roommiesapp-blog

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Computer Prototype

Based on our previous Paper prototype we have had several issues with the app. For the computer prototype of our app, we made several modifications to make you have the best experience possible!

Modifications:

Specialized Icons for Icon Tasks: Prior, we used a consistent home icon with an add symbol for creating new events, new tasks, and new contributions. We now use a calendar icon for a new event, a hand icon for the new task, and a dollar sign for a new monetary contribution.

Emphasized Navigation Bar: We are hoping that the color pop/contrast will draw attention to the navigation bar when viewing the homepage as the users had difficulties finding the other options that aren’t the obvious two on the homepage.

Consistent Layout: We had a hard time staying consistent over the different representative tasks and it confused the user when similar events triggered different layouts.

Cleaner Design: Using the home icon and add button (consistent with other layouts)  at the homepage seemed to confuse the user in the previous prototype. A messy application for organization gave the user the wrong impression.

Emphasized Buttons: With our paper prototype, our subject had difficulty finding the send button on the messaging feature. To resolve this, we decided to make the the button larger and stand out from the rest. 

Bill Payment: Our subject had some issues with the menu of the bill payment page. She clicked the “$” icon on the bottom rather than pressing the “pay bill” button. To amend this issue, we made the “pay bill” button large, clear, and colored bright blue so that it could not be missed as a pushable button. 

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For those of you who didn’t catch our last post, please take a look at our most recent step toward developing the best Roomies mobile application to provide you with a way to alleviate your all of your roommate stress. We are in the prototyping phase of the development process. Stay tuned for more!

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Paper Prototyping

We are still hard working away at our design so you can put an end to roomie confusion! This is just one of the four users we observed interacting with our prototype. Watch the video here! 

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Users, Tasks, Features

This week, we are working further toward identifying the tasks and features that you, our users need, so that we can produce the best product for you possible.  

Users: Our target users are primarily college students, or people who just graduated college, the age range of 18-25. We are focusing on young people who are more likely to live in apartments and share with roommates. Our target audience should also be very comfortable with technology. Including being moderately tech savvy and very familiar with cell phone apps

Persona: Here is an example persona, if you can relate to anything in her persona, then maybe Roomies is the right solution for you! 

Tasks 

Task 1: (Related to Calendar) The user of this would be a person who has roommates and is in charge of creating the chore schedule or letting other roommates about something. The user would want to let the others know if their are any notable events coming up that will affect everyone living there. They would also use it as a way to schedule everyone's chores and let them know when they need to be done. This will make a more organized way of showing these things.

Task 2:  (Related to Payment) The users of this would be anyone with roommates who might have to pay rent to one person, like a landlord. The user wants to pay their rent or bills to a specific person/account by using this feature.

Task 3:  (Related to Messaging) The users of this app would be able to message other roommates for important details. The user would be able to let other roommates know they are hosting a party, having company, etc.

Task 4: (Related to responsibility reporting) The users of this app will be able to let other roommates know that tasks have been completed (taking out garbage, dishes, etc).

Features

Essential Features:  A feature for paying bills, a feature for paying rent, a feature for doing chores (including washing the dishes, cleaning the kitchen, cleaning the bathroom), and a calendar that organizes the dates of bill payments and when a chore has last been completed.

Nice-to-Have Features: A feature that creates notifications for missing a chore/bill payment, a feature where roommates can message each other within the app to discuss issues.

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Interviews & Observations

This week, we got right into action to test out our competitor’s applications through observing a user’s interaction with it and asking follow-up questions. Our intentions are to find out what the needs of user’s like you are so that we may make the best mobile application to fit exactly what you are looking for. 

Cohabi: After last week’s post, it came to our attention that a similar app to Roomies existed, Cohabi. Upon first opening the app, we found that is was non-functional. The user needs to create an account before being able to access it’s functions, but the feature to create an account is currently malfunctioning. (Rest assured, with Roomies, this is a problem that will not arise). 

OurHome: OurHome is a family-intended chores/task-reporting application that rewards users with points for every task accomplished. We asked our test users to perform the following representative task: The user wants to record that it took them 30 minutes to successful clean the kitchen area. 

Takeaways: After carefully observing each user and asking follow-up questions, we were able to deduce the following takeaways from the observation: 

 User 1: The design needs to be more intuitive, and administrator’s accounts are more confusing and useless for our application. The implications for design are to add more constrictions on the user as to avoid errors that were observed in this interview. 

User 2: After observing the user paying his bills, although he felt accomplished, he felt that there should be a much easier way to pay bills and to let the other roommates know that utilities have been paid and taken care of.

User 3: After observing the user dividing and assigning the chores, she felt that it would be much simpler if there was an electronic form of assigning the chores. Most people don’t look at the white board, and they are more likely to remember it if it's on their phone.

User 4: After this observation, our team realized that the user needs many more features as a roommate opposed to a family member. The interface was not intuitive. 

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Welcome to the Roomies™’ Tumblr Page

Here’s the Problem:

Have you ever had a really bad and unorganized roommate experience? Do you feel like you are pulling teeth to get your roommate to equally contribute?Or do you just wish there was an easier and better way to do roommate things?

Every fall, new and returning students come to receive their education at other universities around the country to experience the college life. However, some students have issues acclimating to their new environment. One of the biggest concerns is the communication factor between themselves and another roommate(s). Our group is focusing on the communication issue between roommates (s) by developing an app/website that allows open communication without present. One of the biggest reasons we feel this is a problem is because many roommates have differing schedules between each other. They may need to communicate certain tasks to the other.  Also many roommates may not be as responsible as other and may need constant reminders to complete certain tasks. We feel this app/web page may be able to bridge the gap with communication issues between roommates.

Here’s Our Solution: 

The biggest issue in most apartments/houses with several roommates is that tasks and responsibilities are often not distributed equally among all roommates. This is an inequality that causes some roommates to feel like they are given the brunt of the housework. It can create genuine unhappiness and resentment in a household. Luckily, these issues are often due to human error of miscommunication or misunderstandings, which is fairly solvable. Issues like this can be avoided through an application that effectively organizes house chores/tasks into a convenient list. There is a lack of a similar applications in the market; There are hundreds of apps to FIND a roommate, but very few that center on running your household once you have your roommates settled in. However, in the similar applications that we did find, a common complaint in their reviews was that they had excessive features, making them overly complicated. For example, one such application, Cohabi, had a feature to send photos to your roommates of your completed task. While this may seem beneficial, most users found it excessive. Our application will be streamlined and efficient. It will solve the problem of tracking roommate responsibilities.

Although no other mobile application currently encompasses all that we do here at Roomies, here are a few companies that you may be using currently to solve your roomie issues: 

Venmo: Venmo is a contemporary payment application that roommates are currently using to make smaller bill payments and rent payments to each other. Users can send and request payments from other Venmo users. Roomies is differentiated in its use of totalled monthly payments continuously updated and tracked to be billed at the end of the month.

GoogleDocs/Shared Notes: Currently roommates are documenting their purchases, contributions, and responsibilities on shared document applications or simply through text messages. Roomies offers updated and recorded shared responsibilities that can be done with a few simple touches of icons.

Craigslist: The other mobile web applications in the market of roommate and common living communication. Roomies’ users opt into paying a fair price every month for rent and can browse past contribution records.