Steve Kim

INTRO

As an active jobseeker/worker working in a busy and active industry, I found myself in situations where I had to consider relocating to a completely new environment.

I noticed that there were plenty of real estate and roommate search apps, but none of them had a clear goal of improving the relocation experience of its users. I decided to design an app that would focus on helping users relocating to a new environment at ease.

With the above in mind, I arrived at a core design question that needed to be answered through this project:

How to successfully design an app that will not only house all necessary information and functions needed for relocation, but maintain a visually satisfying, clean design layout?

RESEARCH & INITIAL ASSUMPTIONS

I decided to begin by looking at some competitors for analysis.

• Room8

  • Verification through SNS - Ensures safety between users to some extent, but what about users that created an account through email?

  • App assumes you are seeking a roommate - Some users may not want to live with a roommate at all

  • Roommate friendly features - Useful filter options that considers conflicts caused by preferences and differences, like smoking, pet friendly, etc.

• Roomi

  • Location is limited to New York only

  • App does not provide any other options of living without a roommate - Again, this may become a problem for users seeking to relocate without a roommate

  • Verified users are clearly labeled as verified users - Very useful when users need to find a roommate in order to relocate

• SpareRoom USA

  • Account activation is required for full access to the app - Ensures safety and acts as a form of verification to a certain extent, but still lacks safety

  • Roommate finding app - Like all of the other apps explored above, this is a roommate finding app. I need to consider additional functions that is focused on relocation

Next, I decided to conduct user research through interviewing people of various backgrounds. These interviews were conducted in person, by phone, and email.

GOALS & MVPS

Based on the above research, I developed 3 main goals and some MVPS for this project.

• Provide a streamlined and safe relocation experience that is hassle-free and easy to use

• Establish a community that users can rely on

• Explore different tools and functions that will help users relocate and adapt to the new environment

• MVP: User Profile & Safety

  • As a user, I want all users to sign up to the app with strict identity checking

  • As a user, I want to make sure all users and potential roommates I meet online are verified users

• MVP: Browsing Listings & People For Relocation

  • As a user, I want to browse listings that people have posted throughout the world

  • As a user, I want to be able to use filters to pinpoint the exact listings I want to find

• MVP: Relocation Assistance Tools & Adaptation

  • As a user, I want to use tools that will help my relocation experience

  • As a user, I want to find out ways how I can adapt to new environments

• MVP: Clear Visualization & UI

  • As a user, I want to see clear & uncluttered UI to enhance the overall experience

  • As a user, I want everything to be simple and straight forward

END USERS

Users that are looking to relocate to a new environment will be the primary users. Typically most users - especially when inexperienced with relocating or lacking knowledge of the area of relocation - are highly likely to face frustration.

FLOW CHART

Using the acquired information and goals, I began by developing a flowchart in order to map out the project in detail.

WIREFRAMES

I used the developed flowchart as a guide to develop wireframes; many revisions took place during the initial low-fidelity and mid-fidelity wireframes to these high-fidelity wireframes.

USER TESTING & REVISION

By performing user testing before finalizing the design, I was able to identify a pain point I had not seen before. A lot of the users found that the “social groups” function was expected to be in the “social” tab, which makes perfect sense even in terms of wording. I decided to migrate the social groups function into the social tab, and added another screen where users would be able to see the different social group genres. With this change, I had to make a bold decision of moving the chat function completely away to the header and replacing the main page of the social tab.

FINAL MOCKUPS

STYLE GUIDE

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPE

CONCLUSION

This project was a great exercise that kept me excited and keeping deadlines I had set up for myself. Thorough research and feedback allowed me to focus on the users experience, eventually helping me to pinpoint the core values of this conceptual product. Although it seemed a bit too ambitious at some early stages, I was truly happy to see myself tackling through challenges, learning, and designing with a user centric mindset.