Home Hunter
An apartment search site that alleviates some of the burdens when looking for a new home by offering customizable searches, detailed listing descriptions, and personalized contact with real estate agents.
Role: UX Design from start to finish | Timeline: February 2022 to March 2022
THE PROBLEM
Moving is exciting for individuals who are looking for new beginnings, adventures, and opportunities, however, the initial steps of searching for a home with specific characteristics and amenities can at times be stressful and daunting.
Find Your Perfect Home With Home Hunter
Design Process
Research
To further comprehend the problem scope, I conducted a competitive audit to learn more about the product space and organized one-on-one interviews to uncover the needs and preferences of users.
COMPETITIVE AUDIT
During my competitive audit on other apartment search websites, I familiarized myself with the resources currently available to users, gathered information on what separates each service, and took notes on the general interface.
ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEWS
I curated a set of interview questions to gain insights on the following:
What challenges arise when searching for new apartment listings?
What pain points occur while users are traversing various apartment search sites?
What draws users to a specific apartment search site(s)?
Insights
Honing down on the common and interesting points among the interviewees, I categorized the findings into four major themes.
1 Apartment search sites can be confusing, long, and tedious.
“Some of the sites I use are just so annoying and they take so long to navigate! They don’t give me the information I want and some of the features, like the map, just don’t work. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong, or if it’s my internet, or if the website just sucks. ”
— Curtis, 42 / Tax Accountant
2 People value and favor additional resources per listing.
"I want to see the proximities of the apartment to public transport and other cool things in the area."
— Aldrin, 26 / Supply Chain Specialist
“None of the listings I’ve looked at show the closest train stations or dog parks. I wish I could maybe refine my search by adding more specifications too.”
— Andrew, 24 / Financial Ops Analyst
3 Real estate agents are difficult to connect with which results in missed opportunities.
“I’ve requested to view properties before but no one got back to me. Next thing I know, the apartments I showed interest in got taken off the market and I had to continue my search.”
— Bonnie, 50 / Personal Chef
4 Scarcity of listing details makes the search process emotionally draining.
“The places always look bigger in photos! I usually end up wasting my time touring at a place that is way too small! I wish they would just be more upfront about the sizing.”
— Summer, 26 / Social Media Strategist
"I want more humanizing descriptions because the lack of details leads me to not trust in it. I want to know the square footage of a place so I can visualize the floor plan and know what to expect."
— Beatriz, 30 / School of Education Professor
5 People equally value web and mobile experiences.
“I prefer using the laptop when doing extensive research so I can see more options. I’ll use my phone too if I want to see something quickly, but will usually use my computer.”
— Beatriz, 30 / School of Education Professor
“I like to go on my phone to browse when I am lounging because it is easier but I think the website works better.”
— Andrew, 24 / Financial Ops Analyst
How might we enhance the search process for people looking for new homes?
Ideation
SITEMAP
Complexity of websites and lack of options were highlighted pain points from users, so I made sure to implement a straightforward framework on my sitemap. I only incorporated key elements into the information architecture to ensure simplicity and straightforwardness.
SKETCHES
Using the Crazy-8 methodology, I drew numerous paper sketches of each page to map out and better visualize my ideas. Emphasizing the importance of simplicity, I focused on making the rent page as detailed yet manageable as possible. Using a star to pinpoint favored attributes, I was able to refine each design to a more intuitive flow.
REFINED RENT PAGE
DIGITAL WIREFRAMES
Moving into Adobe XD, I began transferring the paper wireframes into digital wireframes. This process polished the design and gave a better representation of the look and feel of the website.
Web Version
Usability Testing
Unmoderated Usability Study | United States, Remote | 5 Participants | 15 to 20 minutes
Testing both the low-fidelity prototype and high-fidelity prototype allowed for copious design iterations. I was able to make granular changes that would overall enhance the user experience based off user feedback.
Mobile Mockups
Web Mockups
Find Your Perfect Home With Home Hunter
Let the search process be fun and stress-free!
Personalize Your Search
Peruse through a variety of amenity options and choose the ones you want. We’ll filter through the listings and provide you a list that fits your criteria.
Save Time With Quick View
Quickly scan a listing’s basic information to see if you want to learn more about it! If not, quickly exit out and continue your search.
Connect With Real Estate Agents
Found a property that you’re interested in? Gain direct access to a real estate agent by filling out the form and hear back within 24-48 hours.
Browse Neighborhoods and Local Favorites
Still not entirely too sure where you want to live? Explore all five boroughs and their corresponding neighborhoods to see what each one has to offer!
Accessibility Considerations
1
Ensured responsiveness by building web and mobile versions so users can conveniently access the site on any given device.
2
Used various text sizes to enable visual hierarchy and contrasting colors in accordance to WCAG 2.0.
3
Utilized photo icons accompanied with text to enforce an extra layer of understanding for users with language barriers, impairments, and or disabilities.
Reflections & Moving Forward
From working on Home Hunter, I learned the importance of sitemaps and how they can help break down complex information architectures. In addition, I thoroughly enjoyed designing both a mobile and web design, knowing that both mediums will be equally useful for various individuals.
In the future, I hope to identify additional features and reveal areas for improvement that can further benefit users. By conducting more interviews and usability studies with other kinds of people, the necessity scope will widen.