Role
Duration
Tools Used
DISCOVER
Moving to a new place is a multifaceted process that presents unique challenges at every stage. Initially, I assumed that the most critical issues would be related to practical issues, like packing.
Interview Questions
But after interviewing four participants, all renters (between the ages of 21 and 31), I found that..
While the focus was on practical issues like finding potential homes and hiring movers, each interviewee highlighted emotional or relational stress related to sharing a space with other people.
‼️ That's when it became clear I needed to shift my research focus.
THE PROBLEM
As living costs rise, more people are turning to roommates every year.
We've all come home to a pile of dirty dishes too many times to realize that without a clear system, responsibilities are often neglected, causing frustration and conflict within the household.
Framing the Problem
How might we help motivate those living with roommates successfully manage their household responsibilities?
THE SOLUTION
Homii is a chore management mobile app that takes care of reminding roommates by serving as a centralized platform to assign, remind, and track household tasks.
SOLUTION 01
View all your key metrics in one intuitive dashboard.
SOLUTION 02
Easily assign and balance tasks between roommates.
SOLUTION 02
Monitor roommate progress with activity rings and keep everyone motivated and accountable.
DEVELOP
Adjusting to limitations
After a few brainstorming sessions, I explored several ideas but quickly recognized that solutions like the "Post-its" approach would be more complicated and less practical.
So, I stuck with a mobile app as the most viable solution.
Conducting a card sort with 4 participants revealed how users instinctively categorize and organize information (and also challenged my initial assumptions and highlighted differences in expectations), eg. where to find your pending chore list.
This helped as a guide to craft the user’s journey and flows, making for better usability, e.g. navigating how to mark a chore as completed.
Finally, I created the first draft of more polished, detailed screens with interactive components that might closely resemble the finished product.
These screens were used for the first round of prototype usability testing.
I then conducted a series of moderated and unmoderated usability tests with 5 different users to collect valuable feedback and simultaneously iterate on the design as testing continued.
I focused on selecting elements that convey warmth, motivation, and a sense of productivity.
I'd dedicate more time to the UX research phase. In hindsight, investing additional time in research would have helped me create more targeted and effective designs, or different solutions all together. I understand that in real-world scenarios, time and resource constraints can limit the opportunity for extensive research, so I approached it with that limitation in mind.
Thank you for reading!