SITI
Wayfarer
Designing Wayfarer, a product that helps friends share rides without creating social debt.
A product concept that makes everyday ride sharing feel fair, comfortable, and effortless by removing the awkwardness of discussing money.
Project overview
Marvelous Meal is an end-to-end mobile experience that connects recipe discovery, pantry management, and grocery planning into one streamlined workflow.
The project focuses on helping users with dietary restrictions make faster, safer meal decisions while reducing food waste and duplicate grocery purchases.
Roll
Timeline
Team
Tools
Platform
End-to-End Product Designer
4 weeks
Independent project
Figma
iOS Mobile App
​Challenge
“Sharing rides with friends is common, but talking about money rarely feels comfortable.”
Passengers often want to contribute but don't know when or how much to offer. Drivers may quietly feel taken advantage of after repeatedly giving rides, yet hesitate to ask for reimbursement. Over time, these unspoken expectations create invisible social debt that can strain otherwise healthy relationships.
Existing payment apps solve the transaction, but they don't solve the conversation.
How might we make cost sharing between friends feel natural instead of transactional?
Product Vision
Help friends keep rides fair without keeping score.
The goal isn't simply to split transportation costs. It's to preserve friendships by reducing the emotional friction surrounding everyday ride sharing.
Research Insights
Interviews and surveys revealed that users struggled less with finding recipes—and more with managing everyday cooking constraints.
01
Safety comes first.
02
Existing ingredients are difficult to remember.
Users evaluate recipes by allergy compatibility before considering taste or appearance.
Many participants purchased duplicate ingredients because they could not remember what was already available at home.
03
Time determines cooking decisions.
Even appealing recipes are ignored when preparation time exceeds what users have available.
04
Recipe discovery and grocery shopping are disconnected
Users frequently switch between recipe apps, kitchen cabinets, and shopping lists before making a purchase.
Target Users
Young professionals (22–35)
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Frequently drive friends or coworkers
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Regularly go to dinner, hiking, Costco, airports, or weekend trips together
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Value fairness but dislike discussing money
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Prefer maintaining relationships over calculating every dollar
Design Principles
01 Relationships come before transactions.
The product should strengthen friendships, not turn them into financial exchanges.
03 Fairness matters more than exact amounts.
People care less about perfect accounting than feeling that everyone contributes fairly over time.
02 The system starts awkward conversations.
Instead of asking users to request money, the system gently initiates contribution suggestions at appropriate moments.
04 Appreciation, not obligation.
Every interaction should feel like gratitude rather than debt collection.
Design Goals
Goal 01
Reduce the emotional friction of discussing transportation costs.
Goal 02
Encourage fair contributions without requiring manual calculations.
Goal 03
Make recurring ride sharing feel sustainable for both drivers and passengers.
Decision 01
Let the system start the conversation.
Why
Users consistently avoid asking friends for money because initiating the conversation feels socially uncomfortable.
Solution
Instead of waiting for either person to bring it up, the app recognizes recurring ride patterns and offers a neutral contribution suggestion.
The recommendation comes from the system—not from the driver.
Decision 02
Track shared rides, not outstanding debt.
Why
People often remember favors differently, leading to perceived unfairness.
Solution
The app visualizes ride history and overall contribution patterns rather than displaying who owes whom.
This shifts the focus from debt to balance over time.
Decision 03
Design for reciprocity, not reimbursement.
Why
Friendships aren't transactional.
People often express appreciation in different ways.
Solution
Instead of only sending money, users can choose to:
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Split gas
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Cover parking
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Buy coffee
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Drive next time
The goal is to encourage contribution rather than enforce repayment.
Success Metrics
Instead of measuring payment volume, the product focuses on reducing social friction.
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Increase contribution acceptance rate
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Reduce manual payment requests
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Increase recurring ride sharing
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Improve users' perceived fairness after shared rides
Final Experience
Experience 01
Personalized onboarding
Users begin by providing household allergies, commonly available pantry items, and cooking preferences so recommendations are personalized from the start.
Experience 02
Finding the right recipe
Recipes are ranked around household constraints instead of popularity, helping users quickly identify meals that are safe and practical.
Experience 03
Shop only for what's missing
Instead of generating a complete grocery list, the app compares recipe requirements against pantry inventory and recommends purchasing only missing ingredients.
Usability Testing
Five moderated usability sessions revealed three recurring friction points that informed the final iteration.
Finding 01
Users overlooked allergy information
Observation
Iteration
Outcome
Participants focused on recipe images before noticing allergy compatibility.
Moved allergy indicators closer to recipe titles and increased visual emphasis.
Safety information became part of the initial scanning process.
Finding 02
Ingredient quantities felt difficult to adjust
Observation
Iteration
Outcome
Users struggled to modify quantities using small controls.
Enlarged touch targets and displayed quantities more clearly.
Editing became faster and required fewer repeated interactions.
Finding 03
Users wanted more control over shopping
Observation
Iteration
Outcome
Participants expected to review and edit automatically generated shopping lists.
Added manual editing and quantity adjustment before checkout.
The shopping experience felt more transparent and trustworthy.
Reflection
Lesson 1
Constraints create better recommendations
The most valuable part of the experience wasn't offering more recipes—it was helping users eliminate unsuitable ones earlier in the decision-making process.
Lesson 2
Automation still requires user control
Even when recommendations are accurate, users expect the ability to review and modify shopping decisions before purchasing.
Lesson 1
Designing for households is different from designing for individuals
Supporting multiple dietary preferences introduced product decisions that would not exist in a single-user recipe experience.
Future Opportunities
Future iterations could explore recurring commuter groups, calendar integration, and lightweight ride detection while maintaining the product's relationship-first philosophy.