CITYSTREET
Community Research App
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Citysteet is a mobile-first service platform that help users explore different neighborhood options that fit their personal or family needs when they are moving to a new place. By inputing some of the user’s desired qualities of life, budget, and/or area of work, Citystreet provides a list of neighborhoods that match the preference through a holistic, visual interface. This makes the research process simpler and more streamlined to minimize the stress and time spent.
MY CONTRIBUTIONS
Scope
Concept design
Time
4 weeks
Role
User Research | iOS App Design | UX | UI | Prototype
Tools
Figma
DEFINE PROBLEM
An individual's’ quality of life, based on the WHO definition, comprises of these factors: Physical health, psychological condition, independence, relationships with others, and the environment one lives in. Finding the right place means it can increase one’s quality of life.
Today, there is abundant information online; however, when one starts researching, it can be difficult to know where to start and there isn’t an easy way. Moving to a new place can be extremely overwhelming.
USER RESEARCH
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Currently, there is a wide range of websites that attempt to provide users with resources and tools to help explore different cities/areas in the US; however, the biggest problem is that the abundance of information becomes overwhelming to the actual users.
Key Features
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Crime rates
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Ranking systems
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Interactive Map
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"Livability" scores and ranking
Weaknesses
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Overwhelming amount of articles
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Low readability
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Difficult to compare city-to-city
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Data not accurate and/or relevant anymore
USER INTERVIEWS
I conducted 1-on-1 interview with 10 adults who have had experiences moving within the US to understand the needs and what triggered their decisions. It was interesting to see how preferences correlated to their life-stages.
3 main insights:
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Main needs were (1) Safety, (2) Convenience, and (3) Easy Commute to work/school
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Online information is overwhelming - feels hyped up and inaccurate
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Published rates and statistical maps aren't true representation of the neighborhoods
PERSONAS
From the user interviews, I was able to learn that what people want and need can vary quite a lot depending on the individual's or the family's life stage. The two personas below highlight the two opposite "types" of potential users:
ANALYZE + IDEATE
To address the problem of users getting overwhelmed with the abundance of online information, I focused on understanding what users would want to do and simplifying the actions that are required to get the desired information.
USER TASK FLOW
Task flows and user flows helped define how the product would work from user perspective.
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What would the user be looking at?
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Where are all of the user's decision points?
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Are any alternative paths necessary?
IDEATION: LO-FI WIREFRAMES
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I used standardized patterns to give users the most familiarity and inclusivity
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Responsive design will allow users to comfortable search for neighborhoods on-the-go, or at their desks with largest screens to get a good understanding of the overall neighborhoods, distances in relation to new office or school, etc.
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It's essential to explore different layouts and screens with mid-fi wireframes before moving on the high-fi wireframes to be more efficient.
IDEATION: MID-FI WIREFRAMES
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After focusing on the mobile experience, I also ensured that the desktop experience was optimized. It is expected that users will take their time while sitting at a desk to conduct in-depth research, especially when they are searching for important life decisions.
PROTOTYPE
After building out the design in high-fi wireframes, I created an interactive prototype to further gather user feedback. I focused on designing the UX and UI targeting modern, tech savvy users.
USER TEST + ITERATE
DESIGN EVALUATION
In addition to user insights, Hi-fidelity prototype testing was crucial to understanding where the user journey was unclear and how to enhance my design. I learned that search and filtering is a powerful tool but can make or brake the user journey depending how it is presented to the user as it is an important experience tool for the users.s.
ITERATION BASED ON FEEDBACK
FEATURE PRIORITIZATION
I have explored additional features that will make the overall experience more robust and prioritized using the MoSCoW method to ascertain what’s important to users.
FINAL DESIGN
NEXT STEPS
This project was originally created as a high-level concept design for a technology company to explore a business opportunity that can be commercialized in the next 2-3 years. Now that there has been a proven need for it and approved by the company, I will further develop it to incorporate all the necessary flows for the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This will include the flow for how experts create their profile pages, details on how document sharing and form submissions will occur, and more. After that, I plan to create a prototype to test the usability with the appropriate user group before evaluating again for business decisions.