SpaceOn - An Airbnb-style self-storage app

The Problem

• Coop students or frequent travelers are required to move consistently.

• Having too many belongings makes it hard to move around.

• People with space that might not be large enough to accommodate others to live in.

The Solution

For Renters:

• They can find convenient, local hosts to temporarily store belongings at a much lower cost.

• They will have an accommodating level of security and reassurance.

For Hosts:

• They can earn some quick cash by renting out any available space for storage.

After conducting several user interviews and getting a deeper understanding of their pain points and realistic expectations, I started creating two personas for the main user segments - Renters, and Hosts.

For more details on user interviews, competitor research, business goals set up, and use cases for mandatory features, please click here to my personal portfolio websites, with all the preparation details in it.

After all the preparations, it's time to start my ideating process.

User Flow

Creating user flows can help me visualize the interactions between pages, therefore, mapping out the user flows is always my first step before creating any mockups.

Low-Fidelity

After finishing the user flows, I started to draw low-fidelity prototypes. These prototypes can help me double-check the interaction between pages and help to find any steps missing or any steps that should be removed.

Also, if I was working in an Agile team with engineers, I would always use this time to touch base with engineers to see if there are any technical concerns on their end.

Palette

Because blue can give people a feeling of peace and space, therefore, I chose blue as the primary color of this app.

WCAG

During my design process, I made sure all necessary text fields - including titles, descriptions, and locations - passed WCAG (all of them passed at least AA standard). This helps me ensure all information that is designed to be read by users is always readable.

Typeface

I chose SF Pro Display and SF Pro Text as the typeface for this app, because they are the most frequently used typeface, easy to read, and most devices can have the texts displayed. When doing UX designs, I always keep in mind that readability comes first.

Hi-Fidelity

Finally, I started my Hi-Fidelity design. There were several iterations throughout the design process.

For more details about usability testing and iterations I made based on feedback I received and observed, please click here to my personal portfolio website.

Responsive Design

Responsive design is crucial in today's software development.

Despite the fact that many people use phones more than use laptops, there is a significant number of laptop users who prefer to use desktop version of the application.

Metrics

Lastly, I referred to Google Heart Framework for choosing metrics of the product. Having metrics sitting aside can help me test the product, find issues, and improve the product in a long run.

Qualitative:

● Customer Satisfaction Rating

Quantitative:

● Renter Adoption Rate (% of customers who go on to pay for space)

● Time on finishing booking a space (minutes starting from click the CTA "Book Now" in the detail page)

● Churn Rate (% of customers who stop using our service more than one year)

● User Retention Rate (% of customers who stay using our services more than four months, with no less than four visits during the consecutive four-month period)

Conclusion

I am actively finding software developers who are interested in this product to actually implement the product and bring this idea to life. Starting from user interviews to A/B testing, almost all interviewees and volunteers expressed their hope that one day this product can become true.

Meanwhile, I am continue conducting usability testing to further improve my designs for every step.

Hope one day, no one needs to be concerned about where to put belongings when they have to move between leases, doing Coops, or just want to travel to another place. Meanwhile, anyone with free spaces in their home can conveniently and safely earn some each cash as they wish.

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For more details about user interviews, competitor research, use cases, usability testing, and iterations I made based on feedback I received and observed, please click here to my personal portfolio website.

Thank you for reading to the end.