Identifying patterns to enhance the overall roommate matching experience for residents seeking shared housing arrangements within Dallas-Fort Worth.
Roommate Finder Research Study
Role
UX Researcher and Designer
Project Type
Discovery and Research
Tools
Mural, Figma, Adobe Suite
Duration
3 months
Overview
Our goal was to participate in the discovery towards developing a customized experience for people to choose suitable roommates within the Dallas-Forth Worth region.
Objective
Understanding the room rental and roommate search process to create a more seamless experience.
Due to the broad nature of this study, certain guidelines were established in order to research the topic efficiently.
They were as follows:
- The location of the research must be local
- A minimum of 4 stakeholders and 4 users
- Results must be obtainable within 4 weeks
Gathering Information
Gaining insight into the various factors that impact the roommate search experience through interviews and user personas
Who is a target user?
A young adult who is looking for a roommate within the DFW region.
Who could be a stakeholder?
- Home owner
- Apartment owner
- A rental property
- Owner of a rental platform
- A rental platform
Dallas - Fort Worth Region
Persona Development
Once we gathered information through user and stakeholder interviews we developed several personas. This would provide us with a basis of our journey mapping and design considerations.
User Persona
Stakeholder Persona
Findings
From the information gathered we developed a series of diagrams based on the findings. These consisted of affinity diagrams, user journey maps, and pain point exploration.
Affinity Mappings
The affinity maps of both users and stakeholders highlighted a variety of prominent themes that encompassed the roommate search experience. These included communication hurdles and the reception towards the social elements of matchmaking platforms.
User Journey Map
From the affinity mapping we mapped out user journeys of the roommate search experience. These journey maps included key steps and tasks within each step. After this exercise we identified several pain points that would need to be addressed.
Pain Points + Insights
The core component of our findings was to identify pain points that would allow us to develop insights. These insights would then allow us to focus towards developing solutions for the initial problem.
Key Takeaways
Due to the nature of finding roommates, the target demographic would capture a wide audience of users. As a result, from analyzing the pain points and synthesizing our findings, we concluded that the product would require several accessibility elements implemented.
Competitor Features
Several competitors existed within the market so it was imperative to conduct a competitor analysis. This would assist in identifying the market-gap where certain features were missing.
Primary Requirements
After uncovering the features that are not prevalent within the current market we highlighted necessary criteria that our service would have to accomplish in order for it to be of significant value. These requirements included gaining an understanding of its efficacy within the the business, user, and system context.
Ideation
This phase within the discovery process delved into specific design considerations that the product should account for. These suggestions would ultimately require thorough attention towards each component in order to develop a cohesive product. The components consisted of Scheduling, Communication, Gamification, and Safety.
One of my design mentors once told me that “Exploration leads to Innovation.” This quote lead our team to explore different ideas that the design considerations could eventually lead to. These following concepts were exaggerations to address specific pain points and were not intended to be practical solutions. However, they were an interesting exploration of how exaggerated ideas could lead to innovative design solutions.
“Exploration leads to Innovation”
Next Steps
Our primary goal was to provide research for the Discovery and Define phase whereby we explored the topic and uncovered pain points for the product to account for. The next portion of the project is to hand-off our findings to the next research team to proceed with the Develop and Deliver phase. From here, we will provide supporting research, consultation, and design assistance.