Lease & Co : Website for finding rental homes
PROBLEM
People want an easy and stress-free way to find rental apartments
At the start of 2023, my friend and I had to move out of our old rental because the owner was returning. While searching for new apartments online, we often felt overwhelmed by confusing leasing requirements. After talking to peers who faced similar issues, I wondered: What could make this process simpler?
SOLUTION
Making the apartment search process streamlined and informative from the very beginning, eliminating any sense of overwhelm
A platform where users can access all requirements and legal details before physically exploring rental options
GAINING INSIGHTS INTO THE ISSUE
Commencing with paper research, I extensively explored the areas of renting, diving into its processes and challenges. During which I came across an interesting insight from CBC news report which revealed that
1 in 3 Canadians are renting
Going through numerous online surveys and forums dedicated to rental experiences, it became evident that there were a lot of hurdles for individuals in their pursuit of finding the perfect rental property
What makes finding the right rental so difficult?
Equipped with my personal encounter and a desire to understand the issue more comprehensively, I engaged in interviews with three individuals actively seeking rental accommodations. All of them expressed their struggles with the intricacies of online rental process
I also designed an online survey to connect with a larger audience and gain a deeper understanding of their concerns. After concluding the research phase, I distilled the most significant points and observations. Utilizing empathy maps, I formed some key insights
DESIGN SCOPE AND STRUCTURE
I limited the initial scope to a website. I aimed to make my designs as realistic as possible - that meant considering the practicalities of the structure and elements for (hypothetical) development. Images must be clean, business needs should be considered as well as users needs
With a goal statement set out
The website will let users who aren't satisfied with finding rental apartments through different processes, find their choice of apartments by offering complete control over the application process and transparency about the fees. I will measure the effectiveness through usability testing low and high fidelity designs.
I started generating ideas by asking
“How might we give users a hassle free rental browsing and renting experience?”
The most important action a new user could take was to browse through the available rental apartments, look at the details for it and schedule an appointment to view it - this is our primary flow. I created a basic version, taking into consideration the choices the users might want to make and with a clear happy path, that would allow me start structuring the content within the website
With trying to get started on the interface of the designs I started with having a “no bad ideas” mindset, I did a Crazy 8 exercise to come up with potential different ways to present the information on the website
Using the most appropriate components together resulted in a refined wireframe with all the content needed for the user to get all the information for the rental they were looking at. I used the same process for other core screens on the website and created a low fidelity design on Figma
After showing the low fi designs to my peers and my mentors, I was feeling confident in the designs and created high fidelity designs for the same. Keeping in mind that this was my attempt to create a very realistic design, I came up with an imaginary brand name called 'Lease & Co’ and imagined it to be their website
I created high fidelity designs for my primary user flow and based on feedback from my peers and 2 users, I refined and improved my designs
THE FINAL SCREENS - View working prototype here
IN CONCLUSION
This was my first website project, and I am happy with the way it turned out. There are always more improvements to make, but at this point I was happy with calling the website ready to build. My users were able to achieve the primary task of scheduling a viewing and with the visual and written interface I was able to provide most of the information that the users wanted to find before requesting a booking which in turn met my original goal statement
The website will let users who aren't satisfied with finding rental apartments through different processes, find their choice of apartments by offering complete control over the application process and transparency about the fees. I will measure the effectiveness through usability testing low and high fidelity designs.
In future I would want to consider accounting for more strategic business decisions, e.g. : able to introduce a leasing agent feature to guide users who know less about their needs
After all, no product is ever truly finished…✨