RUMES
OVERVIEW
Web Design Project, 2021
3 Weeks
Rumes is an application that helps young adults find roommates in New York City. I wanted to create a digital solution that made finding a roommate easier and safer. NYC is a great place to be, but there's a lot of people there so finding a good match for a roommate can be tricky.
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The goal of this project was to focus on user interface design, while still keeping in mind the user experience and security of the app.
THE SCOPE
Before creating a product to help people find roommates , I had to ask, what are the main problems someone faces while trying to find a roommate in NYC?
It can already be tricky enough to find a roommate in the midst of a lease, and it's especially even trickier for someone who lives in New York City. With A large population in NYC, it's understandable how it can be stressful for users to pick someone they will get along with. Too many options!
PERSONA - LILY
To get into the mind potential users, I created a persona of a young woman in NYC who's trying to find a roommate for her two bedroom Brooklyn apartment. This laid the groundwork for how I would brainstorm different features the product could have.
EMPATHY MAP
With the help of NYC Reddit forums and friends that have lived on the east coast, I found barriers and anxieties that people may have when looking for a roommate in the big apple.
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What would someone like our persona (Lily) .... Say, Think, Do, and Feel​?
USER JOURNEY
Below is the emotions in which Lily goes through while going through the current process of trying to find a roommate in NYC. She may use Facebook, Zillow, etc. This journey map illustrates which areas if the current process in the most painful for users.
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USER PATHWAY + FEATURES
After I created my persona, I did some user pathway exploration. In this step I used a matrix to help me think of the different stages people would use the product in their roommate finding process. It's important to think what the user needs are vs what the product is doing at the same time.
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Before I get too ahead of myself in the design process, I like to take a step back and think about what features are critical for solving the users pain points.
SITEMAP
After I sorted through which features would be helpful, I started mapping out what the different pages could be. In this process I was thinking of things like "how many pages do I need", "what's the hierarchy", etc. This process helped me simplify ideas and organize my thoughts.
INITIAL EXPLORATION
Before moving in to Figma for wireframes, I did some quick ideation sketches on how main pages of the app would be structured.
Dashboard Variations
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Create a Post
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Messaging
WIREFRAMES + FLOWS
Using Adobe XD, I mocked up a wireframes and thought through how user's would navigate within the application. The flows are each steps Lily takes on the roommate finding process.
FLOW #1
Create a Post
Lily posts her apartments spare room onto the app.
FLOW #2
Find a Roommate
A few days after Lily posts her apartments spare room for rent, she gets notifications of applicants. Lily can go to her account page to see a list of applicants, or go to her inbox and see messages of people introducing themselves after they applied for the space.
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Lily can use the in app messaging system, this way she doesn't have to give out her phone number and message through different social media apps. She lands on a few people who may be potential good matches. She can use the in app video chat feature for a safe face to face conversation or apartment tour.
MOOD BOARD
After figuring out the layout and experience of Rumes, next up was to figure out the aesthetics of the product. I searched up pictures of NYC for inspiration. I was inspired by the water and sky that surround the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk, so I pulled colors from the image below to use in the app.
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The skyline of the city is iconic, so I incorporated it into the onboarding process of the app.
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THE SOLUTION
CLICK THROUGH ME!
The use case that this prototype follows is for Lily, a 26 year old who is searching for a roommate for a place she's already leasing.
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Follow through this flow and take a look at the final concept!