Team
Isabella Raffo Pedraza
Kaitlyn Tran
Ryan Myint
Sebastian Vega
Adeline Ly
Role
Project Lead
Timeline
Jan - May 2025
Skills
Figma
User Research
Interaction Design
Prototyping
many users have expressed concerns about cluttered navigation, excessive social features, and limited control over privacy settings.
The Problem
Venmo is a mobile payment platform that allows users to send and receive money quickly, often used among friends for splitting bills, rent, or shared expenses.
While the app is widely popular for its convenience and social feed...
Our goal was to examine how Venmo's interface could be improved to better align with user needs, especially around ease of use, privacy, and feature visibility.
I served as a Project Lead in a team of five designers, co-managing the overall project while also focusing on the redesign of the profile user flow to improve clarity, accessibility, and user control.
How might we improve Venmo’s layout and navigation to make key features more discoverable while streamlining the app’s functionality for a more seamless user experience?
Our Design Process
Here are the steps we followed...
1. Identify
2. Research
3. Ideate
4. Test
5. Refine
6. Reflect
Content Customization
Educational Content
Ease of adding new contacts
Ease of group transactions
Organization
Utility
Notification Accesibility
2
Yes
Easy
Medium
3
5
2
3
Yes
Easy
Easy
2
4
3
3
Yes
Easy
Medium
2
3
5
3
Yes
Easy
Easy
4
5
3
1
No
Easy
Hard
5
5
5
Research
Competitive Analysis
To better understand the market landscape and uncover areas for improvement, we conducted a competitive analysis of other mobile payment platforms.
Each team member focused on a different app, I analyzed PayPal, examining its features, strengths, and weaknesses.
User Interviews
We interviewed 15 college students who had previous experience using Venmo.
Some of the questions we asked were:
Personalization
General Use
Social
General Use
-
What are your most common transactions?
-
Have you ever used any other payment apps besides Venmo that you prefer using? If yes, what app was it and what did you like about it?
Personalization
-
If you could change or add one feature to Venmo, what would it be?
-
Do you prefer a minimalist or feature-heavy interface for Venmo, do you like interfaces/features from other apps? If so, which app(s) and what features?
Social
-
How do you feel about seeing other people’s transactions on your page?
-
Have you ever used Venmo’s bill-splitting feature? How was that experience?
Findings
As a team, we wrote down insights based on our interviews and survey responses.
Then, we completed an affinity mapping to find reoccurring and similarities between our findings.
User Insights
After organizing our research findings, we identified recurring patterns and came up with three main insights to help guide the redesign.
💡
Insight 1: Organization
Users prefer a minimal layout that highlights essential features for a streamlined experience, but a lack of awareness often causes them to miss key Venmo features, indicating a need for improved visibility.
💡
Insight 2: Social
Most users show little interest in others' transactions or engagement features while wanting better privacy control, highlighting the need for clearer, customizable settings in Venmo.
💡
Insight 3: Privacy and Security
Users prefer fast transfers or keeping funds in their bank account over a Venmo balance, emphasizing the need for greater security and trust.
How might we streamline Venmo’s interface to highlight essential features, minimize unnecessary social interactions, and provide greater privacy and security controls for users?
Personas & Journey Maps
Once we had a clear idea of what we were solving, each team member created a user persona and journey map to better understand and connect with our target audience.
This is the one I made:
Social Sam
Biography
User Needs
Pain Points
Sam, a college junior, balances classes, a part-time job, and an active social life. She shares an apartment with two roommates, splitting rent, groceries, and takeout. On a tight budget and busy schedule, she prefers simple, efficient, and secure apps to manage her finances. While she relies on Venmo, she finds some features unnecessary and wants clearer privacy settings.
A simple, intuitive layout with key features easy to access.
Clear privacy controls to ensure her transactions are private by default.
Rarely engages with Venmo’s social features, finding them irrelevant.
Worries about accidentally making transactions public due to unclear privacy settings.
Doesn’t like keeping money in her Venmo balance and prefers fast transfers to her bank.
20
🎂
Champaign, IL
📍
Full-time Student
💼
Opportunities of Improvement
Social Sam
User Journey
struggles to find bill-splitting tool because of the features organization
discovers that it takes up 1-3 days to transfer the money into your bank without fees
HMW give users more control over the social feed by allowing them to opt out or toggle its visibility?
HMW make bill-splitting more accessible and visible from the main page of the app?
HMW ensure privacy settings are clear and default to private for all transactions?
How might we streamline Venmo’s interface to highlight essential features, minimize unnecessary social interactions, and provide greater privacy and security controls for users?
Ideation
Information Architecture
Before moving into wireframes, we created an information architecture to guide the app’s reorganization.
We didn’t just restructure existing features, we also introduced new ones to enhance the overall experience.
Home
Search
Social
Private
Notifications
Friends
Friend’s List
Add Friends
Transactions
Friend’s Profile
Venmo
Pay/Request
Pay
Request
Split
Search
Edit
Create
Favorites
All Groups
Transactions
Banks & Cards
Profile
Balance
Crypto
Venmo Cards
Settings
Lo-Fi Wireframes
Once we had the project structure, we began translating our plan into visuals, starting with rough screen sketches before moving into Figma for digital design.
We exchanged feedback as a group, then refined our ideas into digital lo- and mid-fidelity wireframes.
Home
Friends
Pay/Request
Split
Profile
Transactions
Social
You Paid Jason Miller
You Paid Nick Slader
You Paid Sophie Kim
Sarah just bought a new
Dyson Hair Dryer!
James just bought a new
Elkay LZS8WSSP!
-$20.00
-$10.00
+$50.00
2d
2d
2d
1hr
5hr
D
Search
People
Favorites
Mateo Castro
@teo_ma
LeBron James
@the_goat23
Aaron Vanderbilt
@train_master365
Adam Nam
@track_ster
A
B
C
Notifications
You have Received a
Payment from Kenny Kim
$20.00
Payment sent to
Nick Slader
-$10.00
10hr
Deposited
+$50.00
5d
Chase Bank
$
Payment sent to
Tania Baker
-$34.00
7d
Withdrawal
-$20.00
9d
Chase Bank
$
You have Received a
Payment from LeBron James
+$1000.00
13d
Payment sent to
Mateo Castro
-$30.00
14d
Withdrawal
-$40.00
3w
Chase Bank
$
1hr
Withdrawal
Withdrawal
-$50.00
-$25.00
3w
1mo
Chase Bank
Chase Bank
$
$
Withdrawal
-$20.00
9d
Chase Bank
$
Withdrawal
-$40.00
3w
Chase Bank
$
Withdrawal
Home
Friends
Pay/Request
Groups
Profile
Search
Friends
A
B
Friends
Friends
Name
Add Friends
Transactions
Name
Name
Name
Name
Add Friends
Transactions
Home
Friends
Pay/Request
Groups
Profile
Home
Friends
Pay/Request
Groups
Profile
Search
QR Code
Suggested
Name
Name
Name
Name
Name
Name
Name
Name
Name
Name
Name
Name
Friends
Add Friends
Add Friends
Transactions
Home
Friends
Pay/Request
Groups
Profile
Search
Pending Transactions
Completed Transactions
Name
Name
-$20.00
-$5.00
Name
Name
Name
+$10.00
+$2.50
-$90.00
Friends
Transactions
Transactions
2025
2025
Add Friends
Home
Friends
Pay/Request
Groups
Profile
Groups
Search
Favorites
View all ->
Name
Name
Name
Name
General
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
Favorite
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Favorite
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Favorite
2 Groups Selected
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Group Name
You’re all paid up!
Favorite
2 Groups Selected
Hide
Mute Notifications
Report Group
Leave Group
Transfer Ownership
Group Name
Add an expense
2 People
name, name
Members
Activity
You’re all paid up!
0
$
XXX joined the group
10m
You joined the group
2hr
You created the group
3d
Group Name
Add an expense
Name
Name
2 People
name, name
Members
Activity
You’re all paid up!
0
$
XXX joined the group
10m
You joined the group
2hr
You created the group
3d
Name
@username
Balance
See all transactions
Banks & Cards
Balance
Transfer
Add Money
0
US$
Crypto
Learn more about Crypto
Buy
Receive
US$
0
Home
Friends
Pay/Request
Groups
Profile
Explore More Crypto
PayPal USD
US$1
+ 0.00%
PYUSD
Bitcoin
US$86,481.63
-0.49%
BTC
Ethereum
US$2,046.28
+ 0.78%
PYUSD
show more
To watch
To Read
Crypto Scams
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Check phone numbers, links, and emails before acting.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Do your research.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Make sure you send crypto to the right person.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Learn more about...
Cash vs Crypto
1 min read
Name
@username
Balance
See all transactions
Banks & Cards
Linked Banks & Cards
Venmo Cards
add new
Home
Friends
Pay/Request
Groups
Profile
Transactions
Completed
2025
Name
-US$12
Mar 15
Name
-US$10
Mar 4
Name
+US$12
Mar 3
Name
-US$40
Mar 3
Name
-US$35
Mar 2
Name
+US$20
Mar 1
Name
Mar 23
-US$80
By name, note, emoji
Test
Usability Testing
Before moving forward with the final product, we conducted a usability test to validate our ideas and refine anything if needed.
We interviewed users and observed how they interacted with our low- and mid-fidelity wireframes. Here’s some of the feedback we received:
“I like your solution for the crypto tab. It makes more sense on the profile rather than having its own tab on the navigation bar.”
“I think having an entirely separate page for group splits is a good idea because the group feature has many functions, and hiding it under Profile/Me does not make sense.”
“LOVE that you split up user transactions from friend transactions and it was done in a way that is intuitive, yet still present for the few that are nosy. ”
“I was not aware there was a transaction history in the app so I appreciate that it is more visual in this redesign.”
“The reorganization of the wallet and Venmo card also makes much more sense.”
“I really like being able to select and edit multiple groups at once. It feels redundant if I need to do it one by one with multiple groups.”
“The reorganization of the wallet and Venmo card also makes much more sense.”
Refine
Hi-Fi Wireframes & Prototyping
With the feedback we got, we finalized the project by refining our designs and prototyping.
The Solution
Home
Personalized favorite people
Private and public transactions separated
Notifications now on home page for easy access
Friends
Faster way to pay frequent friends
Suggestions from contacts
Quick switch between tabs
Split
Preview favorite groups
View all members
Edit groups all at once
Profile
Crypto under Venmo balance
Space to prioritize other features
Easier access to other articles
Transactions more prominently displayed
Reorganization of wallet
Venmo cards under Banks & Cards
Transactions less cluttered in a new page
Reflection
What Have I Learned?
1. Trusting my own decisions as a leader.
-
Took on my first leadership role, guiding a full UX/UI project while learning to balance team input with confident decision-making.
-
Grew my leadership skills through hands-on experience and thoughtful collaboration.
2. Building good team dynamics.
-
Learned that open communication and building trust beyond the project were key to strong collaboration.
-
Encouraged connection within the team, making the process more effective and enjoyable.
3. Working on a heavy user research project.
-
Led research through interviews and usability tests, translating insights into clear, user-centered design decisions.
-
Deepened my understanding of how solid UX research shapes meaningful design outcomes.