INDUSTRY
Finance
COMPANY
Personal Project
PLATFORM
Mobile App
DELIVERABLES
User Research
UX Design
UI Design
Prototype
DATE
JANUARY 2025
DURATION
3 Weeks
TEAM
Me, Myself and I
TOOLS
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Figma
Have you ever had trouble splitting expenses—from utilities to food to fares—with someone, especially in a group? Splitwise helps you keep track of shared expenses and split bills easily. It simplifies dividing costs and sharing expenses among friends, roommates, and groups, all through an intuitive and user-friendly interface. Although the app performs well in this case study, I believe there’s still room for improvement to create a more intuitive experience and better align with modern needs.
• User Feedback
• Goal
• Heuristic Evaluation
• Competitor Analysis
• Wireframing
• Sketches
• User Flow
• Art Direction
• High-fidelity
• Prototype
• Takeaway
Before we dive into the research, this case study focuses on how we can make managing expenses more intuitive and relevant by improving the UI.
How might we simplify navigation while improving readability and modernizing the UI?
I converted our key problems into opportunities to solve during the redesign. The app should not only have improved flow, but also be visually refreshed to stay on the trend.
I have conducted usability heuristics and analysis by comparing Splitwise and its competitors, SettleUp, Splid, Tricount. This evaluation aimed to identify potential solutions that could assist us in resolving user concerns and improving the overall user experience of our app.
Splitwise is one of the most popular expense-splitting apps, but its UI/UX could be more improved. The data shows the strengths and weaknesses from a UI/UX perspective.
I first focused on reorganizing and clarifying the challenge’s flow. Refining it to align with our objectives and goals for the project and have an effective design process.
I started the process by sketching the interface and how I could strategically place the essential features while minimizing user steps. These initial sketches went through multiple revisions. To ensure the design was both innovative and effective, I analyzed leading apps like Wise, Coinbase, and even WhatsApp to see how they design their apps and how I could effectively apply the principles to improve the experience.
Current screens are cluttered and some features were not easily found. Navigation could be more simplified
Simplifying the user follow of the navigation by merging into 1 screen – (1) Settling Balance, (2) Adding expense (3) recent people/group with balance.
This improved design balances functionality, clarity, and aesthetics, making expense management in Splitwise smoother and more visually engaging.
Serves as a summary of activities and interactions
Settling or Requesting is more evident
Task completion screen confirmation reducing uncertainty
Task completion screen confirmation reducing uncertainty
Contact List with people you owe. Changing the terms ‘owe or owed’ to ‘get’ or ‘pay’ for better distinction
Improving information hierarchy
More evident components and elements. Added expense visualization for groups.
Simplified and more organized adding expenses.
The improved Splitwise UI has made expense management more intuitive and easy. By simplifying debt tracking, streamlining navigation, and modernizing the visual design. This redesign demonstrates how thoughtful UI improvements can elevate usability while maintaining a clean and modern aesthetic.
To further improve, we can test the design on how effective it can be. We can conduct more research to introduce possible features and become “more than just an expense-splitting app” such as connecting payment methods, ‘image-to-text’ for proof and receipts, or even maybe like Paypal, turning into a banking app, and having these reward systems. The possibilities are endless, and so is making the experience even better.
Whether it’s a logo, collateral design, website, or a full branding, I’m here to bring ideas to life, and make your brand stand out.