Living Together 

Providing student not only the renting solution but also a chance to build a meaningful relationship with seniors who have empty rooms

DATE

Sept-Dec 2018     

MY ROLE

UX/UI Designer

METHODS & TOOL

User Research, User Interview, Empathy Maps, Guerilla Testing, Usability Testing, Sketch app, Invision, Principle 

SUMMARY

LiTo (Living Together)  is an app that provides a platform for students to find matching seniors and ideal living places with lower rent by providing some help in exchange. We aim to provide not only the renting solution but also a chance to build a meaningful relationship. 

This is a group project for the fundamental of the UX course.

What is LiTo & Why LiTo?

The Problem

Currently, neither the University's residence services nor the city's available rental housings meet students' demand for affordable and comfortable housing.

In addition, there is a need to create more connections within the community to support students' academic and social success, which will help ease the existing financial and emotional burden on the students.

Meanwhile, there is an increasing number of seniors in the country. Most of them report feeling lonely and having spare rooms in their house.

The Process

|User Research & Anlysis

Students

"I hope I can afford a more comfortable living space in the city"

20 Surveys

20+ Literature Review

8 Interviews

1. Unaffordable Rent

Housing options and boarding costs aren't affordable for many of the students 

2. Loneliness

Nearly 70% of university students battle loneliness during school years and feel isolated

Seniors                                                 

 "The room has been spared for a few years, I wish I had company"

1. Ageing

Adults 55+ years old currently represent ~25% of the residents of Toronto.  By 2041 the estimated number will double

2. Loneliness

1.4 million elderly Canadians report feeling lonely

3. Extra room/space in seniors' houses

In Ontario, 50%+ of residents, and 3/4 of those over the age of 65 live in houses that are bigger than needed, leaving 5 million spare bedrooms across the province

We created Proto-persona for both the senior side and the student side based on our user research.

Due to class constraints we decided to focus on the student side only

We then used the empathy map to help further identify Matt's needs.

|Requirement Analysis & Ideation 

Matt needs:

• a place with lower rent, so that he can afford to live in a big city & save money for his personal expense
• to change his living style and eating habits, so that he can become healthier both mentally and physically
• to find a roommate that he can trust, has similar interests & values so that he can avoid uncomfortable living situations
• Having moved to Toronto, Matt wants to be a part of the community and expand his network

We brainstormed ideas, prioritized them based on feasibility and impact, and decided on the student senior home-sharing program idea

LiTo (Living together)

• Connects students and seniors and creates a meaningful relationship
• Utilizes seniors’ empty rooms to provide  affordable, comfortable housing for students
• Allows students to help seniors with their needs so that they can age in their homes and not feel lonely

|Low Fidelity Prototypes 

We conceptualized how would the matching process provide students with a smooth experience and meantime collecting the necessary information for us to do the pre-select.  Our process focuses on the following aspects:

1. Safety and Trust

Incorporate student card in the identity validation process                       

3. Meaningful connection

Designed specific questions for students to indicate their personalities

2. Suitable Matching 

Designed specific questions for students to show their preferences as well as to let seniors know more about the students

4. Flexibility 

Students can always go back and update their room/roommate preferences.

Paper Prototypes

Feedbacks & Iterations

Based on the guerrilla testing conducted with  the 6 representative users using our paper prototype, we summarized the following points of improvements:

1. Clear Clarification

Some questions and labels were not clear and the purpose of the questions was confusing

2. Concise Process

Some of the screens have too many questions in one and users feel overwhelmed

3. Separation between Sections

Users were not sure why some questions were asked twice for both user profile and ideal roommate

4. Senior Perspective

Users are wondering if the seniors are willing to use the app. Is the app realistic?

Medium Fidelity

4. Pre-matching results and request for further contact

5. Chat interface & Profile interface

Evaluation & Next steps

Another round of usability testing was conducted using cognitive walkthrough and heuristic evaluation with 5 representative users and 2 experts.  They all loved our concept and think this is truly something that's needed now.

Issues found: