Skip to content
Trending Topics: Personal•Travel•Tech•Ramblings•Raspberry Pi

Tag: Just Eat

Payment terminal screen showing large buttons for 10%, 15%, and 20% tips with a smaller “No Tip” option, illustrating dark pattern design in tipping prompts.

When Payment Design Becomes Persuasion (Part 3 of 3)

A modern payment terminal asking for a tip may look like a simple choice. But behind that screen sits decades of behavioural research, UX design, and subtle psychological nudges. As tipping prompts spread through global payment systems, the question becomes harder to ignore: are we choosing to tip… or being guided there by design?

Illustration of an American and British diner arguing about tipping culture at a bar, symbolising the debate over tipping expectations.

The Tipping Escalation Ladder (Part 1 of 3)

Tipping used to be a simple thank-you for exceptional service. Today, it increasingly feels like something else… suggested by payment terminals, engineered into apps, and socially enforced in ways that quietly shift labour costs from employers to customers. In this piece, I explore what I call the Tipping Escalation Ladder and ask whether optional gratitude is becoming engineered expectation.