INTRODUCTION
Gratuity is an application that I have developed for my final project at Coventry University. Gratuity is a digitised tipping service that allows its users to have full flexibility in exactly how much they would like to tip and to whom. Tipping itself is noticeably a corrupted system, which you shall see me discuss in my rationale. Gratuity’s aim is to flip this system on its head by giving the freedom of decision to the customer. Gratuity makes tipping a choice instead of an obligation. By creating a digital solution, the user can then decide to leave a tip on their own terms. Based in my hometown of Hitchin, Gratuity utilises the sense of a community to launch the app small scale where I know first-hand it is a necessity. This small-scale launch then would act as stepping stone for launching into the whole UK in the future.
Alongside this app will be a website that hosts a link to the app itself and an explanation on how exactly the app works. The website also acts as a platform to educate its users on the ethical reasoning for why Gratuity is needed, allowing them to gain a greater understanding of tipping in general and Gratuity’s place within it all. The app was created using the Unity engine and the website was developed using Wix.
RATIONALE
The basis of my rationale comes from my own experience from working within the Hospitality industry. Starting as a waiter in a pub at 18, I realised very quickly that the tips I had earnt were not really mine as management would often intervene. Although it would then be split throughout the company to pay bar staff and the kitchen, I still felt as though there must be a better system in which tipping can be handled. From this, the idea of creating a digital application for tipping came about. By having tipping based on an app it would allow the customers to have complete freedom in choosing where their tip would go and allow the staff members to receive the tips they deserved.
By reading further into this topic, I had realised just how much the system of tipping was allowed to be corrupted due to the lack of government regulation. There are technically no UK laws in place that say how tips should be handled. Rather, just a ‘code of best practice’ (Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, 2009) with loose rules that companies are supposed to follow. This loophole means that companies are able to take advantage and claim tips to be paid back into the companies. Big names such as "Zizi ,Ask, Bella Italia, Café Rouge, Strada, Belgo and Giraffe take 10% of their staff’s tips" (Moore, 2015). With the UK tipping economy being worth £25 billion pounds a year (Joe, 2020) and with no laws and regulations in place it means that something else must change the system of tipping in the UK. That’s where Gratuity comes into play. Gratuity works by completely separating management from the tipping process to ensure that only the staff members that the user decides to tip will receive the money. Gratuity lays no claim to any percentage of the tips, it instead charges a licencing fee to the businesses themselves so they can then be linked to the Gratuity name. Think of it as a label similar to fair trade as Gratuity works as an ethical symbol on how tips should be handled.
A huge focus of the rationale behind Gratuity is the consideration of the History of tipping itself. Though technically beginning in 17th Century Tudor England (Wachter, 2008), tipping truly found its footing in America after the civil war. The end of the war led to the freedom of thousands of slaves across America and with this came a huge population of freed slaves looking for work. A lot of the work found by these free people was often in unskilled jobs within the hospitality industry on the railroads and in cities. However, business owners were then able to take advantage of this situation by not paying this new workforce. Instead they would be paid only in the tips they’d receive. This immediate suppression on an entire race of free individuals is sadly where the roots of tipping come from, standing as a representation of the destructiveness of post colonialism (Fanon, 1967). America is therefore representing “the inhumanity of Europe” having “grown to appalling dimension” (Fanon, 1967). Spanning from the upper-class echelon’s, meant these individuals were able to use tipping as a form of both racial and class suppression against those who had only just been freed from slavery. Sadly, this distressing history could be seen as reflective of today. Even when viewing tipping in a modern perspective, you see it is often somewhat a form suppression. Without sounding too Marxist, the obligations of tipping stand as the modern form of petty bourgeoisies suppressing the working class through this obligation. It is then enforced by those in the upper echelon’s or bourgeois through systems in place that force tipping to go on. Companies such as Pizza Express adding an obligatory 12.5% service charge(Pizza Express, N/Al) and this misconception that a 10% tip must be left only echoes the post colonialism of the past.
Gratuity is in place to turn this classist system on its head by breaking down what tipping is. The point of Gratuity is that you should have the opportunity to praise a service that you feel deserves gratuity. Not a misconceived obligation that you should give your spare change to those that serve you. By allowing the user the complete freedom in selecting who they would like to tip and exactly how much they would like to tip it begins to break down these barriers. This is what Gratuity’s ultimate goal is as it is something often unconsidered by the masses when they leave a tip. By educating and introducing a new system of tipping Gratuity combats this worldwide problem thus becoming a hugely important factor in why gratuity is needed.
FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITIES
The main function of my app is to allow the user to tip certain staff members at a certain venue. This can then be split into 3 functions of my app. These being; venue selection, employee selection with tipping amounts and a dynamic multi choice payment system. All pages of the app feature a header which contains buttons for the quick access to the basket and a go back button so that the app is easily traversable.
Venue selection
The venue selection takes place on the first page that opens up on the app. It allows you to see a map of Hitchin with markers on the map signifying which venues are participating in Gratuity. On the bottom half of the page is the list of participating venues that act as buttons to allow the user to select the venue of choice. The simplistic design takes inspiration from apps such as Wetherspoons (JDWetherspoons, N/A) but formatted to allow for Gratuity selection rather than purchasing food and drink. The easy to understand features ensure that the user will not miss-select the wrong venue as they are able to reference both the map of Hitchin and the named venues.
Employee selection with tipping amounts
The employee selection with tipping amounts feature is spread across 2 pages. The first being the employee page that allows the user to choose between a range of staff members to leave a variable tip amount to. Each staff member is displayed with Their name, job title and a photo of themselves to allow for complete understanding of the where the users money is going. By using photos and writing it opens up my app to those less abled that would perhaps struggle with just text (Rebuen, West, N/A). Having the group selection allows for the user to tip an entire team of kitchen staff for example, whilst also allowing them to select individual members.
Once the user has made their selection they will click the tip button which leads to the basket page. This displays a receipt and allows the user to see exactly how much they’ve tipped each individual and total amount spent. Although a simple feature, this basket system is essential for transparency with the user to ensure they know exactly how their moneys being spent. This receipt information is also needed for the payment feature to allow me as the developer to have a record of where the tip goes.
Dynamic Multi Payment Feature
Finally, the multi payment feature takes you to a couple of pages starting with the payment selections page which enables the user to select between using contactless or paying in app. This is to allow the user to choose their preference in a situation that requires you to tip. The total is also featured on this page to again allow transparency. There is also the opportunity for the user to donate a pound to Amsnesty.uk which will be added to the total. This also further reflects the ethical standing Gratuity takes within the app. Once one of the payment options has been selected by the user it then activates a script within my code that allows me to receive an email with the users tipping information. This enables me as the developer to have a record of the money and allows me to then split the amounts between the chosen staff members.
Depending on your payment selection you will be taken to one of 2 pages. The Contactless scanner page displays the total and a message asking the user to gain the attention of a staff member to bring them a gratuity contactless scanner. The staff member will then be able to see the total on the users screen and type this into a separate phone which will run the Square up POS app (Squareup, N/A). This app connects to the contactless Square scanner to allow for the payment to be made. Due to the fact that I have already received payment information through an email only the total is needed to make the payment. As the developer I will then be able to match this total on my Square up account with the total on the emails to ensure that the payment has been carried out.
AUDIENCE
The audience for Gratuity is not based on a specific age range or gender but instead on my hometown of Hitchin. More specifically, it is aimed towards the more technology savvy members of Hitchin. By looking at social media pages for the local community such as We Are From Hitchin Hertfordshire (Russel, 2021)
. You can see that my audience is tailored more for the members of Hitchin between the ages of 16-65. This is due to the fact that they tend to be the most active on these community pages and so would be more likely to use an app. The only other factor that comes into play when considering my audience is the population that tips. Whilst in general it is seen that an older demographic is more likely to tip (Ibbetson, 2020) from my personal experience as a waiter in Hitchin, I would say that younger people are just as likely to tip and so my audience is considerate of a broad range of ages. Only the 5% of Britons who refuse to tip (Ibbetson, 2020) would most likely not be considered for Gratuity. Considering this as my audience for the future of Gratuity, the age range would remain the same but I would aim to introduce more communities around Hitchin and the surrounding Hertfordshire area. This would allow for steady growth within my market whilst still Making sure that Gratuity remains community focused.
User Journey
Gratuity app demonstration
Gratuity User Journey
USER TESTING
From my user testing in 3029 MAPA I was able to find out information based on my user interface and how exactly I was able to implement payment. With the implementation of payment, I was able to find the best option would be to include both an in-app payment and a contactless scanner, suiting the two most popular preferences when it came to tipping options. This user testing became essential to my app as the flexibility in how payments can be made became a core feature of the app itself. However, there was still the opportunity to improve on my user interface and so for my second round of user testing I had decided to focus on this. Previously, I had asked volunteers to compare 2 designs, a minimalist one and more detailed one, and give them a rating out of ten and why. I then compared these results to one another to see which ones the user preferred. For my second round of testing I asked exact same questions however, rather than comparing 2 and then deciding a favourite from the results, I used it as an opportunity to find out which specific parts of my interface needed improving. I was then able to use this criticism to improve on my app. I invited the same volunteers I had used last time as they were all part of my audience being members of Hitchin. They also had a familiarity in what Gratuity was and how the app worked which made the criticism a lot more specific as they had already experienced the app. Additionally, rather than just using screenshots from Adobe XD I had the benefit of getting my users to test the interface through using the app itself. I was able to guide them to my website containing the link to the APK for my app allowing them to get a much better feel for the interface. One issue was encountered due to the fact that a few of my users only had Apple phones and I had built my app to run on Android however, thanks to borrowing friends and relatives Android phones, we were able to overcome this hurdle. Once completed I was able to clearly see which of my pages scored lower on the ratings and so needed fixing. I was able to then compare this data with the users reasons why to pin point exact issues I would need to fix with my interface.
USER TESTING RESULTS
User testing continued
As you can clearly see from the results it was my staff selection (page 2) and my payment selection (page 4) that needed improvement. From the comments, I was able to specify exactly what didn’t work for these two pages. The main problem with my Staff selection page was that my users felt that the pages were slightly overcrowded with photos, especially for the top groups of staff selection. This was a simple fix that just required me to delete some of the photos to make the page feel less crowded. The payment selection page scored lower due to the Amnesty UK donation text being cut off by the phone. This is something that I had not actually realised at the time due to the fact that I had only ran my app through the computer and so I had left the text too close to the sides. This complaint seemed to be the only complaint across any of the other pages as there was a problem with Widgets and cameras on certain phones cutting off the headers and buttons. This again is an easy fix and required me to simply move everything away from the sides of the screen taking into consideration widgets and the bevel around the screen.
Overall, I had received mainly positive feedback on my app. Users particularly enjoyed the colour pallet as it feels relative and reflective of a tipping app. Also, the layout of buttons and text was praised as it gave it an ‘Appy feel’. The constructive criticism allowed me to find mistakes I hadn’t necessarily noticed at first, such as the edges of my app. You can see the improvements made on these points in my development process.
DISSEMINATION
For my dissemination, I had originally planned for a huge focus on using the local community of Hitchin itself as the key driving force. However, due to the impact of Covid-19 and a third UK lockdown, all of this had become impossible. I had intended to use Local hospitality businesses to be able to Garner up attention by the use of Gratuity stickers, posters and the general word of mouth that can be expected from a small community. This would’ve then led me to community events such as Hitchin’s monthly Food festivals (streetfoodmonthly, 2019) and street festivals as a platform to be able to present my app to the people of Hitchin. The Local Food festivals would’ve drawn in my exact target audience as it would’ve been members of Hitchin who clearly show interest in the local hospitality industry. The exact kind of people who would regularly make use of Hitchin’s Venues and therefore the perfect audience for my app. However, as mentioned, due to the third lockdown all Festivals and meetings in general were cancelled. However, this problem can only be fixed with time. As lockdown restrictions are slowly being lifted, the potential for my preferred route for dissemination opens up again. To carry out my project in the future I would not change any of these plans but instead will just give the world time to go back to normal.
Despite this, I was still able to make a website designed and created for customers that would allow them to find out a vast array of information on Gratuity. Representing the ethical reflections of Gratuity, the website contains information such as the history of tipping and what Gratuity is trying to do to change the future of tipping. There is also information surrounding the lack of government regulation on tipping and how Gratuity is trying to combat that. This side of the website was designed to be able to educate the people of Hitchin on tipping as a whole to allow them to see the necessity of Gratuity. On top of this the Website acts as a platform to be able to view and download my app.
Another factor I wanted to add onto my website was a video containing a variety of workers within Hitchin’s hospitality industry to garner their opinions and a discussion on tipping. However, due to the impact of lockdown and only being able to organise Zoom calls rather than in person interviews as intended, only a few of these interviews were able to be organised at great difficulty. Being in lockdown organising something like this logistically becomes a lot more difficult as people are a lot less reliable if you are not able to talk to them in person. Again, this is a problem that can only be fixed given time.
At the moment I have not created social media pages for Gratuity. This is due to the fact that Gratuity is to be released in my hometown of Hitchin and I already had access to a sizeable customer base through my personal social media pages. I had planned on using my own social media as a platform to spread information on Gratuity as the customer base would be a lot larger than I would’ve been able to create if I had made a brand-new social media page. This was to be the beginning and as more interest is garnered I would then proceed with a social media page. It must also be mentioned that I would want to create the social media platforms in the future as it would allow me to have the funding to be able to advertise properly to my local community. With prices ranging from £5 a week to £50,000 a week on facebook (Buisness help center Facebookr, N/A) his price range is currently too high for me as I have zero funding for my project. Therefore, with time given to garner an audience and potential funding, Social media would become a much more viable option as I would have the ability to advertise.
FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS
Due to the variety of constraints during the final project caused by time, finances, a lack of technological knowledge or the restrictions caused by Covid-19 there was much that I was unable to complete for my final project. However, if I were to carry it on in the future without the effect of these constraints I would focus on a few key factors.
Fully Fledged Payment System
Although I was able to run a fully-Fledged payment system on my app it wasn’t exactly as I had planned and this would be something I would want to improve on in the future. Due to my unfortunate lack of skill in Android studio it led me to creating my app in unity. This meant that I was unable to use Squares payment APIs as its only available in android studio using Kotlin coding. You are still able to pay using a WebView box linked to PayPal and the user is able to use the contactless scanner by running the Square app on a staff members phone. However, if I were to take Gratuity on in the future I would want these features to be fully implemented into the app itself. So, to achieve this I would need to create my app in android studio but from my own experience I know that I would be unable to do this on my own. What I would look to do is perhaps hire a team of app developers, fluent in kotlin and android studio, who would be able to use the app that I had created in Unity as the example and re-create it in android studio. This would then allow for a fully integrated payment system within the app making the process of Gratuity as quick and easy as is possible.
Finances
It must also be mentioned that for the future of Gratuity funding must be taken into consideration. Having funded the whole project by myself I had to cut corners due to financial constraints. This includes not being able to afford a licencing fee of £25 to allow me to post my app on the play store. I also had to run my payment system on both square and PayPal due to a square reader being around half the price of a PayPal contactless reader, whereas I would prefer to have all payments come through one system. The cost of hiring a team to create my app on Android studio would be the largest spend and so funding would be necessary to carry on with Gratuity. Funding that I could potentially seek out through something like the Coventry City of Culture fund (Heart of England, 2021) . This would then require me to change my locality from Hitchin to Coventry. I would then have access to up to £10,000 pounds which would easily cover the cost of Gratuity and perhaps allow for a small amount to be spent on advertising.
Another cost i would be able to cover is the premium subscription on my Wix account. Costing £108 for a years subscription i was unable to afford this for my final project but for the future of Gratuity i would pay the premium costs. This will allow me to get set my own domain name and get rid of any wix adverts to make sure my website looks professional.
COVID-19
It is also worth mentioning that due to the restrictions of Covid-19 I was unable to carry out the majority of the community aspects of Gratuity. With community events and the impact of lockdown I was unable to reach out to the people of Hitchin as intended. By planning to use community events such as the monthly food festival in the future, it would allow for the gradual spread between communities as I focus on more on word of mouth rather than the reliance of online advertising to gather an audience.
CONCLUSION
Overall, I am very happy with how my project has turned out. I feel as though I have created a one of a kind application that is able to keep its ethical standing as its core feature throughout. Although I had experienced a lot of hitches throughout my project, thanks to the help of my supervisors, I was able to overcome these hurdles. Time management perhaps could’ve been handled better when considering the amount of time spent on Android studio but from this I was able to plan out my time much better. I feel as though the problems I had experienced were huge learning curves for me. Not only in a literal sense with my skills in software such as Unity and Android studio improving, but also in a more personal sense. This is by far the largest project I have ever worked on myself and has taught me a huge amount. Time management must be mentioned but also allowing for flexibility in such a huge project as this is important. Creating a plan whilst also knowing everything can change allows for this flexibility and is a skill I will most certainly carry on into a working environment.
Although many features such as a video showing the opinions of tipping through Hitchin’s hospitality industry had to be sacrificed due to mitigating circumstances, I still feel proud of what I have achieved. Though there may be a few bugs, as I wasn’t able to carry out thorough user testing, I feel happy to be able to use what I have created as a basis into the future of Gratuity. With a larger team and greater funding, I genuinely believe that my app could have a great impact on Hitchin and eventually the rest of the country.
REFERENCES
Buisness help center, f. (N/A) How Much it Costs to Advertise on Facebook [online] available from <https://www.facebook.com/business/help/201828586525529?id=629338044106215&ref=fbb_budgeting> []
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (2009) National Minimum Wage: Code of Best Practice on Service Charges, Tips, Gratuities and Cover Charges [Act of Parliament]
Fanon, F., 1925-1961 (1967) The Wretched of the Earth [online] . Harmondsworth: Harmondsworth : Penguin
Heart of England (N/A) Coventry UK City of Culture Fund [online] available from <https://www.heartofenglandcf.co.uk/coventry-uk-city-of-culture-fund-apply-as-an-individual/> []
Ibbetson Connor (2020) Who, and how Much, should You Tip in Britain? [online] available from <https://yougov.co.uk/topics/economy/articles-reports/2020/06/30/who-and-how-much-should-you-tip-UK> []
JD Wetherspoon (N/A) Wetherspoon App [online] available from <https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/wetherspoon-app> []
Joe (2020) Tipping Around the World: International Attitudes and Etiquette [online] available from <https://www.thebigdomain.com/big-journal/tipping-around-world> []
Moore Suzzanne (2015) 'We have Two Options. Tip Properly – Or Protest for Better Pay for Waiters'. The Guardian.Com [online] 10/08/. available from <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/10/waiting-staff-pizza-express-tips>
Pizza Express (N/A) Do You Add a Service Charge to the Bill? [online] available from <https://www.pizzaexpress.com/help-and-contact/do-you-add-a-service-charge-to-the-bill> []
Russel Mark, and Russel Chrissy (2021) We are from Hitchin Hertfordshire [online] available from <https://www.facebook.com/groups/wearefromhitchinherts/> []
Square up (N/A) Square Point of Sale [online] available from <https://squareup.com/gb/en/point-of-sale> []
Street food monthly (2019) Hitchin Street Food Monthly [online] available from <https://www.facebook.com/streetfoodmonthly/> []
Wachter Paul (2008) 'Why Tip?'. NewYorkTimes [online] 9/10/. available from <https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12tipping-t.html>
West Richard, and Reuben Saul (N/A) How to use Pictures to make Your Work More Accesible. available from <http://oxleas.nhs.uk/site-media/cms-downloads/EASYINFOpictureguide.pdf>