sharesquare
sharesquare
Click to see prototype
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UX/UI Designer
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2 Months
Problem
Financial disputes and imbalanced chore distributions in share houses escalate into severe conflicts, causing stress, resentment, and hostility. Misunderstandings over rent, bills, and neglected cleaning duties lead to arguments, broken trust, and a decline in home livability, creating a toxic environment where peaceful coexistence is difficult. How might we create a more structured and transparent system to manage these responsibilities and foster a harmonious living environment
SOLUTION
Create a transparent, automated system for financial management and chore distribution transforms share house living. It ensures accurate tracking, timely reminders, equitable cost-sharing, fair task allocation, and clear scheduling. This eliminates misunderstandings, promotes equal contributions, and fosters a cooperative, stress-free, and harmonious living environment.
research OBJECTIVE
We want to explore the need for an app which will help with sharehouse organisation and keep housemates accountable to each other with chores as well as paying rent and bills
Research Validation
By conducting 6 interviews we hope firstly gain insight on the reality of share houses and to determine what features people would come to expect from a housemate orgainasion app and how they’d use said app in their daily lives
Reseaerch Interview- Results
“It's difficult when you have multiple people in a house and, you might have that certain individual that is not contributing so that accountability factor is a pretty good thing.”
— Interviewee
“[When asked about dealing with any issues] just come across each other in the kitchen have a little bit of a brief chat and then someone might do something about it for a little bit and then it goes back to the way it was (...) that's pretty much the way it went.”
— Interviewee
“I think the most common issue was probably the organisation that I felt in my experience, organisation in terms of make sure you pay this bill on time, make sure you transfer the money on time or just general upkeep of the house.”
— Interviewee
“To me it's all about accountability. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU LIVE WITH OTHERS IN A SHARE HOUSE.”
— Interviewee
understanding our target users
Hypothesis:
Individuals in shared housing experience significant challenges with delegation of responsibilities, leading to conflicts and reduced overall satisfaction with the living arrangement."
How do we test the hypothesis?
Quantitative Validation: Measure the frequency and severity of financial disputes and chore imbalances in share houses by collecting numerical data to understand the scale of these problems.
Qualitative Discovery: Explore the specific categories of issues experienced by individuals in share houses, breaking down financial disputes and chore imbalances into smaller, detailed components to gain deeper insights.
Understanding our target user
Based on our research we have collected data based off our research and it has allowed us to quantitatively understand our target user
UNPAID Expenses
Chore distrubution
sharesquare usage
Qualitavely understanding our potential target user
Over 40% of interviewees have had previous issues with unpaid expenses whilst living in a share house
→
There is a need for a system to ensure expenses are kept up to date
Over 65% of interviewees agree that cleaning/chore distribution is a big issue in share houses
→
There is a need to effectively allocate cleaning/chore distributions and make the allocation less awkward
Over 50% of users were open to using an app that acts as a “all in one” platform for their sharehome (rent, chores etc)
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There is a want for a interface to ensure that all housemates can use and communicate effectively in the context of share house
USER PERSONA
22-year old Psychology Student
Lives in share-home with 3 people
Doesn’t like mess and finds it difficult to live with other people
GOALS:
Maintain good relationship with housemates
Feel safe and comfortable in the house
Minimise conflict with housemates
Pain Points:
Other people not cleaning up theor mess
Lack of accountability
Poor communication with housemates
Needs:
A way to solve conflict if it arises
Everyone is on the same page
Good relationships with her house mates
BETH SHIELDS
Design Process
The design process from early ideation (low fidelity), User testing, User feedback and High fidelity prototype
Early Ideation (low-Mid fidelity)
User Testing & Feedback
For User Testing we wanted to test the usability of the User Interface
We tasked our users with the following:
Make an account in the app and login
Tick a chore off the item list (take out bins)
Go to homepage and check pending rent payments
Remind John (hypothetical housemate) that he owes you (beth) $500 for rent coming up
We also asked for some general feedback on if the Interface is confusing, easy to understand, any expectations they were planning to see on the app etc.
What users say?
“What does it look like on the housemate’s phone when the receive a notification?”
“How do you set up the app? Is there one person who is the leader of the house?
“It would be great if you could add an expense from the homepage"
Future Opportunities
Another round of tests on the design developments that were made after testing
Making sure that transitions are smooth between screens
Ensure interactions make sense
(notify rent payment directed notification to inbox)
Extra incentives to make the app unique and keep users coming back
Research on psychology of noise (how do certain noises/buzzers give users sense of familiarity)
Final Prototype
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