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A UX Design Case Study

A home-finding app that connects users with affordable housing. It offers reliable recommendations, budget insights, and a curated list of affordable options.

3 Designers

4 Weeks

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 The Brief

Between rising rent prices, competitive markets, and confusing financial assistance programs, securing an affordable home has become a stressful and confusing process. We identified a gap in the market: existing home search apps often fail to provide full transparency about costs, and many users struggle to understand what’s truly affordable for their situation. Our application aims to bridge this gap by offering clear, comprehensive information to empower users in their housing search.

 User Research

We conducted research to understand the users background, their interest, needs, affordance, and pain points. We also wanted to understand user preferences and behaviors when looking for affordable housing. 

Qualitative Research

Key Findings

  • Participants had to prioritize price over proximity.

  • More than one-quarter of income was spent on rent. 

  • Many were unaware of housing assistance programs and affordable housing options.

  • House searching often revealed lack of essential amenities. 

  • Little to no transparency on application status. 
     

“It is not easy to find affordable housing, every studio in my area seems like it’s near $2,000.” 
- Nahelani Kauahi

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“There needs to be transparency and better communication. It’s tough not knowing where you stand in the application process.” 
- Peter Dahlin

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“I had no idea about section 8 housing or affordable housing options.” 
- Alexis Ellis

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“A lot of places either didn’t fit my budget or were already taken by the time I inquired about them.” 
- Peter Dahlin

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Key Findings

  • Older demographic suffers from lack of housing assistance and financial needs as much as younger demographic.


  • Importance on financial budgeting for housing. 
     

Quantitative Research

We did an online survey using google forms to observe any patterns in what potential users may want. 

Competitive Analysis

I reviewed other housing applications that are ruling the house searching sector to better understand what they do well and opportunities for improvement. While also reviewing some indirect competitors that had qualities we'd like to include in nestquest.

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Key Insights

Valued 

  • Cost comparison feature

  • Neighborhood overview

  • Interactive Map

  • File Save feature

  • Budget Creator 

  • Tailored profiles 

  • Ease of applying 

  • Active status update

Not Valued 

  • Ads 

  • Outdated listings

  • Lack of customization

  • Cluttered interface

  • Options

  • Oversimplification

  • Promotional content 

  • Irrelevant listings

Ricardo Linguini

Ricardo’s wife recently passed and he is looking to downsize his house. He hasn’t shopped for housing in over 20 years.

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Quote

“My wife used to handle the finances, without her I need a little guidance but I’m too embarrassed to ask my successful friends for help.”

Age and Occupation

  • 59 years old

  • project manager 

  • lives in Baltimore

Goals and Needs

  • Needs to be on a budget. Plans on saving for retirement.

  • Wants to live in a safe a quiet neighborhood. 

Our User After Research

After collecting data from the interviews and surveys we created a persona representing an ideal user for the application. 

Objectives and Goals

Tackle the Rental Market

Scavenging for the perfect place takes a tremendous amount of brain power, We want to help the navigation process to save users energy for the moments of critical thinking that matter.

Increase Transparency

Communication between Leasing Offices and Potential Tenants can be slow, burdening the process.

Promote Affordable Solutions

Knowing about costs ahead of time, being aware about affordable housing, and comparing options side by side can help prevent financial strain down the road.

Prioritization Matrix

We used a prioritization matrix to evaluate and rank features based effort and value. This helps ensure that the design decisions are focused on what matters most, allowing us to allocate time and resources efficiently and deliver the highest value to users first.

Important Features 

  • Affordable Housing list

  • Application Status Update

  • Neighborhood Overview

  • Favorite System

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Important but Not Urgent

  • Cost Comparison Tool

  • Toggle Listing View Options

  • Document Saving Feature

  • Advance Filter Option

  • Property Review 

User Journeymap

After getting clear on what features we would provide, we created two user journey-maps in order to understand how we can cater to the needs of the user. 

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User Flow Diagram

In order to ensure all designers were on track we created a single flow for the heart feature before we began wireframing. 

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Heart Feature

Information Architecture

In order to define all the main pages and screens of the app, an architecture is prepared. 

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Developmental Stages

We started in grey scale, lo fidelity before working our way up to hi fidelity to ensure faster iterations, better collaboration and more effective problem solving at each phase. 

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Usability Testing on Mid-Fidelity Prototype

We conducted usability testing on our mid-fidelity prototype to ensure real users can use the product effectively and without confusion. While also taking feedback and improving overall user satisfaction before moving into hi-fidelity.

User Testing Goals

  • Run through the fundamentals in the mid-fi state. 

  • Watch users movements and learn fro their intuitive actions.

Overview

  • 6 user tests performed.

  • 4 user tasks

  • Age range : 26 to 72 years old. 

Success Criteria 

  • Number of clicks per screen.

  • Time per task. Under 30 seconds for task is considered a success.  

The Results

1st Issue

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Clickable button in the corner was hard to see. Users wished they could press the entire house card.

Took users 3 or more clicks before finding the select button in the corner. 

Correction

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House card is illuminated and paired with a green border when pressed.

Users were able to select in one click. No hesitation was detected.

2nd Issue

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The sizing of the icons at the top of the page are too small. 

At the end of a listing, users felt like they wanted to complete an action. 

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Correction

Action icons are larger and accessible at the end of the listing.

Users agreed it was more intuitive at the bottom of the listing. 

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Hi-Fidelity Prototype

Taking our findings from the usability test, we prioritized theses insights and paired it with creating a clean interface. 

Next Steps

With more time in each stage this is what we would have implemented.

Landlord Perspective

  • Pull the landlord’s needs into the conversation.

  • What do they look for in applications?
    build applications that are easy to track and organize waitlist

Reviews

  • Reviews for both the properties and their landlords.

  • Help users make a more informed decision when it comes to their housing.

Housing Assistance

  • Listings should include information about housing assistance, with direct links to guides and applications for these resources.

Accessibility

  • With more knowledge on creating a responsive design, we could expand this to a tablet design and add customization features.
Making it more friendly for our older demographic

Budget Calculator

  • We want to go beyond calculating a third of income for rent.

  • We want to make an in house feature that can prepare users for unknown costs

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