Local

As the 4th most populated densely populated region and the second smallest major city in the United States, rent has become a major problem. In short, demand and prices are pushing people outside of the city.

Solution

Lease by room instead of units

Through user testing, I identified a demand for affordable residential housing. I addressed this issue by providing homeowners with the option to rent individual rooms and flexible mid-term leasees. This opens up the pool of potential people and introduces accessible housing for the city of Boston.

discovery

Understanding the root cause

Boston's real estate market has been rapidly increasing post-pandemic. The average cost to rent a 2 bedroom is $3460. Several market reports suggest several factors such as remote work and unemployment as contributing factors to the surge.

discovery

Breaking down the competition

I analyzed the 4 most popular websites for searching for apartments. Looking at both at the browsing experience, trends, and differentiators to identify positive and negative design patterns as I am building out my website.

💡 Key takeaways

The business model of direct competitors rely on promoting and advertising higher-ranking units.
This approach sidelines smaller property owners while prioritizing larger businesses.

Discovery

Understanding real user's painpoints

I conducted user surveys among people who have lived and rented in the Boston area to gain qualitative insights into their preferences, challenges, and experiences related to the rental experience.

How often do you look for a new place to rent?

25 participants (poll quesiton)

Annually

30%

Occasionally (every 2-3 years)

20%

Very rarely (3+ years)

20%

I try not to move around

30%

What's the most stressful part of your search?

Open-ended question, and answers categorized from in an affinity diagram

Price concious

30%

Encountered obstacle along the way

20%

Can't find what I'm looking for

40%

Quotes from the survey

"Finding a place in my budget, finding roommates."

Anonymous

"Getting a reply back from agents or contacting posted apartments that are no longer available."

Anonymous

"Finding reasonable places that aren’t too bad of a commute to and from work."

Anonymous

define

Mapping out touchpoints and functionality

To outline all the necessary functionality I created a simple flow diagram using industry standards identified in the competitive analysis. This helped me understand the step-by-step process of the flow and identify areas where I can improve the usability of the product in areas where my competitors failed.

ideate

Visualizing features and placement

Once the flow diagram was established, I started creating low-fidelity wireframes of the main flows in order to visualize the hierarchy of the features and elements.

💡 Key takeaways

During discovery, I uncovered a demand for transparency of requirements during the vetting process. By analyzing user flows, I identified potential areas, such as the listing page, where a redesign could enhance transparency and improve the user experience.
I also identified a segment of users who relied on 3rd party platforms such as Facebook in order to find roommates for two-bedroom units, enabling them to secure more affordable rental options

Testing

Validating my designs and iterating on them

To validate my design decisions and identify pain points and areas of improvement, I set up the prototype with 3 volunteers.

Study finding: Unclear solution

2 out of the 3 participants did not grasp the alternative solution that I was proposing and they also experienced difficulty in locating the feature on the search results page.

Prototype update: Redesigned the feature for the landing page

The homepage underwent a redesign to prominently display the solution offered by the site. Additionally, the room filter was implemented into the search bar of the homepage to streamline the user experience and make it more convenient for users to access and utilize this feature.

Study findings: No system feedback

During testing, feedback was shared regarding the uncertainty and responsiveness of the prototype while navigating and interacting with the links.

Prototype update: Interaction and modals

Incorporating user feedback, I redesigned and enhanced the website by introducing hover effects and models that appear after an action is performed to provide the user with a responsive feedback.

WCAG compliance

Following WCAG guidelines I also evaluated the site for accessibility to match AA standards. Here is an example of one of the changes implemented following my evaluation.

conclusion

What went well

During the project, I managed to evaluate the market, do a quick user survey, perform a mini usability study, create a set of low-fidelity wireframes, connect them into a prototype and build them out to high-fidelity designs. In the last checkup round, I also did an extensive QA audit focusing on consistency and color contrast with regard to accessibility.

Lessons learned

This project taught me the importance of properly framing the problem. My inexperience led me to go back and forth between multiple design solutions that did not properly tackle the core user problem. This project was a crucial step in my UX journey and has instilled a deep appreciation for user-centered design.