LandIt
OVERVIEW
Role
UX/UI Designer
Duration
12 weeks
Method
UX Design, UX Research, Double Diamond Process, Storyboarding, Task & User Flows, Personas, Wireframing
Tools
Figma, Miro, Whimsical, Calendly, Maze,
Colour Contrast Checker
Background
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers earn the most when they are between the ages of 35 and 54. So those who are aged 26-35 are most affected by any increased cost of living and inflation overall, in turn struggling the most to find a comfortable affordable place to live.
There are a lot of things people need to consider before moving, e.g. price, location/neighbourhood, transport links etc. So looking for an ideal place to live can be quite stressful and worrisome.
Problem Statement
Many young adults in London find it difficult to successfully find properties to rent or buy during their property search. I wanted to undercover the main reason(s) to why that was and help the likelihood of them finding a property which suits their needs.
Solution
LandIt has multifunctional features that not only allow users to accomplish the goal of renting or buying a property, it also helps educate and aid the users understanding of what is needed to do so. This is done by having a guides feature and a support line of contact in which users can get advice. Not only that, there is a government schemes option which allows for the platform to be adaptable to each user's various personal situations.
DISCOVER
Competitive Analysis
A comparison of the UK’s top 4 property websites were made; Rightmove, Zoopla, Gov.uk, and Facebook marketplace.
This is what was found:
All competitors had buying, selling, and renting features for users to utilise
3 out of the 4 had property listings
3 out of the 4 had property guides
1 out of the 4 provided a list of schemes for users to apply to
Remote User interviews
After that, I conducted interviews on 8 adults of all ethnicities and genders between ages 26-32 years old, who have either; looked for a place to rent/buy in the past 12 months or who have moved into a new place to live in the past 12 months.
Findings
The cost of a property or lack of finances were recurring themes throughout the pain points discovered. However, not being able to find properties that matched the participants criteria and location also stood out.
“I feel like I am constantly saving for a house I will never move into.”
-Interview participant
Participants were more likely to experience fraud or be scammed if they were using an online tool or service during their property search process. in which 27% had been scammed.
“You can’t really tell who is legitimate and who is not online”
-Interview participant
Only 42% of participants knew about the government schemes that are provided in their country to help find a property to rent or buy. The typical notion is that there is users can’t seem to find them or have never heard of them before.
“I only know about these schemes from a family member Telling me about it”
-Interview participant
100% of participants required good amount of space and a good location when looking for a new property. The type of neighbourhood plays a big role in whether a property is even considered.
“Feeling safe in the area I live is super important to me”
-Interview participant
Independence and situational circumstances i.e state of property, space, the pandemic, location were the main motivators for participants starting their search for a new place to live.
“Moving out is the next step into adulthood”
-Interview participant
DEFINE
Personas
Looking at the insights that came from the affinity map, two personas were created.
One persona, Shasha; had the goal of finding affordable housing which are in good condition.
The other persona, Trey; wanted to find a simple and straightforward way in order to buy a house.
Task Flows
Three task flows were made in order to figure out what the potential journey; a user would take for each key feature.
Finding information within the guides page
Getting specialised advice
Applying for a government scheme
User Flows
From there, I thought about all the possible pathways a user could take in order to fulfil each task.
DEVELOP
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
After sketching on paper the low fidelity wireframes this lead to the creation of the mid-fidelity wireframes. These brought the sketches to life and enabled the chance to see if what was initially agreed, would work.
Branding
From there a brand identity was created, helping develop a comprehensive UI components kit later on.
The colour palette was influenced by the brand core values of wanting to be seen as:
Progressive
Innovative
Helpful
Fresh
Honest
Friendly
Leading to the choice of blues, orange, and black; as these gave a vibrant and friendly professional feel.
Lato was chosen as the main font, as it’s a sans-serif typeface which are typically easier to read.
UI Kit
The UI components consisted of simple but fun and vibrant colours as I wanted to carry the brand's core values all the way through in the design. Later to discover that having two vibrant colours as the primary colour, made the design look too busy and would give users a visual overload. So a more simplistic approach was adapted, with only applying the one primary colour to the design and components.
Before
After
DELIVER
Hi-Fidelity Wireframes
All these pieces were put together to then form the high-fidelity wireframes. Birthing the development of a restricted prototype, which was then tested on users.
Prototype
I wanted to make sure that the key features were well placed with the website, so I tested 3 flows that looked at the architectural hierarchy of the site.
Task 1: Find a guide on buying a house.
Task 2: Contact an advisor.
Task 3: Submit an application for a government scheme.
Usability Tests Results
Direct success was 50% or over for each task. Meaning each participant completed the mission via the expected path(s).
Contact an advisor task, had the lowest rate of misclicks.
100% of participants reported that each task was relatively easy to complete once they knew what to do
Finding a guide to buying a house had the highest rate of misclicks - this was due to participants not reading or misreading the task. As they went on the misclicks reduced, as they understood what they had to do
Iterations
Add pricing for each scheme
Have hint bubbles generally but more specifically for the application section, just incase people get stuck or confused during the process
Most critical:
CONCLUSION
Design Process
All in all, I now have an idea of how to design a product, starting from scratch, using the Double Diamond Model process. Also, being able to utilise the results from research, user interviews and testing for a design in order to iterate and improve a design.
NEXT STEPS
Design and prototype all pages for the product
Test newly iterated prototype and iterate once again based on results
Then, hand off to the development team
Develop the educational side of the product and then eventually provide events in schools, to help educate the next generation of how to navigate the real estate world