Project Type
Academic
Role
UX Designer
In an era where many people live with roommates, it can become increasingly difficult to feel comfortable in your own home. Sharing the general upkeep responsibilities of a house with roommates can lead to unnecessary conflicts, creating a negative living environment. Homi is a digital platform that assigns household tasks to individual roommates in a shared home. The app aims to prevent uncomfortable interactions by streamlining many of the responsibilities of living with others. All while providing an exceptional user experience.
Project Summary
Living independently can be an extremely pivotal moment in a young adult’s life. Whether attending a university or joining the workforce, there are many excitements associated with moving out of your family home. However, there are also many anxieties associated with living independently that are not talked about often enough. The design challenge of this project was to find a way to mitigate these anxieties so young adults can enjoy the benefits of independent living.
Design Challenge
Problem
Rock Climbers can connect via traditional social media platforms. However, these platforms lack the sense of community that could inspire climbers to push themselves to that next level. Climbing is a difficult sport that requires perseverance and motivation to meet desired goals. Climbers who lack a sense of community within their gyms could easily become frustrated during plateaus. Thus, giving climbers more reasons to either quit or climb less frequently.
Solution
Homi solves this problem by equally dispersing household chores to all roommates, with minimal conflict. The app’s third-party nature can remove human biases that can create conflict within a household. If a roommate is causing problems within their home, a reminder from an app can do much more than a yelling match with another human being.
The goal of this survey was to understand the grievances people have with their roommates and the tasks that their roommates have trouble completing. Additionally, this survey analyzed the effects of uncomfortable living situations.
Research
Primary Research
In addition to the primary research gained from my survey, I researched multiple peer-reviewed journals that analyzed how negative roommate behaviour can impact others. A study published in one journal found that conflict between roommates can create a negative living environment.
Secondary Research
One national study, sampling 31,500 students, found that almost half, or 47.9%, “reported ‘frequent’ or ‘occasional’ conflict with their roommates or housemates.”
Golding, M., Gould Runnerstrom, M., & Grant Ludwig, L. (2022, May 9). Negative roommate relationships and the health and wellbeing of undergraduate college students. Journal of Public Health Student Capstones, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.15586/jphsc.v1i1.35
Pain Points
Preventing negative roommate experiences can be difficult
“ I practiced and I would say I’m going to soften my image, but then when I actually started talking, it kind of seemed like I’m punching you with words type of thing… so if anything, I could’ve been more open to other forms of communication besides one-on-one” (Goulding, 2022)
Resolving conflicts with a roommate is not only difficult but also extremely awkward
These difficulties can create anxiety between both parties, which can negatively impact a young person’s social life
“I thought that having a roommate would be super fun, the way that it’s perceived in movies and stuff.
“What if I am doing this whole college thing wrong and I felt I had messed it up” (Goulding, 2022)
Negative living environments can deteriorate a young person's mental health
Living in a chaotic living space, especially for young college students, can cause unnecessary stress
This stress can seriously affect a person’s ability to study or complete schoolwork at home if they are a student
App Constraints
A solution to the problem would require all parties to download an app
Roommates could download app and still not uphold their responsibilities
Technical Constraints
A solution needs to be oriented towards the roommate experience
Young people utilize group features on social media more than third-party apps
Social Constraints
A solution must be affordable/free for students living frugally
Certain tasks, such as paying bills, may require the use of a third-party payment service
Business Constraints
Market Research
Synthesis
User Persona
Expereience Map
User goal: Express to her roommates that the shared responsibilities of living with roommates need to be equally distributed
Bridget’s goal is to find a comfortable way to distribute the chores within her apartment in an equitable manner. Keeping this in mind, it becomes clear that a group chore tracking app can help ensure all her roommates are contributing to the apartment’s chores. The app’s features will help prevent conflicts between her and her roommates. Thus, improving her shared living experience.
Opportunity
Ideation
Digital Wireframes
User testing
Goal: Assign the task of mopping the floor to roommate Santiago on January 4th.
Find the Add Task button
Choose between adding, editing, and removing a task
Input a name, date, and roommate for the new task
Confirm the addition
Task 1 Revisions
User photos on the home page were changed to checkable boxes to indicate whether a task was completed or not
User testing found that the add task button wasn’t noticeable enough, so icons were made bolder
The roommate’s name was added to the task alongside the time of task
Task 2 Revisions
A pop-up menu label was added to fill the screen space
The close button was made bolder and larger
The border lines were stretched to emphasis the requried actions
Task 3 Revisions
Reorganized the select roommate dropdown selction
Visual Identity
Colour Palette
The purpose of homi is to help roommates keep their living spaces as clean as possible. Keeping this in mind, I believed that a strong teal color would help establish this standard of cleanliness. Other colors, such as green or red, could’ve caused some confusion amongst users. Additionally, I stuck to traditional black and white shades to help keep the app looking as sleek as possible.
App name
The name Homi has multiple meanings that correlate to both the app’s purpose and target demographic. Homie is a popular term used by younger demographics to describe a close friend/acquaintance. I believe that this friendly nickname may make the app less intimidating for new users. Additionally, homeowners often use the adjective homey to describe a comfortable and unique living space. To create the app’s name, I removed the ending of the word homie and replaced it with an I to give it a modern identity. I believe that the name encompasses the collaboration required to create a comfortable living space.
Homi’s logo combines a traditional to-do list on a clipboard alongside a bold typeface. The clipboard indicates to users that the app, at its core, can act as a traditional to-do list. When creating the logo, I tried using different house icons, but in the end, I felt a clipboard better indicated the app’s true purpose. The bold typeface was chosen as it better suits the urgency of what the app is used for. Homi’s branding needs to be bold, as it requires staying engaged with the app routinely.
Logo
Hi-Fidelity Prototype
