PRODUCT DESIGNER
Moving out is a lot more complicated and difficult than people realize. I wanted to design a solution that would be engaging and useful for my users.
Project Overview
This goal of this project was to design an application that would help people moving out to have a more efficient, smooth, and informed move-out experience.
Design Process
I went through the general product design process to come up with my final solution.
Empathize: Research
Personally, I knew I hated moving. However, I didn't know whether other people felt the same way, and if they had the same issues as I did.
The goal of my research in the realm of moving was to understand user's needs and pain points for the process of moving homes.
My main questions were:
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What are people's move-out experiences like? What is their comfort level with moving out?
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What do people lack or need in the move-out experience?
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What are some things people didn't expect about moving?
Following that, I sent out a brief survey to screen & recruit participants for user interviews, through which I sought to understand their goals, pain points, and needs.
My users' responses, when asked to list words they associated with moving out.
Research Findings:
20 people responded to the initial survey and I interviewed 4 people. As a general sentiment, people expressed that they felt under-equipped about coordinating and executing an entire move-out process. They didn't feel very confident or well-prepared, and many of them had had frustrating and difficult past moves.
Overall, I gathered that people felt frazzled and stressed out by the moving process. My own assumption about this is because it’s a process that people go through, but not often enough to be familiar with all the different processes that entail moving out as well as the expenditure.
Some of the pain points were that it was more effortful and time-consuming than originally planned, and that sometimes people didn’t know how to get started or budget their time properly, which led to stress and frustration. There was also the hassle of trying to hire different services while in the process of packing and moving out and not knowing who to go to or find.
Things people felt they needed for a better move:
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more time to clean, pack, etc.
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more hired help
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better time planning
Things people were surprised by:
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how much time it takes to pack/unpack, clean, wrap things up/ loose ends
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how disruptive moving can be
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how expenses add up (moving/cleaning/trash services)
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how many different elements there are to moving
The Problem Statement
People who are moving have the problem of having a tiring, stressful and frazzled experience when trying to move out of a place because of their lack of knowledge, planning and resources. Our solution should deliver a way for them to pace their move-out tasks in a manageable manner and give them references to people who can help them so they can have a more streamlined and stress-free move-out experience.
Product Principles
Empowering:
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Easy to use & navigate, leaves users feeling in control
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Increases user confidence through clarity
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Helpful for the user
Personalized:
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Adaptable to users’ individual needs without adding confusion
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Able to trim or add content based on user need to fit their journey
Motivational/Incentivizing:
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Provides momentum and drives the user to continue on their tasks
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Pleasant experience that drives users to continue engagement
To guide my design process as I tackle my problem statement, I chose 3 product principles that I thought reflected how I wanted my final product/user experience to pan out.
I chose empowering, because I wanted the users to feel in control in a process that often feels chaotic and stressful. I chose personalized, because every person's move-out needs and situation are different, and I wanted the final product to be able to accommodate for those differences. Finally, I chose motivational/incentivizing, because I know that moving is an arduous process, and it requires stamina to keep pushing on.
Define: The Problem & Principles
After synthesizing my research, I needed to properly define my problem and principles before starting to design my product.
I went through 2 different exercises to help me further understand my problem, and came up with the problem statement below.
The 4 W's:
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Who is experiencing the problem?
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People, all ages, all life situations, needing to move out. (may narrow this to people moving out of apartments)
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What is the problem?
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The moving out process is emotionally taxing because there isn’t a lot of know-how and people find the process more time-consuming, expensive, labor-intensive and disorganized than originally expected.
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Where does the problem present itself?
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When people are preparing to move out or moving out and they realize they’re in a time crunch and the stress levels rise.
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Why does it matter?
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Because creating a product that helps these users in their move will cause them to use it again to refer it to others. If I added a way to help them find good hired help, that can be a business advantage.
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The 5 Why's:
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Why are they having an unpleasant and stressful time moving?
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Because moving takes up more time/money/effort than expected
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Why?
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Because they don’t move often enough to have the proper knowledge about how long moving takes. They also haven’t planned their tasks out and/or found the right people to help.
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Why haven’t they planned or found the right people to help?
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Because they aren’t so aware of tasks aside from packing and cleaning, or may not know how to prioritize or schedule the tasks. They also don’t utilize moving services (movers, junk removal, cleaners, pest removal services) often enough to know who to contact and have to search for it.
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Why aren’t people more aware of other miscellaneous moving tasks? Why do people have to search long for moving services?
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Because moving isn’t something that people care about until it applies to them. And because there isn’t a good resource to guide people about move-out processes and who to contact for what job.
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The Solution
Overall, I liked the idea of a gamified experience as it would be fun and motivating for people to use. I thought the product would be the most useful as a task-oriented game with different incentives, and things I would incorporate were calendar and overview pages to see progress and keep deadlines in mind. I also wanted to provide a way to access hired help (similar to Yelp).
Ideas/Features I considered:
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A project management/calendar type service to plan out their move
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A questionnaire to help understand the need of the user to tailor their experience
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A gamified journey experience
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a moving planner booking service
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helpful tips and tricks (a wiki aspect)
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a business connection, for example with yelp to connect users to services
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a to-do list
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shopping list feature
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calendar integration
Ideate: Forming the Solution
Keeping my problem statement and product principles in mind, I brainstormed various ideas that might be incorporated into my solution. To help me narrow down on different features I had thought of, I then organized my different ideas on a chart, with value on one axis and effort on another to see which ideas would be the most worth my time to incorporate into the final solution. I also made a list of pros and cons for each idea to further decide between ideas (not shown).
User Flows
After coming up with a solution I was satisfied with, I mapped out a user flow for my product. I also mapped out a potential "unhappy" path for a user, to ensure I considered cases that could create issues in the user experience.
User Journey
To go deeper and step into my user's shoes as they use my product, I created a user journey. This was a helpful resource I used as I thought about how to design specific elements of my product.
Typography
Colors
Buttons
Forms Part 1
Forms Part 2
Segmented Controls
Drop Downs
Icons 1
Icons 2
Style Guide
After thinking through my user journey, I started designing. This is the design system I used to design my final product. The colors and UI are slightly retro-themed, intended to mimic older video games. The vibe of the product was intended to be playful and relaxed.
"More" Menu
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Task Page
Browse for Help
Calendar Booking
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Booking Success
Messaging
Landing Page
Sign In
Overview
Intro Survey
Tasklist (Home)
Task Page
Select Screens
Prototype: Bringing it to Life
Now that I had a flow and design system, I created my screens (all 100+ of them!) and prototyped them in Figma. I named the product "Operation Evacuate!" This was the first time I learned about more in-depth prototyping and UX motion techniques, and was excited to incorporate them to make the prototype more reflective of the actual product.
The Prototype:
Please press the "R" key to restart the prototype and see it from the beginning.
Persona
Using these research findings, I put together a persona to paint a holistic picture of what my users are feeling and the challenges that they may be facing as they move out.
User 1:
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“I like how it pre-fills out information so I don’t have to enter it again or manually reach out to each individual business”
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“The tips are super super helpful”
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“I love that the app makes me feel understood, because moving is hard!”
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“Maybe it’s just me, but the game aspect makes me wonder if it’s reliable, because other apps like yelp don’t have that ‘game’ or ‘playful’ aspect”
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“Some of the wording of the questions can be a little confusing”
User 2:
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"I like the listed tasks because I wouldn’t have known where to start, it helped expand my knowledge"
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"I really like the game aspect and the design"
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"I wish there would be a tutorial in the beginning because when I see the main page I kind of don’t know what to do.”
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"I wasn’t sure where to access messages from the vendors"
User 3:
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"I liked that the task list was pre-populated after answering survey questions”
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“I like the calendar view!”
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“Game aspect is fun, makes moving seem not so stressful”
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"For requesting business quotes, I’d like to know how fast they’d get back to me"
On a whole, the users I tested the prototype really enjoyed the product. They thought it was a creative yet useful idea, as all of my users have experienced their fair share of move-out struggles. I wasn't sure how the game aspect would be received, but my users were excited about it and found that it grabbed their attention and brought fun into an otherwise tedious taskset.
Final Thoughts
I loved creating this application, and felt a great sense of accomplishment finishing such a large and in-depth project. I think it was rather out of the box thinking, and while it has a relatively small use case, I have high hopes that a product like this would be able to add value to many people's lives!
Looking back on the test results, I would want to make a few adjustments:
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Increase clarity of navigation
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Make it easier for users to find and access different things they needed (i.e. Inbox)
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Potentially clean up the home page to make it feel less busy
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Add additional features
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Ability to add other users to the app so if you’re moving out together, you can coordinate move-out tasks
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Add payment method to application from the get-go so that you can pay the service directly
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Build out the "coupon redemption" feature, or add some additional incentives/prizes for people who continuously use the app
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Make a desktop version! It's such a big project that it practically demands a web interface.
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Testing: What do users think?
After creating my prototype, I put it to the test by putting it in the hands of 3 users. I asked them to carry out 3 tasks:
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Go through the intro questionnaire and fill out the information needed
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Complete an 'Individual Task" (no outside help needed)
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Successfully request help on a "Help Needed" Task (requires outside services)
About the Project
A passion project to design better way to move-out.
Timeline
Tools
6 weeks
Figma/FigJam, Pen & Paper, Procreate
My Role
Product Designer — Ideation, User Research, UX/UI Design, Prototyping, Testing
About Me