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Project Overview
Homely: Eases new homeowner anxiety with an educational task-keeping app, fostering confidence for first-time homeowners.
ROLE
UX/UI Designer & Researcher
TOOLS
Figma, Figjam
CHALLENGE
Design a solution for beginner homeowners that promotes the understanding of what upkeep tasks are important for their home and why, while also promoting tools for better task organization.
CONSTRAINTS
- Timeline: 4 weeks, 80hrs
- Limited resources: I am the sole designer and researcher which put some strain on the timeline
Introduction
Owning a home, be it a condo or a house, appears deeply ingrained in American culture. We offer incentives and programs for first-time homebuyers, viewing it as a significant marker of success.
However, while homeownership is a common life goal, it raises questions about the day-to-day responsibilities. What are the experiences and challenges faced by new homeowners, and what factors contribute to their success or failure?
Design Process
Empathize
First, I formulated a research plan to guide my work and maintain focus. I then performed competitive analysis to assess existing products and their strengths and weaknesses, providing context for my design decisions. Lastly, I conducted user interviews to gain a deep understanding of homeowners' perspectives.
Research Goal
I want to grasp homeowners' current home maintenance practices and identify any gaps. I also aim to gauge homeowners' emotions about their homes, including their stress levels and confidence. Here’s a link to my Research Plan.
Competitive Analysis
Here's a comparison of three home organization products. I examined both positive and negative reviews to understand user perspectives and identify potential areas for improvement. Comparing products in this way is always valuable for formulating interview questions as well.
Competitive Analysis – Key Opportunities
A) Focus on not crowding the user with options
B) Offer reminders that are flexible (“First Saturday of every month” etc) Build an accessible maintenance history
C) Offer links to buy parts, contact experts, and watch videos
D) Keyword search for documents
E) Have an overall task list at the top of the home screen
User Interviews
After assessing existing product strengths and weaknesses, I conducted two rounds of user interviews. I struggled with who to interview and who to think of as my target audience. Initially, defining "homeowners" as the target audience proved too broad. So, I refined it to focus on new homeowners aged 25-35 for more specific insights.
Round 1
Participants: 5
Ages: 55-65
Recruitment Method: Due to limited time and resources, I interviewed friends of my parents as they are the only people I know (and could easily reach out to) who own homes.
Reason for continuing research: I found that these participants have extensive home upkeep experience and tend to organize things in their lives on paper. Given their experience, I didn't identify common issues, nor did I see a clear need for a digital solution to simplify their lives.
Round 2
Participants: 3
Ages: 25-34
Recruitment Method: I was able to find siblings of friends, and I sent out a research request on an online forum.
Notes: I would’ve preferred to interview more people, but I struggled to find participants that met my criteria (25-34 years of age, 4 years of home ownership or less).
User Interview Findings
New homeowners face overwhelming uncertainties, struggle to find home service professionals, decide when to tackle DIY projects, and track essential maintenance tasks.
Participant 1:
1. Lex doesn’t have a method for keeping track of papers and important documents. Some are on paper and some are in “email threads”.
2. She doesn’t have a good sense of all the elements of upkeep. What is her HOA responsible for? Lex uses this confusion to procrastinate certain tasks.
3. Lex would like to do some things DIY: She resealed the bottom of her toilet, but she wasn’t able to address the damage to the floor.
Participant 2:
1. She doesn’t have a network of family or other homeowners that she knows and trusts for advice nearby. She struggles to find professionals.
2. Overall, Jana does not feel confident in her ability to take care of her home. She often forgets to complete tasks, or she is unaware of a task’s importance until it’s too late.
3. Jana would like to learn how to do certain things DIY.
4. She would also like to learn about ways she can proactively save money on utility expenses.
Participant 3:
1. It’s hard to find reliable professionals you can afford when you’re just starting out.
2. He has an enormous excel sheet to keep track of maintenance or repairs.
3. Conor felt left in the dark when it came to residential tax exemptions– no one told him how to navigate the bureaucracy around taxes and things like that.
4. Now Conor pays someone to help him navigate taxes and hired a property manager.
Define
In the second phase of the design process, I create mindsets, a customer journey map, and I develop a problem statement in order to further my understanding of the user and how they would use our product.
Mindsets
To better understand the beginner target audience, I created two mindsets: Beginner and Veteran homeowners. While my project centers on beginners, I compared the two to explore the full scope of home ownership and leverage beginners' experiences for a marketable solution.
Problem Statement
After the research stage, I concluded that beginner homeowners require assistance in organizing documents, maintaining their homes regularly and professionally, and understanding their home's needs.
A) How might we help beginner homeowners feel more confident when it comes to taking care of their home?
B) How might we educate beginner homeowners on what’s important to stay on top of in their home?
C) How can we support beginner homeowners in home maintenance without procrastination for peace of mind?
Customer Journey Map
I created this map in order to visualize what experiences a beginner homeowner might go through that would eventually lead them to Homely. The specific part of the journey I am designing for is the “Learning” section. That said, it’s still important to have the entire user journey dialed in before I start brainstorming.
Ideate
In the Ideation phase, I brainstorm ideas, create sketches, design the information structure, and develop mid-fidelity wireframes to create a user-friendly product for beginner homeowners. I also create my branding and UI kit in this phase.
Brainstorming
I drew out a potential user narrative in sort of a comic form to get my creative juices flowing. While it is not particularly beautiful to look at, the process of drawing this out really helped me further contextualize a potential interaction between a beginner homeowner and Homely. Story: A beginner homeowner lacking confidence and proactivity faces a water heater breakdown, and they struggle to find a reliable professional. They discover Homely as a solution for staying on top of home maintenance and finding trustworthy experts.
Solutions
1. How might we educate beginner homeowners on what’s important to stay on top of in their home?
A) Recommended Tasks - Users can browse a list of recommended tasks that they can choose to add to their overall task list. This helps educate users on all the “buckets” of owning a home.
2. How might we help beginner homeowners feel more confident when it comes to taking care of their home?
A) Experts - Users can browse for experts by type of project and compare prices and reviews side by side.
3. How can we support beginner homeowners in home maintenance without procrastination for peace of mind?
A) Overall Task List - Front and center on the homescreen will be a list of all upcoming tasks. When a task is completed, it is time stamped and cleared to the user’s Maintenance History folder.
B) Reminders - Users can set up flexible reminders so they don’t forget about tasks.
Information Architecture
Next, I put together my information architecture to help me organize the app’s layout. I use it as a tool to help confirm the logic behind the different user flows and task flows, and as a reference throughout the rest of development. Here’s a link to the IA chart.
Sketches
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
Branding
I decided to use a darker purple as my primary color due to its association with ambition, as well as its strong contrast with white. I included a light blue and purple gradient in order to promote calmness and serenity. Additionally, I used an accessibility hex checker to ensure the level of contrast is legible.
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Iterate
In this phase, I build out high fidelity wireframes using the UI kit I created in the previous phase, and finally, I conduct usability testing on my high fidelity prototype and iterate those prioritized findings.
Usability Testing
In the high-fidelity phase, I conducted usability testing with 5 individuals aged 21-29, including 2 in-person and 3 Zoom sessions, each lasting around 30 minutes. I chose to test in high fidelity to gauge the effectiveness of the my color palette.
Objectives:
1. Are users able to accomplish the specified task? If they make a mistake, are they able to recover?
2. Observe the user’s behavior and tendencies – Determine the areas that require attention in order to promote ease of use and satisfaction.
Testing Results
4/5 participants had a 100% success rate of completing all 4 user journeys
1/5 participant needed assistance in order to complete the 3rd flow: Add a Reminder
5/5 participants thought the aesthetic was enjoyable
4/5 participants specifically mentioned that the purple and blue gradient is calming and helpful when navigating the somewhat stressful topic of home upkeep.
Iterations Explained
Flow: Add Tasks to Task List
Feedback Example: “I assume these [tasks] are going to a task list somewhere else…”
All usability participants grasped the task addition concept but were unsure about the destination. To address this, I experimented with user-friendly guidance without cluttering the UI.
Similarly, I switched "Suggested" to "Recommended" for a more action-oriented approach, subtly guiding users through the task flow with confidence.
Flow: Find Experts
Feedback Example: “I expected to be able to filter the Experts results…”
I experimented with various filtering options and settled on buttons in iteration #3, because they provide a more deliberate and organized look compared to floating text and icons.
Flow: Add a Reminder
Feedback Example: “Why won’t it let me click ‘reminders’..?”
While only one user struggled to add a reminder, I observed some hesitation from others in this process. To enhance user clarity, I introduced an edge shadow to indicate clickability.
Final Prototype
View Prototype