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COMPONENTS
Connection
Transparency
Usability
OVERVIEW
Introducing ROOT, the website designed to help people find their next rental or sublet, while building connections.
Role: Research UX/UI Timeline: July-Sept 2023
The Problem
People need a safe, reliable, and easy way to find rentals and sublets. Currently people face issues with scammers, websites not being up to date and not being able to build community when moving somewhere new.
DESIGN PROCESS
Discovery
Research
Debrief
Design
User Testing
Present
PROPOSAL
Design an app built to help people of any age find the most suitable rental or sublet. The app should serve as a way to find a place without having to vet out scammers while connecting to real people in a user friendly way.
GOAL
I’m a paragraph. Double click here or click Edit Text to add some text of your own or to change the font. Tell your visitors a bit about your services.
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Vet the user: People spend too much time on some sites dodging scammers, we want to ensure quality users so people aren't wasting time
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Connect the User: A common pain point amongst people in interviews was the lack of meeting new people in the are
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Create a user friendly experience: When an app has too many things on it it can get overwhelming, this app is pretty straight forward and designed in a way that's visually pleasing and easy to navigate.
Affinity mapping
After interviewing four people with different backgrounds, I made an affinity map. I asked these people similar questions about their experience with moving to a new place and this was the data I came up with and organized:
User Persona
I came up with two User Personas, but I am showing one (to the right). We are only looking at this app from the point of view of a renter not a tenant.
Journey map
STAGE 1
STAGE 2
STAGE 3
STAGE 4
STAGE 4
Lisa needs to sublet a spot in Colorado for 4 months w/ her bf.
She went on a Facebook market place page to find a spot, but wasted too much time on scammers.
Lisa then went on Roots where she verified her account and saw most people on it were verified.
After that, she added some friends, saw two sublets open and decided to FaceTime both people.
Lisa found a perfect sublet in her budget & made a new friend in that area.
Storyboard
1.
"can't wait to move to Texas for 2 months!"
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Tony is subletting his place for two months while he travels.
He's scared to let a stranger live in his place with his nice things.
Tony loved setting up his app and is impressed by how easy it is to use
He then FaceTimed a dozen people and found a perfect fit to sublet his place. He also made some new friends!
After using the app, Tony made new friends and trusts who he's renting to.
"wow so easy to use"
his friend Alex suggests an App he used called Roots because it allows you to get to know people before subletting
This shows the layout for any pages, videos, and other files on my app, and the relationships between them.
USERFLOW
BRANDING
Primary
Secondary
LOW-FI wireframes
Sign Up Page
Home Page
Property Page
Sign In or Sign Up
Profile Page
This part took me a long time, it's where I really started to flesh out my ideas and how it could all come together cohesively. Once I got all thes sketches down, it was a lot easier to do the next steps. The wire frames did evolve in every step, but I think this was the most important step because it helped me actually begin the process.
MID-FI WIREFRAMES
Mid-Fi Wireframes were the bare bones of the project, this part was quick and made it easier to flesh out the actual usability part before getting more into the details of design in Hi-Fi.
Opening Page
Home
Property Page
Sign Up Page
Log In Page
Hi-FI wireframes
After a few basic tests, I moved into Hi-Fi Wireframes. This part was tedious but easy, I wanted all designs to be consistent throughout my app. That includes, colors spacing and more, it took me rechecking my work several times to make sure no small mistakes were made. The hardest part about this section was making sure all wireframes were connected correctly in a way that was very user friendly.
click above photo to see wireframes
User testing
I tested my high fidelity Design on 10 people, age 24-64. I sat down with them and asked them all similar questions, then asked them to complete the same tasks. Everyone found it easy to do, user-friendly and well designed. That being said, almost all participants gave me helpful feedback on parts that could be improved or made more clear. I took those into consideration and made a few edits to my final Prototype which I can show below.
User testing
After user testing :
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Change 1:
I changed the Home Screen so the user can immediately browse, instead of choosing if they want to login or sign up. I did this because people said they were more likely to continue using the app if they could actually look at properties and be drawn in.
Change 2:
Users think they're more likely to sign up if they get the option to sign up through other platforms because it's more convenient
TakeAWAYS
This project was eye opening. My biggest takeaway is that it takes the right process to get to the right solution. You really can't skip all the steps and dive into the solution because more than likely you will end up solving the wrong problem. My research made it easy to verify I was moving in the right direction throughout the process and connecting with others gave me new perspectives and ideas and that were essential to my solution. No matter how much we think we know, we can always learn more from people around us.