2023 · Management · Collaboration
Homease
Homease was inspired after noticing that roommates often encounter disorganization, misunderstandings, and conflicts when managing shared living spaces and responsibilities.
Timeline
Sept 01 - Dec 06, 2023
Tools
Qualtrics
FigJam, Miro Board
Figma, Photoshop
My Role in Team of 4
Ideation
UX Research
Visual and Interaction Design
Problem Space
Identifying the Challenge
Living in a shared space can be rewarding but comes with its challenges such as-
Scattered Communication
Using multiple apps causes confusion, leading to missed or lost information.Lack of Accountability
Unclear task ownership results in overlooked responsibilities.Lifestyle Differences
Clashes in habits and opinions lead to miscommunication and conflicts.
Problem Statement
How can we simplify communal living and improve the experience for those sharing living spaces?
Research Process
Understanding User Behavior
Through contextual inquiries, we observed that despite ongoing disputes, most individuals accepted their current situation, hoping for future improvements.
Using Affinity Mapping, we organized our findings into six key themes:
Personality
Habit and communication differences causing friction.
Rule Book
Lack of clear house rules leading to confusion.
Apps Used
Multiple apps causing information overload.
Topics of Conversation
Recurring discussions on bills, chores, and conflicts.
Responsibilities
Unclear task ownership causing frustration.
Moods
Negative emotions and conflict avoidance straining relationships.
Comparing other Apps
The competitor analysis highlighted usability and design gaps, helping us create a more effective solution.
Our Users
To organize better, we created Personas:
1. Primary Persona:
Extremely unhappy, to directly understand pain points
2. Secondary Persona: Moderately unhappy, to draw a comparison
Some of the things people said
Design Process
Proposed Features
We came up with 6 main features based on the personas and competitive analysis:
Expenses
Track bills and payments to avoid confusion and ensure fair contributions.
Mood Sharing
Check everyone's mood to avoid bothering someone.
Tasks
Easily assign chores and repeat them for a balanced workload.
Notifications
Get notified about chores, updates, and changes to keep things smooth.
Announcements
Broadcast important messages or questions to all roommates in one place.
Groceries
Create shared or personal lists that auto-populate for easier shopping.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Before jumping into big decision decisions, we sketched out ideas for the app.
Visual Identity
Style and Colors
To create a warm, welcoming experience for young adults, we used blue and purple for calmness and yellow and orange for energy and warmth.
Final Solution
High-Fidelity Designs
Flow 1: Mood Update
Inspired by an interviewee who felt uncomfortable with an unexpected party while sick. It allows users can update moods and view others' moods, facilitating smoother communication.
Flow 2: Assign Tasks
Flow 3: Make Announcements
Flow 4: Manage Expense
Flow 5: Get Notified
Flow 6: Grocery List
Testing the solution
Usability Testing
After usability tests, participants rated tasks from 1 (hard) to 5 (easy).
"Scenario 1: Task 1" scored 3.5, "Scenario 6" scored 4, and "Scenario 9" scored 4.75, while all other tasks received a perfect 5/5.
