Splitwise

Redesign

The purpose of the app Splitwise is to keep track of debts among users, particularly for group trips and shared households. However, it has some weaknesses in terms of usability. We wanted to identify these weaknesses, adjust the design to make it more usable, and implement new delight features, based on the user needs.

My Role/Services

Design & Concept

Team

Johannes Rothkegel

Sarah Fütterling

Project & Year

University Project, Winter 2022

Understand – Interviews and Surveys

To validate this, we carried out user interviews utilizing appropriately designed surveys and interviews to gain a better understanding of the usage context. Our aim was to identify any missing or poorly implemented features for our users.

Users

would like to have a function for repetitive payments

use the app often for shared household payments

request a feature to see current exchange rates

Understand – Prioritize the features

Based on this, we were able to categorize and prioritize the features of the app in order to decide which functions require the most urgent optimization, which ones to keep, and which ones may even be unnecessary.

Explore - Searching for Solutions

Initial solutions were developed based on wireframes. We did a lot of variations to find the perfect navigation architecture.

We decided to improve the entry-process for group payments, as we considered it the most important feature with the greatest potential for improvement.

key screens for ui design

To test different navigation concepts quickly, we created three clickable prototypes and conducted user testing. Based on the feedback we received, we developed a final navigation concept. Additionally, we designed three key screens that served as a guide for creating the final UI design.

Materialize – Find the perfect visual design

Many variations were created, particularly in the color scheme, to find a suitable new style that encompasses all the brand identifiers.

design variants

Result - Less is more

The final result reflects the original colors of the app. The financial theme, which tends to be dry, is lightened up with data graphs to visualize debt levels and appropriate animations. We tried to significantly reduce the Visual Design in the process to simplify entering debts. Of course, we also implemented the user-requested currency conversion as well as the possibility to enter repetitive payments.

final key screens

final concept video

Learnings

In the process, we learned that creating variants is essential and that the first concept rarely brings the best result. We also realized that in most cases less is more in terms of usability.