Timeline: June-November 2023 (6 months)
My role: I completed this project as part of Springboard’s UI/UX Design course. I conducted all research and design as a team of one.
Scope: User Research, Data Synthesis, Ideation, Information Architecture, Sketching, Prototyping, User Flows, Wireframing, Usability Testing, Branding, Visual Design
PROBLEM
In an increasingly geo-flexible world, people are traveling more frequently and for longer periods of time. At the same time, about 35% of the U.S. population are renters, who may find themselves in the position of paying both their rent and for lodgings at their travel destination. In order to offset costs, people attempt to sublease their living spaces, which can be a stressful process.
SOLUTION
Creating a centralized platform that streamlines subleasing logistics and fosters trust and rapport through relationship-building.
0. Process
1. Research
In order to contextualize the problem space, I started by conducting desk research on data points and trends in travel and renting in the U.S. However, when it came to the topic of subleasing — I was surprised to find a dearth of information. What I found were real estate articles providing best practices when subleasing one’s living space and research on the negative, gentrifying impacts of short-term vacation rental platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO.
User interviews
I decided to turn to user interviews next in order to…
Gain a better understanding of how renters currently go about subleasing their living space, and where there are pain points (process)
Discover whether renters were utilizing existing platforms during this process (competition)
Whether the ability for renters to sublease their living space affected travel-related decisions (impact)
Insights
"[In order to find a sublessee] I’ll reach out to friends and post to Facebook groups, then follow up with people, have initial conversations, follow-up conversations, confirm whether the timeline aligns… it’s a lot of logistical, social, and emotional labor.”
Who I talked to:
Number of participants: 6
Age range: 24-37 years old
Screening criteria: Renters who have tried to find a sublessee for their living space in the past two years
After conducting remote interviews, I used affinity mapping to synthesize my research and arrived at some key insights:
💡 3 out of 6 renters mentioned using more than 3 channels to publicize their living space as being available for subleasing. This led to feelings of stress and overwhelm as they attempted to manage communications and coordination in multiple places.
💡 4 out of 6 renters said they preferred to or had subleased to friends or people with mutual connections because they could rely on social accountability and felt more comfortable inviting them into their living space.
💡 2 out of 6 renters referenced gentrification and local housing crises, revealing a level of awareness regarding how their decision to sublease has a local impact.
💡 Subleasing their living space gave renters the emotional bandwidth and financial capacity to do things that mattered to them.
User voices
“One thing I see a lot in this city is the main tenant charging way more rent to sublessees by saying they don’t require certain paperwork — they’re ripping people off and taking advantage of the housing crisis here.”
“When I had housemates, I preferred to have friends sublease so we could maintain the house ‘vibe,’ and it feels better to have someone you know when it’s your room with all your stuff.”
“Subleasing mattered less when I had a high-paying job, but now it’s potentially the decision-factor on whether I take a trip or not.”
User personas
I was still having some trouble developing personas from my insights, so I decided to try empathy mapping in order to delve deeper into the participants’ internal landscapes.
🔑 I realized that some participants focused more on avoiding the pain of paying “double rent,” while others were motivated by the desired gains of traveling spontaneously and living a geo-flexible lifestyle. This led to the development of two personas: “Conscious Carolina” and “Adventurous Ava.” Ultimately, I decided to focus on “Conscious Carolina” as the primary persona in crafting the MVP, since she would benefit more from a solution.
2. Ideation
Next, I crafted a How Might We question in order to frame and inspire my brainstorming process:
HMW reduce feelings of stress and overwhelm that renters encounter while navigating the subleasing process?
I decided that an effective solution would tackle the challenge from two sides:
Logistically, I would streamline and centralize the subleasing process with features such as guided listing creation, interview scheduling, and payment processing
Emotionally, I would emphasize positive relationship building by intentionally integrating interviews into the subleasing process
🔑 One of the key decisions I made was whether to shape Abode as a marketplace or a social forum, since most participants were currently using Facebook, Instagram, etc. to find sublessees. In order to orient myself, I focused on the fact that the end goal for renters was to secure a sublessee in order to offset their rent. I decided that Abode would best serve this objective by being a marketplace. Social features could be integrated in future iterations.
Brainstorming
User Stories
In order to identify the core functional features for the MVP, I compiled a list of user stories and prioritized them according to high-level user goals. At this point, it also became clear that a user could have two roles: a lister and a seeker.
A lister’s high-level goal is to secure a sublessee in order to offset their rent
A seeker’s high-level goal is to secure a temporary living space that fits their needs (e.g. location and budget)
🔑 Since subleasing is a multi-step process between two parties where some of the activities occur IRL (e.g. an in-person viewing), I found it helpful to storyboard in order to conceive the entire user journey, including which parts of it would occur on the app.
User Flows
In order to visualize and organize how users would achieve their goals in the app, I created user flows for 5 “red routes” for users to complete core tasks. These are:
Create an account
Create a listing
Search for a listing
Create a sublease offer
Review a sublease offer
User flow for account creation
3. Prototyping
I developed a series of sketches centered on the red routes I had identified, utilizing the user flows and the sitemap I had built in order to produce the information architecture of the app.
Wireframing
Before continuing further in the design process, I conducted five guerrilla usability tests in order to collect feedback on whether users could successfully complete essential tasks with a clickable Marvel prototype.
The most significant findings from the testing were:
The unique bottom navigation I had created for lister and renter roles, which I thought would improve the user experience by dividing the app experience into specific “modes,” was actually causing confusion
Participants didn’t understand why they were being asked to schedule their interview availability
I subsequently incorporated the feedback into digital wireframes and wireflows, which also prompted me to consider what types of input controls, navigational elements, and informational components I needed to add for user interactivity.
Updated wireframes for account creation now includes screens that explain Abode’s value prop, including why users schedule interviews.
Sketching
4. Validation and Iteration
Usability testing
I conducted an additional 2 rounds of remote usability testing, each with 5 participants, in order to uncover any further issues users might encounter completing essential tasks. I also created testing scenarios in which users had to engage with multiple flows to complete a task in order to verify whether my designs adequately guided them through critical transition points.
These tests were humbling and helpful in reminding me that my mental model for how I thought tasks could be most efficiently completed were not necessarily true for participants. Below are 3 issues I discovered, along with my proposed solutions and results in subsequent rounds of testing.
…
Solution: I incorporated a screen towards the end of the account creation process which asked users their reason for using Abode. Users looking for a living space would be directed to the “Search” page, while users who wanted to list their living space would land on the “Manage” page at the end of the account creation flow.
Results: 100% of participants successfully created a listing as a first-time user in a subsequent round of testing. However, two participants commented on the desire to see other users’ listings before being sent directly to the Manage page after account creation in order to have “more context” and to “confirm the legitimacy of the app.”
Issue 2
Several participants expressed confusion when they saw the confirmation screen that their listing was “published” after they scheduled their interview availability because they assumed that the “created” confirmation in the previous screen also meant their listing was publicly available.
Solution: I updated the confirmation screen language to “You’re almost done” to avoid confusion regarding the status of their listing. In addition, when a user decided to navigate away from interview scheduling after their listing was created, I made it clear that the process was still incomplete with a red exclamation icon.
Solution: I created a path for sublease offer creation through the “Candidates” tab, where users could review a candidate's profile and then click “Create an offer for candidate.”
Results: No users voiced confusion regarding the status of their listing after the implementation of this solution. However, half of the participants expressed the desire for an added feature that would connect their calendars to the app or integrate a pre-existing scheduling system that was familiar to them, such as Calendly.
Issue 3
While I had created a path for listers to create a sublease offer through the “Offers” tab on the “Manage” screen, every participant attempted to go through the “Candidates” tab to proceed with the offer creation process.
Results: 100% of participants were able to create a sublease offer after implementing this solution. There was one participant who navigated first to other screens (“Messages” and “Calendar”) before tapping on “Manage.” This indicates that I may need to continue considering additional avenues for listers to proceed with offer creation.
Issue 1
First-time users must create an account before creating a listing. However, the account creation flow ended with the user landing on the “Search” screen. This caused confusion and led to participants attempting to enter their own address in the “Location” bar if their initial task was to create a listing.
5. Refinement
Branding & Visual Design
Abode’s visual design is inspired by its mission and vision:
Abode envisions a world where people can live their fullest lives while always having a place to call home. We facilitate a peer-to-peer subleasing process focused on trust and positive relationships.
I put together a mood board with imagery and UI elements to inspire my visual design that reflected Abode’s desired brand attributes: exciting, warm, inclusive, empowering, and trustworthy.
Abode’s primary brand color is Lush Monstera, which is evocative of the popular houseplant. The deep green communicates a visual sense of groundedness and connection, while also providing a strong contrast to white in order to adhere to accessibility standards.
The brand personality of Abode can be likened to a knowledgeable friend or approachable field guide in the subleasing process, which is conveyed through rounded UI elements, no-frills typography, and the use of illustrations.
High-Fidelity Mockups
Finally, I used the style guide I had developed in order to efficiently create high-fidelity versions of my wireframes.
6. What’s Next
7. Reflecting on the Journey
Overall, this project gave me an opportunity for the practical application of my skills in the end-to-end UX design process. The key takeaway I have from this six-month project is that it is critical to continue referring back to the research by leveraging synthesized outputs such as affinity maps, empathy maps, personas, and the HMW questions to aid in prioritizing design decisions, avoiding feature creep, and checking one’s own biases.
Finally, I was encouraged by participants' repeated queries on whether I was actually planning on launching Abode in the final round of usability testing because they would love if such an app existed!