SMOOR (rooms spelled backwards), is a mobile application that aims to support and guide users to search for their ideal roommate or room.
Background
People searching for a room to rent or a roommate often face the challenge of finding someone trustworthy and compatible with their lifestyle. With the abundance of rental options available, it can be overwhelming to sift through all the listings and find the perfect match. This leads to uncertainty and anxiety about making the right choice and ensuring a positive living situation.
Problem Statement: “How might we create a platform that allows users to easily find compatible and trust worthy roommates or rooms available for rent in a convenient and efficient manner?”
Problem
Approach
Understand - User Research, User Interviews, Competitive Analysis
Define - User Personas, User Journey Maps
Ideate - Storyboards
Design - Low/Mid/High Fidelity Wireframes, Prototype
Test - Feedback, Conclusion, Future Concept
Roomster is a popular app with a 3.9 rating and 5 million downloads, designed to help individuals find roommates or rooms to rent. The app features in-app messaging for safe communication with potential roommates. Users can post available rooms or search for roommates, with matches messaging each other directly. Although this is a solid app, users are limited when customizing their profiles.
Roomie (find a roommate) is a mobile application created to assist individuals in locating compatible roommates or rental accommodations, boasting a commendable rating of 4.5. The app is dedicated to fostering a reliable community and offers users the ability to peruse profiles, review various listings, and establish their own personal profile.
Spare room is an app with a 4.3 rating and 100k downloads, designed to assist individuals in finding roommates or rooms for rent. It is suitable for everyone, whether you are a college student, relocating, tired of living alone, or searching for a roommate. Although this app is aims to support a broad audience, the ability to demonstrate one’s true nature, by showcasing positive referrals on profile page, is not an option.
Competitive Analysis
Opportunities
"There were some roommates who did not follow the house rules or pay rent on time. It was frustrating to deal with those situations."
“I spent weeks searching on facebook for the right person. It was a stressful process because the idea of living with a stranger was weird to me.”
“I am trying to find a place to rent that is near my college. I am worried people won’t take me seriously even though I have great rental history with past roommates.”
It is difficult to trust someone that can fully commit to all of the house rules...
Living with strangers can give you an un easy feeling...
Searching for a room to rent is extremely overwhelming because of all of the uncertain options.....
Insight
User Persona/User Journey Maps
The landlord is the user that is in search of the ideal roommate to rent out the room she has available.
The tenant is an individual in search to rent a room and has excellent rental history.
User Persona/User Journey Maps
The process of developing storyboards simplifies the envisioning of the user experience by guiding me through all interactions, emotions, and behaviors that the user would engage in.
Storyboards
The use of low-fidelity wireframes and an initial prototype allowed stakeholders to better understand the concept and idea. It also enabled the team to address fundamental questions regarding content, layout, and product requirements prior to moving forward with a more detailed prototype.
Low/Mid Wireframes
“I spent weeks searching on facebook for the right person. It was a stressful process because the idea of living with a stranger was weird to me.”
User is able to search through candidates profiles by either passing (clicking the red X or saving (clicking the green check), or going back (pressing yellow arrow). The user is able to view the candidate personalized profile, message them and even look at their social media.
Solution to search for the ideal roommate
Prototype
Solution to demonstrate rental history
“I am trying to find a place to rent that is near my college. I am worried people won’t take me seriously even though I have great rental history with past roommates.”
User is able to request referrals by going into the settings or in their profile. The user is able to send a message to past roommates. Lastly the user will receive a message and is able to add to their profile. Users are also able to receive messages from tenants that show interest or have questions.
In progressing with this project, my objective is to further refine personas in order to gain a deeper insight into their preferences for the application. Additionally, I aim to enhance the functionality of the app by incorporating additional features to support the reliability of finding a suitable roommate. Furthermore, I intend to revise the app's style guide with the goal of creating a more inclusive color palette.
Next steps
Reflection and learning
Although faced with time constraints, I acknowledge that they hindered my capacity to fully immerse myself in the research process. Moving forward, I aim to conduct thorough testing on the final prototype to assess its usability and overall effectiveness.