Abode
Developing an online community marketplace simplifying subletting logistics for a seamless experience.
DURATION: 6 months
ROLE: Research, UX, UI
O V E R V I E W
Problem
Solution
In an increasingly geo-flexible world, people are traveling more frequently and for longer periods of time. At the same time, about a third 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 complicated and stressful process.
Creating a centralized platform that streamlines subleasing logistics and fosters trust and rapport through relationship-building.
R E S E A R C H
Desk research
In order to contextualize the problem space, I started by conducting desk research on data points and trends in travel, renting, and subleasing in the U.S. I found that…
34% of U.S. households are renters
Of these renters, more than 40% are cost-burdened by rent, meaning that more than a third of their income is spent on rent and utilities
People who can work and study remotely are traveling more frequently and for longer periods of time
Unfortunately, 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)
I prepared…
Synthesis
Insights
User personas
Some insights worth mentioning are:
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The affinity mapping also helped me develop two main personas based on their differences in timeline and budget: Planner Paloma and Spontaneous Sara. Paloma represents a more budget-conscious renter whose decision to travel is heavily impacted by the ability to sublease her living space, while Sara considers finding a sublessee as more of a “nice-to-have.”
From the behavioral perspective, Paloma is more motivated to find a sublessee and benefits more from a solution, which is why I decided to focus on her persona as I crafted the MVP.
A research plan
A screener
And a discussion guide
Then, I proceeded to conduct 6 remote interviews to hear firsthand from renters about their subleasing experiences:
To analyze the user interviews, I created an affinity map. Responses were categorized into common themes in order to gain insights that would assist in the design process moving forward.
50% of 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.
66% of 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.
80% of renters confirmed that subleasing their living space gave them the emotional bandwidth and financial capacity to do things that mattered to them.
I D E A T I O N
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?
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
Brainstorming
User Stories
Storyboarding
In order to start identifying the core functional features for the MVP, I compiled a list of user stories and prioritized them according to high-level user goals in order to keep the design focused on their needs.
MVP Prioritization
User Flows
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.
Then, I honed in on 6 user stories that were necessary for listers and seekers to achieve their goals and add business value to determine the minimal viable product (MVP). Written from the users’ perspectives, they are:
Next, I created user flows to visualize and organize how users would achieve these core tasks in Abode.
Through this process, I decided to combine a couple of the user stories into one user flow for each the lister and seeker so I ended up with 4 user flows.
This was because I wanted to test whether building interviewing into the main app flows would work since a core idea behind Abode was to foster trust and rapport through relationship-building, which would ideally lead to a reduction negative behaviors such as ghosting that contribute to user stress.
User stories list
As I was writing out user stories, it also became clear that a user could play two specific 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 these two parties — a lister and a seeker — where some of the activities occur IRL (e.g. an in-person viewing), I also found it helpful to storyboard in order to conceive the entire user journey, including which parts of it could occur on the app.
P R O T O T Y P I N G
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.
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 2 most significant findings from the testing were:
1. 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.
Wireframing
2. Participants didn’t understand why they were being asked to schedule their interview availability.
I subsequently incorporated the feedback from guerrilla usability testing 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.
Sketching & Guerrilla Testing
V A L I D A T I O N & I T E R A T I O N
Usability testing
Issues & Updates
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.
Testing led to 3 major improvements based on user feedback.
⚠️ 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.
🛠️ SOLUTION: 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.
📊 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.”
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⚠️ 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: 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.
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⚠️ 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.
B R A N D I N G & V I S U A L D E S I G N
Mood Boarding
Color Palette
Typography
UI Elements
Iconography
Illustrations
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 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.
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 WCAG accessibility standards.
The brand personality of Abode can be likened to a knowledgeable friend or approachable field guide in the subleasing process, which informed my decision to use no-frills typography, rounded UI elements, and friendly illustrative elements and iconography.
I selected SF Pro for the typeface because its clean, modern, and highly legible design enhances readability, ensuring a smooth and intuitive user experience.
Illustrations add a sense of delight when users complete a task or series of task within the app.
High-Fidelity Mockups
Finally, I used the style guide I had developed in order to efficiently create high-fidelity versions of my wireframes.
W H A T ‘ S N E X T
Continued Iteration & Testing
Additional Features
Other Launch Considerations
Since Abode is a peer-to-peer subleasing platform, I’d be interested in continued testing with a larger group of renters to see how the app experience is influenced by user-generated content (i.e. listings) and real-world interactions (i.e. interviews).
In addition, I would screen for and expand testing with users who align with the “Adventurous Ava” persona to see how these “extreme users” respond, which could push me to come up with more creative solutions in future iterations.
Once the requirements to launch a successful MVP are met, I would explore the addition of features that further streamline the subleasing process, such as calendar integrations for interview scheduling and household profiles that aid information-sharing and coordination between users who live together (i.e. housemates).
In addition, because trust is key to Abode, I would also explore the ability to import data on relationships from social platforms (e.g. Facebook, iOS contacts) to showcase pre-existing relationships between users.
Continued research would have to be conducted to shed light on legal, financial, and operational factors that would influence the viability of a product like Abode. For example, there are different legal considerations when it comes to subleasing in different cities, states, and countries. Abode also requires ID validation as a part of the onboarding process, which would require building a relationship with a third-party authentication service.
R E F L E C T I N G O N T H E J O U R N E Y
My Thoughts
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!