Divide
Divide is a simple tool to help splitting bills in restaurants and bars, it aims to be as unobtrusive as possible, so not to spoil the fun of happy, tipsy patrons. No login or app installation would be required, functioning as a lightweight web-based application that can connect users through QR codes. Born as a personal exercise.
Project type Personal
Project date Feb 2021, Jan 2023
Role UI/UX Designer
Challenge
After a night out with friends, it is time to go home. However, a horror story begins: Splitting the bill. Some had beer, some had just a bottle of water, and everyone shared a meal and some snacks. And everybody is either tipsy or tired, making it all the worse.
There should an easier way to split this bill, right?
Solution
We propose a system that can be easily accessed by the group of users through their smartphones, so they can add items, their prices and quantities, and declare who consumed what.
Defining the problem
Happy users - Users may be sleepy, tired or downright drunk, meaning diminished motor skills and vision, and poor decision-making.
Complex operation - Math is hard, and will be much harder after 3 pints of beer.
Friction - Users just want to split their bill and go home, as quick and easily as possible.
Principles
To guide development, here are some ideas to keep in mind:
Avoid complexity - To indulge our tipsy patrons, we aim to create an easy to read, simple and straightforward interface – with fewer options, there are fewer chances to get lost.
Easy in, easy out - We will reduce friction in accessing the app. The app should work online as PWA, eliminating install nuisances. Also, it won't require registration or login – Users don't want to waste time installing and registering yet another app for occasional use.
Scope
Ideas to solve this problem are plentiful, but we have a clear vision, and time and effort are limited. Because of this, this project will be aim at a single, simple flow – let’s discuss what we are bringing in, and what we are leaving out.
We focus on one kind of user and the main flow - radically so. Then, we won't be pursuing other ways of resolving any tasks outside the golden path, will not implement features for problems similar to ours, and will not attend other personas.
Main flow
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An user start a new bill
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Other users join the bill, via QR Code or typing a code.
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Users add items, quantities and prices
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Assign users to items
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Review bill splitting (return to previous steps if problems are found.)
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Finish
Out of scope
We could add many more features. We won’t, at least not now. With continued development after MVP, some of this items could be added.
Here are things we have chosen to leave out:
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Invite users to the bill (through IM, SMS, E-mail).
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Bill report, to check after the hangover.
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Pay for a friend.
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Other kinds of bills (home, travels, etc).
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Registration and Login options.
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Tools for venue managers.
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Integration with billing systems in venues.
Name
The name for our service is "Divide". A single word, express the function of the app, easy to remember and works in multiple languages.
Identity and interface
Merging form and function, the identity and interface take heavy inspiration on the yellow paper of thermal printers, so common in receipts for bills and credit card payments. Apart from alluding to the environment and storytelling that users will probably face while using it, its heavy contrast between the yellow background and the black monospaced font improves readability. Also, the interface generally does not rely on colors to express meaning, improving accessibility.
Added to that, when using illustrations, we use ASCII art, as if printed by a character-only dot-matrix printers. As a matter of fact, the logo itself was made like this. [ / ]
