— PLATFORM
Web App
— ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES
Team project with Eva García
and Alba Fernández.
My work:
Reference document
Affinity map
User flows
Branding
Hi-fi wireframes
— TIMEFRAME
1 month
Looking for a place to live can cause many headaches. Both, the tenant and the homeowner face each other to get the best deal. But, is it an affinity matter?
La Casamentera is a design concept of a digital tool to improve the housing search experience through a matching system between tenants and owners.
New home…many headaches
Problem
Many Spanish homeowners have to request the services of real estate agencies to avoid being scammed.
Consequence: The tenant ends up paying an abusive amount of fees.
Let´s imagine anyone looking for a home, like Daniel; Or someone who´s a homeowner like Remedios.
What physical, digital or ethereal tools they would use?
Benchmark & References
To answer this question we prepared a reference document, that helped us recognize in certain similar digital platforms, with common elements, or design patterns, such as:
-The search bar at first level
-The location
-Visible price
-The value of high quality photos
-Contact with homeowners
-Search customization
User Research
With a survey, we gathered 45 answers of people who had used digital products for their home hunting to validate our hypothesis learned from our desk research. Then, decided to have an interview session with a homeowner to obtain qualitative information.
“The most important thing is that the question has to speak to participants’ behavior that repeats itself.”
Validating Product Ideas Through Lean User Research, Tomer Sharon
The Lean Survey Canvas
helped us make sure to ask the right questions to find out what our user really needs.
Fear of scam
User Research Insights
-93 % of people do not contact the homeowner if the post does not have pictures.
-The price, the location and a good quality of the images are important elements for the user to make a decision.
-There is a fear of fraud or scam.
Protojourney
We can consider the protojourney as one of the tools that helped us the most to identify the user's needs and opportunities.
-The value of showing the surrounding view (maps), to the user.
-Customized search (visible filters)
-The results of this search, displayed according to the affinity with the user (matching).
-Optimization of the advertisement published by the owner.
-Blog with content to help people find relevant information.
Affinity diagram
We took all the results, grouped them according to affinity by topic and identified 4 main categories:
-Features
-Visibility
-Accessibility
-Content
Defining an MVP
MoSCoW
We had a lot of possible features. So, we though the MOSCOW method will helped us prioritize, but did not help us much. However, we considered those that already match the design patterns identified with the references.
Value Proposition Canvas
The value proposition allowed us not to lose focus on what the users really need and the essential solutions to solve the major problems they have, maximizing the benefits.
Information Architecture & User flow
Content separate in two sections according to the user’s intention: One for people who are looking for a property and another for people who are promoting, renting or selling a home.
Different main actions: rent, sell and buy, as well as the registration and the blog that will improve the platform SEO positioning.
User flow
Wireframes
Mid fidelity wireframes allowed us to have a more detailed interaction and the possibility to test it with real users. Also, helped us identify some specific needs to rethink, such as the interaction design and useful content.
The user, when looking for a new home, tends to do it from different locations. For this reason, we defined the product as a web app, making sure that it suits to a responsive design. In addition, we get other advantages such as:
-No need to download an app that you may only use occasionally.
-It can be used from anywhere.
-Developing a web app reduces the budget.
-The possibility of having an internal chat feature.
Branding & UI
Our goal was to generate a welcoming feeling through warm colors and illustrations that gave a sense of comfort.
The name “La casamentera” came up taking in mind the main concept of our product. The idea is that our product serves as a “matchmaker” identifying the ideal affinity between users and their desired home.
Usability test
Guerrilla usability testing
We asked several student friends, who had already experienced home hunting, for their help in testing our product.
Result: The registration form turned out to be a bit long and the user felt overwhelmed.
Solution: Reduce the cognitive load dividing the content into three screens.
Prototype
Home
Search engine, followed by a brief explanation of how our product works and how it can help the user.
Search
The user is presented with a suggestion to register, and in this way obtain customized results through the matching.
Registration
Fill in according to the user preferences, habits and tastes, receiving a registration verification.
Results
Results that best match user preferences.
La Casamentera
You can play the video to watch the animated prototype
Next steps
User testing. As a priority we have identified to continue testing the responsive design and the affinity matching system.
User profile. Make improvements in the structure of the content of the user profile for both the tenant and the owner profile.
Content blog. Analyze the feasibility of including this section in the launch phase.
Marketing. Define a launching strategy for our product and create a good database.
Learnings
As an architect I already had some design concepts learnt and the value of research, context analysis, and the user's needs in terms of spaces. However, designing for digital devices is another story:
Lean philosophy and design thinking tools.
The value of empathizing at an emotional level with the user.
The challenge to decode the mental models of users when they can be very heterogeneous and unpredictable.
Teamwork is essential in the process. Thanks to Eva García and Alba Fernández for your valuable work.
Creating a product from scratch, implies a strategic design approach, always focused on the user and the value proposition.