RentA Home
Helping Young Adults Find Their Next Home
Sarah Yates
Project Duration: 10 weeks
Tools: Google Docs, Google Slides, Miro, Figma, Zeplin, Lookback
SLIDE
Challenge Overview
Finding a new home to rent can be one of the most stressful processes in life, especially if you are on a strict time limit! Despite the numerous methods for house hunting available these days (Estate Agencies, websites, apps, and the most old school method, ads in the paper), young adults are finding it difficult to find the right place in time.
Going to Estate Agencies is useful, but time consuming and limited to a small area. Using websites are very promising, but inconvenient when out and about. However, using an app allows users to search various areas with their own specific criteria easily anywhere and at anytime. However, with the House Hunt apps currently available, users still find issues that arise with the number of filter options available or unavailable during a search.
Our goal is to develop an app that encapsulates all the positive aspects in the available products and makes the process of online house hunting a simpler one for all users. Our main target users for the RentA Home App are young working adults in their 20s looking for a new home to rent, be it a first home, or just their next home. However, this app can be used by people of all ages looking for a new place to rent.
Research & Analysis
The majority of the research part of this project was conducted through interviews and usability testing. By conducting interviews at different stages of the design process, I was able to adjust my design to fit the criteria users were looking for.
The first set of interviews helped me gain a basic design layout and concept for the RentA Home App, the main insight gained from this interview was that the products currently available did not always provide users with a varied enough selection of filters to use during a house search. This prompted me to dive deeper to see what kinds of filters in particular users within my target group were really looking for, their essential filters.
The second interview focused more around user behaviours and preferences while using these apps. This was done to gage what the preferred layout for different pages would be, how they interacted with certain features and their general satisfaction with the available products. Once this was completed I was able to put together a design based on the best aspects of current products to try and optimise users search experience while house hunting.
Design: Concepts & Sketching
Inspiration for my design was found through my own experience with house hunt apps, the participants in the interviews conducted, and through aspects in different apps available for a wide variety of services. I wanted to be able to provide users with a wide variety of options, but also keep the main pages relatively minimal and to the point. Using pop up menus and dropdown boxes allowed me to do this. Sketches were drawn up with some inspiration found on Mobbin then refined to fit my design prototype.
Test: Validation, Usability, Feedback
The user testing carried out throughout this project was mainly interviews and usability tests with both medium and high fidelity prototypes. With these tests I was able to gather insights in how users interacted with the app designs and see what required amending to make the app easier to use.
It also brought up points that had been overlooked or missed during the initial design sprint, such as:
Iterations
Throughout this project, the designs for the main search page has been iterated after receiving feedback from interview participants and usability tests. However, some of the unique features were kept but made more user friendly to incorporate more of the search filters, or make the the screen layout flow more seamlessly. Towards the end, the colour scheme was amended slightly to make it more accessible to all potential users.
Prototyping
Please see my Clickable Prototype here to get a better feel for the app. This design was a culmination of the user research and testing conducted, with tweaks made at each turn to try and better the experience. The colour palette was kept minimal to give the app a simple yet sophisticated feel when being used.
Solution & Impact Overview
After having decided on the final layout, the High Fidelity prototype was amended to indicate to users which filters were absolutely essential and which were additional filters as during the final user testing carried out on Lookback, it was determined that not all the filters users had previously deemed essential were in fact necessary to their individual searches.
Looking back on the design, I believe the user icon on the top right should show a small menu with account settings and any messages from landlords or agencies regarding property enquiries. The design feels simple and easy to use, yet efficient with the options available and information provided. However, moving forward with this project, I can see where some further features could be improved upon to truly make this an app worth using.
Again, please click here to test out the current prototype.
About Me
Hello, my name is Sarah. I have a strong background in Customer Service so know what it takes to keep customers / users happy with products and services available to them.
As I am just starting out in the User Experience field, I am open to a variety of different projects so I can gain experience and see where I fit in and in what kinds of niches I am best suited.
I enjoy learning about different languages and cultures and feel that this would be a great attribute as it gives me a unique perspective on how to interact with all kinds of people.