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App Redesign - Splitwise

Redesigning Splitwise App ​

Based on Fundamental Needs by Pieter M.A. Desmet & Steven F. Fokkinga

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(Desmet, P.M.A. & Fokkinga, S.F. (2020). Thirteen Fundamental Psychological Needs. Delft: Delft University of Technology. ISBN 978-94-6384-185-6.)

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Semester 1 - DfI Masters @TU Delft 

October 2022

Tools Used - Figma 

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This project is a part of the course ID4210 Product Understanding, Use, and Experience. Design for Emotion focuses on designing a service with 13 fundamental needs defined by (Desmet, P.M.A. & Fokkinga, S.F. (2020). 

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I chose to redesign Splitwise. Splitwise is a mobile app and a web platform to help users to split expenses in a group. It helps in reducing complexity, and awkwardness in groups while splitting up and it is easy to use. In the first redesign, the focus was on defining current psychological needs and exploring how the app could be redesigned using the 13 fundamental needs. The second redesign focused on defining three motive dilemmas and creating a redesign based on those.

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Top Three Psychological Needs
 

Community - Splitwise simplifies lending and borrowings in a group and forms records of all the expenses which can be cleared all-together by the end of the month. It also helps the users in the group to maintain the rules and values of the group.

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Morality - Splitwise also helps in maintaining the principles that line with personal values. For example, it helps to track the payment and expenses record and reminds the users to pay if they owe some amount to their friends or acquaintances.

  

Comfort - Sorting, structuring, and overviewing your lending and borrowings is convenient. Splitwise provides a simple and easy-to-use format for managing expenses, eliminating the need to worry or remember money lent or borrowed. This feature is especially helpful for managing group debt.

Interesting Target Needs
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Security - The app lacks integration with payment portals such as Google Wallet or PayPal, which means users have to use two different apps to settle debts and record them. This process can be uncertain and inconvenient. Therefore, it's crucial to incorporate a payment feature in the app to ensure user safety and convenience.

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Competence - Splitwise doesn’t offer to record personal expenses and budgets. While it's excellent for splitting payments between multiple people, it's not suitable for personal use.  Incorporating this feature will help users to maintain an expenditure budget.

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3. Purpose - By recording personal expenses, borrowing, and lending, Splitwise can also help users track their monthly financial activity and set budget goals. This feature would enable users to plan and maintain their monthly budgets effectively.

Redesign based on Fundamental Need

Splitwise's redesigned feature will focus on security and integrate with bank apps for a seamless payment process. Users can settle up and transfer money within the app, instead of just recording payments or using separate apps. This integration provides more convenience, security, and simplicity for users. The app also saves payment information and friend's details for future use and generates transfer slips as proof of payment.

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Three Motive Dilemmas

  1. I want to add this expense to the group to maintain the budget (Morality & Competence) but I also think it’s okay to treat your friends sometimes (Recognition & Community).

  2. I want to settle the expense that I owe (Morality) but I can also wait for my friends to do some payment on my behalf and reduce what I owe (Comfort).

  3. I want to send a reminder to a friend to pay me the owed amount (Security) but I also don’t want to appear that I am begging for money (Relatedness).

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Redesigning the Motive Dilemma 

Sending payment reminders to friends can be awkward, and the email notification feature in Splitwise can feel too formal. To address this, a redesign could be developed that considers the emotions of different users. A more personalized approach could involve allowing friends to send reminders with a custom message and a predetermined timeline for repayment, agreed upon when the group is formed.

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