Venmo Redesign
A design project to create a better UX experience
Venmo is one of the most popular mobile paying app and peer-to-peer payment tools on the market. According to Forbes, it currently has 65 million users and growing. At its core, Venmo provides a social way to pay your friends when you owe them money and don't want to deal with cash. Despite its popularity, it has several significant usability issues.
Challenge
The process of paying back or splitting the check with a friend or colleague can be tedious. With the current Venmo design, the extra steps to send or request payments prolong the process. Those steps cause frustration and a less efficient way to do business. The end product should improve the basic functionality and overall experience of the app and adhere to UI principles while still maintaining the social aspect of the app.
Tools
Figma
Photoshop
Role
UX designer
UX researcher
UI designer
Design Process
Understanding the Problem
User Interviews
As a user of the app, I had my own list of frustrations, but I wanted to get input from other users of the app. As a personal project, I reached out to five colleagues of various ages and backgrounds, all of who are regular users of the app. My goal was to learn the context of use, what they enjoyed, their painpoints and any other opinions they had of the app. From their answers, I can then work on a redesign to address the usability issues.
Evaluating Question Responses
Insights
User Stories
Since I did not have time to redesign every feature of the app and the ability to collect data, I wanted to focus on the critical parts of the product; therefore, I created user stories. These user stories will help me validate my designs later and keep them on the right track.
Scenario 1
The current home screen does not have useful information for the user. To get the most out of the app, the new home screen will be geared towards the user’s usage. This will include a total overhaul of the home screen.
Scenario 2
The current icons Venmo uses are not universal symbols so it confuses the user about what each icon will lead to. Two of the four do not relate to mobile paying or the social aspect. The icons will be redesigned so users have a better idea of what they are clicking.
Scenario 3
In this scenario, the user will interact with multiple screens selecting their contact, selecting the bank account, and then viewing the confirmation screen. This will include redesigning the transaction flow.
Wireframes
Before creating the mockups on Figma, I drew out potential wireframes on a whiteboard. These redesigns addressed the issues mentioned in the user stories.
Mock-Ups
My goal was to provide a visual experience that feels minimalistic and modern. I did not want to go off-brand, thus keeping the Venmo color palette to retain the same app's holistic feel. There was a home screen and transaction overhaul to address the usability issues of the previous design. Below you can see the explanations of the changes in the design.
Takeaways
I would like to do another round of usability testing to get feedback on whether the redesign was the best solution to the issues the users had. I would explore if there are any other money features the users would enjoy. With the millions of users, Venmo has the capability to teach users more about the money they are sending or requesting.