Group payment at restaurants is a complicated multi-step process that places unnecessary stress on us and our friends.

Divide makes it simple to pay as a group at restaurants. Simply check into your restaurant, connect with friends, select what you ate, and Divide will split the check and transfer funds. It's easy.

Context

Senior Thesis

Skills

Interviews, Prototyping

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

Timeline

4 Weeks

The Process

Design

Interviews

Ideate

Features

Data Interp

Build + Test

Explore

In order to better understand the problem of restaurant group payment I started by conducting five user interviews. I made sure to interview people of all different ages to get better insight into the way group payment affects a variety of users.

It was helpful to listen to the thoughts and emotions of people as they reflected on their restaurant experiences.

I never know what percentage to split the tax and how much people are comfortable tipping.

-U3

I feel bad when I'm with a big group and ask to split the check, sometimes they will even say no.

-U1

It’s odd we have so many apps for the restaurant experience, what if there was one for all?

-U2

I hate being the person that pays. Everyone forgets to venmo me, or they never send enough.

-U5

After conducting the interviews and comparing notes, I started to notice four main problems that surfaced across the interviews. I used these problems as the main focus for the rest of the design process.

One person has to put a big charge on their card

Figuring out the math can be tricky

Users get frustrated using multiple apps

With the three main problems in mind, I started brainstorming how an app could help alleviate some of the stress associated with group pay and simplify the entire restaurant process.

While there are a lot of moving parts to consider with the customer experience, there is also a lot to consider with how the restaurant staff would interact with the software.

Whiteboard

After decided on the main functionality of the app I went to work brainstorming what screens would be necessary, how the user would flow through the application and what were some of the barriers to entry they might encounter on their journey.

After I had made the hi-fidelity mockup in Xd I was able to take the prototype to a few users and watch them interact with the program. I took notes of the things that worked, the things that didn't, and the things I didn't expect them to do. I was then able to go back in an refine my designs before the final presentation. 

Here are a few of the most interesting notes I captured during my usability testing:

• Some users suggested the ability to just pay through the phone and not need to use a card at all.
• There were a lot of questions on how they would find the table number. It might be helpful to provide some type of tutorial video when onboarding.
• Needed to increase contrast for readability on sections that had a light gray background.
  

As my first product design project I learned just how important it is to continually show your work to other people. Getting feedback was extremely helpful throughout the process to make sure what I was doing made sense, and helped address the needs of the user.

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