining partners.”
- Handbook of Contemporary Behavioral Economics -
“Eating out once per week or more was most common in the youngest age groups (19–29 years), [with] 41.0% eating out..”
- International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity -
“Eating-out was associated with younger, unmarried, employed, urban resident, higher income, higher education...”
- National Library of Medicine -
- International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity -
“Eating-out was associated with younger, unmarried, employed, urban resident, higher income, higher education...”
- National Library of Medicine -
I then conducted in-person interviews with people from my target audience to hear about their experiences. Here are some highlights:
Understanding the Competing Solutions
I explored the 21 most popular bill splitting apps to find why they fail to satisfy my target audience and how I can build off of the features that users enjoyed.
I found these opportunities:
App reviews were also a great resource for finding common pain points that users experienced.
Humanizing our Target User
To empathize with the most prevalent needs from my user interviews and research, I created Lily and Jason. These personas were crucial in ensuring that my designed solution includes all of the features that my users need.
Organizing a Solution
I organized my findings into an affinity map to identify common themes and key pain points that my product needs to solve.
Finalizing a Product Strategy
A mobile app that centralizes tip calculation, tax calculation, bill splitting, and payment sharing into one intuitive interface.
This will be achieved by:
1. Reducing the input fields to ONLY what is needed to compute accurate calculations
2. Handling ALL tax calculations in the background based on the user’s location
3. Streamlining bill sharing with a payment sharing feature BUILT-IN to the app
This will be achieved by:
1. Reducing the input fields to ONLY what is needed to compute accurate calculations
2. Handling ALL tax calculations in the background based on the user’s location
3. Streamlining bill sharing with a payment sharing feature BUILT-IN to the app
Optimizing User Flows
The main goal was to make the user flows as simple as possible, so I documented the primary user flow from competitor apps and condensed it where I saw possible.
My research also uncovered a new pain point: exchange of payment information. To address this, I created two user flows for a seamless payment sharing feature within the app.
Let's Get Designing
Based on some low fidelity wireframes, I created an interactive high fidelity prototype so I could start usability testing with some end-users.
Test, Test, Test!
I conducted in-person usability test interviews with 10 users in my target audience (8 college students and 2 recent graduates) across 3 criteria:
🔵 Simplicity
Out of 3 tasks, how many can the user figure out without any instructions?
✅ Convenience
On average, how long does it take to execute a primary user flow? How many interactions were needed?
⭐️ Satisfaction
On a scale of 1-5, how satisfying was the user's experience for each task?
After multiple rounds of usability testing and 4 major iterations, I made the following improvements:
Satisfaction Redesign
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I used more familiar native iOS icons and removed unnecessary fields, leading to much improved user satisfaction ratings.
I used more familiar native iOS icons and removed unnecessary fields, leading to much improved user satisfaction ratings.
Larger and Cleaner
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Users preferred having less options if it meant a simpler and more usable interface. I reduced color and tip options and enlarged fields to make the interface larger and cleaner.
Users preferred having less options if it meant a simpler and more usable interface. I reduced color and tip options and enlarged fields to make the interface larger and cleaner.
Convenient Inputs
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For the “people” and “default tip” fields, users found keyboard inputs tedious so I changed them into scrolling fields. On average, users strongly preferred the scrolling inputs by 1-2 satisfaction rating points.
For the “people” and “default tip” fields, users found keyboard inputs tedious so I changed them into scrolling fields. On average, users strongly preferred the scrolling inputs by 1-2 satisfaction rating points.
Final Design System
Reflecting on Lessons Learned
☁️ Simplicity is Key
Users tended towards simplicity, even when it reduced their options. As I prototyped, I found myself reducing the interface to ONLY what was absolutely necessary.
🙋🏻 Listen to your Users
Involving users inspired a new bill sharing feature and so many UI changes, such as the number of tip buttons and the types of inputs (scrolling, buttons, etc).
👥 Include Personalization
Every user has a unique use case. Usability testing was key in finding a perfect balance between customization and simplicity to appeal to a broad target audience.
Outcomes Since Release
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App Store rating
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impressions
impressions
References
- Adams, J., Goffe, L., Brown, T. et al. Frequency and socio-demographic correlates of eating meals out and take-away meals at home: cross-sectional analysis of the UK national diet and nutrition survey, waves 1–4 (2008–12). Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 12, 51 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-015-0210-8.
- Flynn, Michael. “Tipping in restaurants and around the globe: An interdisciplinary review.” Handbook of Contemporary Behavioral Economics, 30 Jan. 2015, pp. 648–666, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315703879-46.
- Ju SY. Changes in Eating-Out Frequency according to Sociodemographic Characteristics and Nutrient Intakes among Korean Adults. Iran J Public Health. 2020 Jan;49(1):46-55. PMID: 32309223; PMCID: PMC7152649.
- Okumus, Bendegul, et al. “Generation Y’s dining out behavior.” International Hospitality Review, vol. 35, no. 1, 20 Jan. 2021, pp. 41–56, https://doi.org/10.1108/ihr-07-2020-0023.
- Flynn, Michael. “Tipping in restaurants and around the globe: An interdisciplinary review.” Handbook of Contemporary Behavioral Economics, 30 Jan. 2015, pp. 648–666, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315703879-46.
- Ju SY. Changes in Eating-Out Frequency according to Sociodemographic Characteristics and Nutrient Intakes among Korean Adults. Iran J Public Health. 2020 Jan;49(1):46-55. PMID: 32309223; PMCID: PMC7152649.
- Okumus, Bendegul, et al. “Generation Y’s dining out behavior.” International Hospitality Review, vol. 35, no. 1, 20 Jan. 2021, pp. 41–56, https://doi.org/10.1108/ihr-07-2020-0023.