My Role : UX designer leading the app and responsive website design from conception to delivery
Product : Compass is a rental home website that offers real estate services like finding and managing rentals. The typical user is between 20-50 years old, and most users are early work professionals and families. Compass’s goal is to make rental home searching easy and fast for all type of users.
APPROACH
User Research
I conducted user interviews, which i turned into empathy maps to better understand the target user and their needs. My main focus was to find out what features a user typically investigates when they search for new location. I discovered that many target users find trust issues when moving to a new location. Many user who are trying to rent their house need someone reliable to do all the paperwork for them.
Problem Identification
Available rental websites have cluttered website, inefficient way to navigate through homes and confusing application process.
Finding a new place can be difficult, especially when most of the world is under lockdown. Compass provides the opportunity to select a house according to their requirement without physically being there.
Solution
I conducted a number of seprate user interviews. I researched their habit of money management and the platforms they use to get assistance.
USER PERSONA
Meet the users
Miranda is a busy mom / small business owner who needs to find a safe place close to work because she needs a safe neighbourhood for her kids to grow and also she can spend more time with her family.
Rio is retired school teacher who finds it difficult to manage all her rental properties. She finds it frustrating finding people and doing all the repair works.
User Journey Map
Miranda needs to find a house in a safe neighbourhood
User journey map maps the Mirandas journey from start to finish by tracking her steps, feelings and things she would like to do differently
SITEMAP
Difficulty with website navigation was the primary pain point for users.
So, I used that knowledge to create a sitemap. My goal here was to make strategic information architecture decisions that would improve overall website navigation. The structure I chose was designed to make things simple and easy.
WIREFRAMES
Sketching paper wireframes
I sketched out paper wireframes for each screen in my app keeping the user pain points about navigation, browsing and completing an application in mind.
Sketching for various screen size(s)
Because Compass’s customers access the website from a variety of devices, I started to work on designs for additional screen sizes to make sure the website would be fully responsive.
Digital Wireframing
Moving from paper to digital wireframe made it easy to understand how the redesign could help address user pain points and improve the user experience. Prioritizing useful button locations and visual elements placement on the homepage was the key part of my strategy.
Usability Test Findings
Based on the insights of the usability study, I made changes in the site to view neighbourhood information for each house. The neighbourhood information included safety score, walking score, school score and transit score.
Neighbourhood : While viewing each house in detail, the users wanted to explore the neighbourhood and know about its safety and other details.
Schedule Visit : Before filing out the rental application, users wanted to schedule a visit with the real estate agent along with sending an enquiry.
Application Form : Users felt the application process was a lots of steps and wanted to make it simpler.
REFINING THE DESIGN
Mockups
Based on the insights of the usability study, I made changes in the site to view neighbourhood information for each house. The neighbourhood information included safety score, walking score, school score and transit score.
High Fidelity Prototype
My high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype, and included design changes made after usability study.
How it works
0.1 Search
Name the type of home or location you are looking for in the search bar
Our app will find you the perfect match.
0.2 Choose you perfect property
From the number of options our app will provide, you can select any property that you would like to explore
0.3 Book your property
Find a home or space from our search bar. Enter property type, price range and other such details. Schedule tour with the agent and fill in the application. Simple!
0.4 Rental Listing
What did I learn?
Every details matter - The visual hierarchy between your elements, the smallest piece of copy, the order of things : everything needs to be thought through and clearly explained.
Listening to people - My biggest problem during the first interviews was to stop thinking about my next question and to actually listen to the answer to my previous one. I worked a lot on that and I think I’m a better listener now in so many ways.
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