Role
UX/UI, Prototyping
UX Research
Branding
Visual Design
Tools
Figma
Illustrator
Photoshop
Duration
80 Hours
Platform
Mobile
Application
The majority of Korean students who move to NYC for study stay for only a short time. When they arrive, they often look for roommates within the Korean community so they can communicate easily and connect culturally. Having a roommate, sharing a space, or renting a room helps them meet their budget as well. Additionally, they need a way to look for roommates that is secure since they are unfamiliar with NYC.
By leveraging their shared culture, they will be able to acclimate quickly and comfortably. Furthermore, it will allow them to exchange information about the schools they attend and build networks that can help launch their careers after returning home.
Korean students are having a hard time quickly and safely finding roommates with the same cultural background.
Develop a reliable, easy-to-use, and pleasurable application for Korean students in New York City to find Korean roommates securely and quickly.
The application should ensure the safety of its users while providing an enjoyable experience during the roommate search process.
I conducted stakeholder and user interviews as my first step. Furthermore, I performed competitive analysis and market research to learn more about other roommate-finding apps and the key factors people consider when finding roommates. By conducting research, I gained valuable insight into current pain points and key features that would set this app apart from its competitors.
Number of participant : 3 students + 1 primary stakeholder
Demographics of student participants: Korean international students in NYC between the ages of 18-25 looking for a roommate or room to rent
Key Takeaways:
• Korean students in NYC struggle with rental requirements. (Ex. All students must have a guarantor to co-sign their lease. The standard NYC guarantor income requirement is that their salary isat least 80 - 100 times the rent.)
• Korean students prefer having a roommate rather than renting their own apartments for affordable housing.
• Korean roommates help newly arrived Korean students easily adjust to a new life in NYC. Roommates having the same cultural background tend to fit into each other's lifestyles without difficulty.
• Korean students who attend the same school can share school or study information, so it helps them make their students' lives easier.
As I assessed direct and indirect competition, I learned what the key components would be for Roomida to succeed. If you like to see my full competitive analysis, click here.
Accountability - verified reliable and authentic listings.
Reliability - security to protect personal information.
Pleasant and playful UI design that appeals to Gen Z.
Providing demanded information about lifestyles and preferences to finda perfect match, such as drinking, smoking, eating, work schedule, and more.
In my market research, I identified the main characteristics people seek in their roommates.
• Lifestyle: Sleeping habits, work schedules, food preferences, allergies, smoking and drug use, pets, entertainment (ex. how loudly he or she likes to play music/ how much TV he or she watches in common spaces) and hobbies.
• Cleanliness: Make sure you have the same understanding of “clean”.
• Responsibility: Make sure that they’re in a position to meet the financial responsibilities of sharing a home.
• Guests: Make sure to ask about a potential roommate’s entertaining preferences, house guests, and romantic partners.
• References: Check their social media accounts to learn more about their lifestyle and confirm the information they have told you.
Based on the research findings, I created a persona to understand the users and build empathy with them so I could keep them at the center of the design process.
My research led me to create a site map that outlines an efficient path for users to find roommates securely and efficiently.
Having created the sitemap, I concentrated on finding the best path for users to find a roommate so I could identify the key screens for designing the app.
After creating the single, linear task flow, I focused on creating the user flow which shows users' interactions with the Roomida app to find a roommate through possible decision-makings. This allowed me to analyze all the possible paths that users could take so I was able to design the app without missing anything.
The mid-fidelity wireframes were created based on the research findings to get quick feedback on user experience and user flows for iterations before finalizing the high-fidelity prototype. In addition, they depicted the layout and details relating to how things will work.
To communicate visually the brand's unique identity, I created a playful and friendly brand identity aimed at Korean Gen Z.
Blue-purple is selected to calm stressful users’ minds while finding a roommate. Peaceful, calm, and gentle blue has tremendous power to manage stress. It’s a very soothing color that helps relax users’ minds and reduce anxiety. Also, purple signifies strength, peace, and wisdom. It has the capacity to bring balance and make users feel inner peace.
Yellow is selected to represent the color of Generation Z, Roomida’s targeted demographics. Gen Z yellow symbolizes sunshine, warmth, and optimism — it reflects a generation with hope for the future.
The color combination of yellow and blue-purple enhances Roomida’s accessibility by providing maximum contrast, including enough contrast between content and the background so that text and non-decorative images are legible for anyone with low vision or color deficiencies.
Designing and implementing the illustrated style throughout the app was a part of branding to appeal to Korean Gen Z. The following are some examples.
I created the UI Kit using UI components such as typeface, grid, color palette, text field, dropdown, card, and illustration. It was used to make the UI design consistent and user experience intuitive.
After the iterations of the mid-fidelity wireframes, I implemented the UI design cross the mid-fidelity wireframes and the UI kit to create the final UI.
Number of participant : 3 students + 1 primary stakeholder
Demographics of student participants: Korean international students in NYC between the ages of 18-25 looking for a roommate or room to rent
What our team learned through this project:
☼ Dealing with a niche user-base enabled us to easily define and conform to their needs.
☼ As this application was intended for a startup, their tight, limited budget forced them to choose only the most essential features to start with. This application would evolve based on users’ needs.
☼ In retrospect, our application’s framework of finding roommates by school is unique and original. Therefore, we face uncertainty and ambiguity in developing such a product. In spite of this, in time, we will learn from our users and refine our product.
© Jacie Lee
