Chillow | Portfolio

Chillow App

Project Description

The Chillow, Inc. is an innovative mobile application company based in Boise, Idaho. Founded and operated by a husband-and-wife team, their platform helps users find the ideal living situation by connecting them with potential roommates and safe living spaces.

What sets The Chillow apart is their unique approach to fostering positive roommate experiences. The app allows users to review, rank, and endorse each other based on past living experiences, creating a system of trust and accountability. This feature helps users make informed decisions about their living arrangements and ensures a comfortable and harmonious living environment.

Overview

The goal of this project was to create an intuitive MVP version of the product while also building awareness and attracting an audience. Design thinking and skillful interface creation were key factors in producing a smooth and delightful user experience.

As UX/UI Designer, I was involved in the entire end-to-end design process for this ground-up project. Given the limited time frame for development and launch, the design process was tightly integrated with the development cycle. I was responsible for everything from defining the initial problem statement to overseeing the launch of the app.

While the project started as a challenging task, our collaborative efforts paid off as we were able to exceed the founders' expectations. We streamlined the timeline and added extended functionalities, ultimately launching the product ahead of schedule. Thanks to our efforts, the product is now live and delivering value to its users.

Deliverables

Empathy map: A visual representation of users' behaviors, attitudes, pain points, and motivations that helps us understand their needs and perspectives.
Personas: Archetypal representations of users that summarize their characteristics, goals, and behaviors, based on research and analysis.
Journey map: A visualization of the user's journey, from the initial contact with the product or service to the final outcome, highlighting key touchpoints and pain points.
User flow: A schematic representation of the steps and interactions that a user needs to take to achieve their goals and complete a task.
Low-fi wireframes and mockups: Sketches or basic designs that show the layout, structure, and content of the interface, without detailed styling or visual elements.
Interactive prototypes: Working models of the product or service that simulate the user's experience and allow for testing and feedback.
Style guide and specifications for developers: A detailed guide that outlines the design principles, visual elements, typography, and color schemes of the product or service, as well as technical specifications and guidelines for implementation.

The Problem

Living with roommates is a common experience for many people, with nearly 79 million people in the US alone sharing living spaces with others, according to Pew Research Center. However, finding the right roommate can be a challenge. Many people have experienced the frustration of living with someone whose values and preferences are incompatible with their own. From minor annoyances to more serious issues like financial disputes, having a bad roommate can make daily life unbearable and even lead to legal trouble or lease termination.

The founders of Chillow understand these challenges and set out to create a mobile app to help people avoid these failed roommate scenarios. By providing a platform for users to find and connect with potential roommates, the app streamlines the process of selecting a compatible living partner. The app allows users to review and endorse each other based on past living experiences, creating a system of trust and accountability. The goal of the Chillow app is to make the process of finding a roommate easy, safe, and stress-free, improving the lives of millions of people around the globe.

Project goals and objectives

The UX design team was focused on creating a user-friendly and secure app that meets the following goals:

Assisting product management: The team worked closely with the product management team to determine key features for the app. This collaborative approach ensured that the app's design met the needs of both users and the business.

Integrating security functions: To increase users' trust, the team integrated robust security functions into the app, ensuring that user data is safe and secure.

Constructing user reputation: The app allows users to build their reputation based on true reviews from past roommates. This feature helps users make informed decisions and find compatible roommates.

Designing for scalability: The team designed the app to be scalable, with the ability to accommodate an ever-growing roommate base. The app matches people based on personal preferences, budget, and geographical location, making it easy for users to find their ideal roommate.

Designing a user-friendly interface: The team designed a system-agnostic and user-friendly interface with clear user-flows to help users reach their goals quickly and efficiently. The app's design is intuitive, making it easy for users to navigate and find what they need.

Research

Overall market size for US renters age group between 18-33, who currently live with a roommate, is 133 million people. According to Experian Simmons, there are about 54 million college students in the US. 98% of them use social media in everyday life. 18 million, which is 34.4%, students search for a roommate on social media. It means that people are moving a lot and the fastest and best way to find a roommate or place is social media. To better understand the user's goals and needs our team used online surveys for the age group between 17-36 and conducted more than 40 form results, that helped conclude the main user’s pain points, such as: No safe/easy/affordable way exists to find a credible roommate and meet safely. The price for terminating leases is at an all-time high. People agree to live with others oblivious to what the experience will entail. The price for homeownership has increased.

Competitive analysis

Competitive research among the top 4 competitors in this category, Roomster, Roomi, Padmapper, and Craigslist, showed these apps haven’t been addressing some pain points we found out were important for our user. We’ve recognized the need to integrate safety features, the system of reviews, and endorsements to help users find their perfect roommate. These features help Chillow provide additional value to its users and stand out on the current market among the apps within its category of finding roommates. The conducted survey research showed us that we have to prioritize user’s safety in the process of finding a roommate or a place to live and integrate security key features that help extremely increase users’ trustworthiness to our product.

Persona

The research helped us to hone the target audience to the following criteria:

users between ages 16-40
users who are looking for an affordable rental
users who are searching for a credible roommate
users who own or have access to a smartphone
users who feel comfortable using digital products

Empathy Map

My team and I created Empathy Map to evaluate the research findings and define the user goals.

Journey Map

After analyzing all the qualitative and quantitative data, our team and I focused on the User Journey. It allowed us to discover possible problems and exceed customers’ expectations at all touchpoints. We created key features that would make finding roommates easy to use as well as make it enjoyable for the users.

User Flow

After defining the user's goals, we started to work on User Flows to visualize the whole process and that helped us understand the main application scheme and the outcome of the flow.

Unique and Playful App

After reviewing some dating and gaming apps such as Tinder, Bumble and Shazam, we added swipe, tap and toggle functionality to the Chillow app that would allow users to match roommates, find a place or share a place in a playful way.

Pain Point 1

Know more about roommates, and establish connections.
Incorporated features such as: Reviews and Endorsements

Find a Match

Chatting

Pain Point 2

Find room quickly and safely.
Incorporated features such as:

Pain Point 3

No way to find a credible roommate.

Low-fidelity wireframes

I worked on creating low fidelity wireframes for the product. These wireframes served as a rough visual representation of the product's user interface and functionality, allowing for early-stage testing and feedback. By starting with low fidelity wireframes, I was able to iterate quickly and make changes based on user feedback before moving on to higher fidelity designs. The low fidelity wireframes also helped me to communicate my design ideas to the development team and stakeholders in a clear and concise manner.

Mockups

After several weeks of intense work, we moved on to the visual design phase of the project, which involved creating a cohesive and visually appealing design for the app. This phase started with creating a strong brand identity that included the app icon and a general style guide. The style guide defined the overall look and feel of the app, including the color palette, typography, iconography, illustrations, clickable elements, and more.

Once the style guide was established, we moved on to designing the user interface for each phase of the app: Find a Roommate, Find a Place, and Post Place. We created high fidelity mockups for each phase, ensuring that every screen was intuitive, easy to use, and visually consistent with the established style guide.

In addition to designing the user interface, we also delivered all of the exported assets in multiple screen resolutions, making it easy for the development team to implement the designs. To ensure that the development team had a clear understanding of each frame and design, we kept all frames organized and clean and added annotations to explain the purpose of each element.

For the sign-in process, we included options for users to sign in using their Apple ID or Facebook account, making it easy for users to create an account and access the app quickly. This streamlined sign-in process helps to reduce user frustration and encourages adoption of the app.

Matched!

Congratulations, you've been matched! The app will display an animated screen confirming the match and provide you with the option to start chatting with your potential roommate. The chat function is intuitive and user-friendly, allowing you to communicate easily and effectively. By providing this seamless communication feature, we ensure that users can quickly and efficiently connect with their potential roommates and begin building a positive and trusting living environment.

Hamburger menu

The hamburger menu is a great tool for organizing content and keeping the focus on the core functions of the app. The menu allows users to access important features without cluttering the main screen. Some of the key features accessible from the menu include:

Profile: Users can view and edit their profile information, including their personal details, profile picture, and interests.
Verify ID: This feature allows users to verify their identity by providing additional documentation or information. This can help establish trust and credibility between potential roommates or landlords.
Background Check: This feature allows users to conduct a background check on potential roommates or landlords, ensuring that they are trustworthy and reliable.
Reviews: Users can view and give reviews of potential roommates or landlords, providing valuable feedback to the community.
Invite Friends: Users can invite their friends to join the platform and expand their network of potential roommates or landlords.
Support: This feature allows users to contact customer support with any issues or concerns they may have while using the app.
By organizing these features in the hamburger menu, users can easily access important tools and information without feeling overwhelmed or distracted by unnecessary content. This helps create a seamless and user-friendly experience for all users.

Design System

Creating a Design System was a crucial step in our project, enabling us to maintain consistency across all design elements and UI components. It provided us with a centralized library of assets, including reusable design elements, fonts, and color palettes, that ensured all team members could easily access and implement them in their work.

Thanks to our Design System, our design and engineering teams were able to collaborate seamlessly and stay in sync throughout the entire project. This not only saved us time but also helped us to maintain a cohesive and polished look and feel across all aspects of the design.

Additionally, the Design System allowed us to make updates and changes to our design elements and components much more efficiently. Instead of having to make changes across multiple screens or components individually, we could update them within the Design System, which automatically applied the changes across the entire system.

Overall, the Design System was an invaluable tool that kept our assets organized, ensured consistency across our design elements and components, and streamlined collaboration between our design and engineering teams.

Usability testing

During the development process, we conducted Usability testing to gather feedback from users and improve the user experience. As a result, we made several improvements to the platform.

Simplified Sign Up process by integrating Facebook and Apple ID sign-up options
Reduced scrolling by organizing information and keeping it easily accessible
Added onboarding slides to help users understand key features and get started quickly
Ensured consistency across the platform by using the same design elements and patterns throughout
Added personalization features to make the platform feel more tailored to each user's preferences and needs.

Conclusion

Working on this end-to-end project was a rewarding experience that allowed me to apply my previous experience in various layers to achieve our main goals. Our team conducted thorough research, including persona creation, empathy mapping, and user journey mapping, which helped us identify the main obstacles and pain points that were important for users. From there, we were able to determine key features for the project that addressed these issues.

To increase user trust and safety, we integrated security functions such as background checks, ID verification, and email confirmation. Additionally, we focused on designing a user-friendly interface with clear user flows to help users reach their goals faster. Our team generated a roommates matching base, which allowed people to find roommates safely based on personal preferences, budget, and location.

One of the most exciting parts of this project was creating a design system, which helped us keep our assets, collection of reusable design elements, UI components, fonts, and color palette organized and consistent across all screens. This allowed our design and engineering team members to stay in sync and work more efficiently.

Overall, this project was a great learning opportunity and an interesting design challenge to solve. I am proud of what our team accomplished and the impact it can have on helping people find safe and suitable living arrangements.

Chillow App

Persona

Product walkthrough