Mich Homes🏡 Website

I designed the User Experience for this product in 5 core stages; EMPATHIZE, IDEATE, DESIGN, PROTOTYPE AND TEST.

The problem

New migrants and current Awka residents find it hard to secure a conducive apartment to live in.

The goal

Design a website for locating homes for rent that features houses, apartments, and lodges that are available within Awka City.

My role

Brand Design, UX Design, UX Research, UI Design - from concept to delivery.

User Research goals for Mich Homes website:

1. Understand the processes and emotions that people experience around the problem Mich Homes is trying to solve
2. Identify common user behaviours and experiences with tasks that Mich Homes platform is trying to address
3. Understand user needs and frustrations as they relate to rental apartments
4. Identify and understand scenarios that make users want to use Mich Homes platform
5. Understand what culminates in a happy user for Mich Homes platform

User Groups

In my interviews with people who said they were very likely to use a website like Mich Homes, we were able to identify the following user groups:

Group 1: Students, both old and new, who would like self contained or single rooms as their abode while schooling. These users;

• Tend to be less aware of some location where habitable lodges can be found.
• Would use a website to search for available lodges.

Group 2: Working adults who relocated to Awka, or desire a change of apartment. These users;

• Tend to be more advanced in their careers.
• Vary in age, occupation, and number of family members in their home.
• Would use a website to search for available apartments.

User Research Summary

I conducted interviews to understand the users I’m designing for their needs. The primary user groups identified through research were working adults residing in Awka city and fresh undergraduates. 

This user group confirmed initial assumptions about Mich homes users, but research also revealed that most agents care more about their fees than giving home seekers a good experience and showing habitable homes. 

Other user problems included a good number of apartments being undesirable to seekers and some landlords being nonchalant about the issue.

Link to full User Research

Competitive Audit

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I carefully chose 3 competitors to analyse, which are Mitula, a worldwide property listing website that offers cars, lands and homes for sale and rent, PropertyPro, a property-centric brand that offers a wide variety of property listings ranging from Homes for rent and sales to lands for sale, and Awka Real Estate, an Awka based property listing website focused on lands for sale. 

Mitula and PropertyPro are direct competitors to Mich Homes, while Awkarealestate is an indirect competitor to Mich Homes.

Link to full Competitive Analysis

Link to full Competitive Audit Report

User Personas

Sitemap

This holds information about the pages, and other files on the website, and the relationships between them.

User Flow Diagram

Paper sketches

Taking the time to draft iterations of each device screen of the website on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited to address user pain points.

Digital wireframes

As the initial design phase continued, I used the graceful degradation approach, making sure to base screen designs on feedback and findings from the user research.

Usability Study

I conducted two rounds of usability studies involving 5 participants whom I chose via a survey.  

Study Goal

Determine if users can complete core tasks within the prototype of Mich Homes website. Determine if Mich Homes website is difficult to use.

Study Questions

• How long does it take a user to find apartment listings for their preferred location?
• What can we learn from the user flow, or the steps that users take, to make a choice of an apartment?
• Are there parts of the user flow where users get stuck?
• Are there more features that users would like to see included in the website?
• Do users think the website is easy or difficult to navigate?

Findings from the first study helped guide the designs from wireframes to mockups. The second study used a high-fidelity prototype and revealed what aspects of the mockups needed refining.

Round 1 findings:

1. For most users, the process of booking an apartment is intuitive enough
2. Most users think search and filter functionalities should be added to the homepage
3. Users want a link to apartment listing should appear above the fold

Round 2 findings:

1. The website’s overall design is appealing
2. The website’s main flow is easy to complete
3. The process of booking an apartment is intuitive enough

Hi-Fi Mockups

Early designs allowed users to choose their preferred location from the Homepage. I revised designs to give users the ability to also search for apartments by certain criteria using a search pane.

High Fidelity Prototype

Accountability Considerations

1. Designs were made with WebAIM. WCAG standards were strictly adhered to for colour contrast. 
2. Provided access to users who are visually impaired through adding alt text to images for screen readers.
3. Alternative options were provided for gestures, like; clicking outside and overlay to close it. Used icons to help make navigation easier.
4. W3C recommendation for duration (150ms - 500ms) of motion was strictly adhered to.

Link to full presentation slides

Based on user feedback from the 2nd usability study, Mich Homes website is intuitive, easy to use, and helps accomplish the goals of the end user.

Prototype 1: Mobile 📱 Prototype link

Prototype 2: PC 💻 Prototype link

or simply interact with the Hi-Fi mobile app prototype below 👇

Takeaways

Impact:

The website makes users feel like Mich Homes really thinks about how to meet their needs.

One quote from peer feedback

"...it's good to show that there are options of a budget, neighbourhood, all that, so that whoever is trying to pick an apartment will work within his or her means."

What I learned:

A designer must understand what problem they are tackling and for whom before starting the design. Your designs become considerably more effective when you are aware of the individuals you are creating them for.

Next Steps

1. Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed.
2. Conduct more user research to determine new areas of need.
3. Add more features and flexibility backed by research.