Renterra
Allowing users to find their ideal rental and neighborhood information all in one place
Problem Statement
Users are often required to sift through multiple websites to find rental and neighborhood data. This is because the information is scattered across various websites, making it challenging to access all relevant information in one place. Consequently, this leads to a negative user experience, especially for those who are searching for a new place to live. Ideally, users would prefer to have all the information they need about available rental properties and the surrounding neighborhood in one central location.
Process
Interviews
A series of 5 interviews were conducted to discover the target audience's current pain points. The users chosen to participate had moved to a new residence in a new neighborhood within the last 3 years. Interviews were used as the method of research because they allowed me to gain greater qualitative data than other methods would. This type of information gathered was especially useful in the early stages of the design process.
Have they ever moved to a new town, city, or state?
How they found a place to live for a previous move?
How they found out information on the surrounding neighborhood?
How they learn about local events, businesses, and services?
Questions Summary
Findings
Goals
The goals of users were obtained during the interviews and the goals of the business were based on goals of similar platforms found during the discovery phase of research.
Sitemap
Features
Easy navigation to reduce confusion and time consumption for users
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Simple layout to assist with ease of navigation
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Clean layout to help users focus on necessary content
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Mobile first design to help prioritize necessary information for smaller screens
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Sketches and Wireframes
Initially, I started by creating rough sketches of pages that would contain all the relevant information that users might require. These sketches consisted of a Homepage, a Places page that displayed search results of different rental properties along with a map indicating their location, and two variations of an Events listing page.
At first, I received feedback and decided on which screens to include, after which I created mid-fidelity wireframes. However, my sketches and mid-fidelity wireframes initially did not include a 'Saved' list screen. Based on feedback, I added this screen during the high-fidelity wireframe creation process. The 'Saved' list was deemed helpful as it allows the user to view all their saved items such as rentals, businesses, services, events, etc. in one place.
Style Guide
Roboto was chosen as the font because it is an easily readable font that has a clean look to it.
These colors were chosen because they convey a sense of calm (pale yellow and light tan), freshness and renewal (olive green), and trust (dark blue).
A key was picked for the logo because it represents having the key to a residence and having the “key” information about a location. The opening of the key symbolizes a welcoming platform for you to enter.
Prototype
A prototype was created on Figma and UsabilityHub was used to conduct remote user testing.
User Testing Results
100% task completion rate
Testing time < 3 minutes
All successfully navigated to appropriate pages
3 out of 5 users had trouble navigating to Saved List
Iteration
Based on the results of user testing, it was discovered that users were having difficulty finding the Saved List page. In response, the account icon was replaced with a hamburger menu to make it more intuitive for users to navigate to additional content. Furthermore, the homepage and places page were slightly redesigned to ensure that more content is visible when users initially land on the page.
Final Thoughts
Research Summary: My findings from the interviews showed pain points faced by users when looking for new places to live. Additionally, I was able to discover what users were looking for and what features may be beneficial to them.
Challenges and Assumptions: Because only 5 people were interviewed, there were some limitations on the results of the research since those interviewed may not be completely representative of the entire target audience. Another possible issue that users could encounter is insufficient data on certain neighborhoods based on population. For example, more rural towns may not have as many people, businesses, and rentals which could make it harder for users to find accurate and updated information.
Future Iterations: In the future, I would like to explore options for adding more features and expanding on existing ones, like nearby business and restaurant recommendations. I want to examine how those features could help people choose a neighborhood or explore their current neighborhood.