Travis Homes is a upcoming real estate company who is aiming to become one of the leading independent estate agents in the country. They currently serve over 5 thousand customers and have been managing over 50 properties over the past 5 years. As technology is evolving over the last few years, TravisHomes is aiming to reach and manage more customers digitally with a development of mobile application where they can list available houses, apartments and flats and customers can access their services, painlessly with an easy-to-use application.

TravisHomes mobile application development. This idea is a concept that was developed as a result of research carried out for Travishomes estate agent. The competition in the current market is vast that is has affected sales of TravisHomes by loosing up to 40% of potential customers. Hence I approached this project with the knowledge i have about TravisHomes and developed a mobile application where TravisHomes can list available houses, apartments and flats and customers can access their services, book viewings and book appointments painlessly with an easy-to-use application.

The target audience was TravisHomes customers. The age ranged from 30-70 and the level of technology use ranged from intermediate to expert.

Problem Statement/Business Challenge

The main problem was the non existence of an online platform for this business. So i took it upon myself with the help of a small team of friends and family to find a solution to this problem. Hence the birth of Travishomes Mobile application.

The Business challenge here is to introduce TravisHomes to the world of online services and how they will be able to boost their sales and reach more potential customers from this platform. Currently TravisHome only list their apartments in newspapers and billboards and also television adverts.

I was responsible for the development of the TravisHomes mobile application where I created the, wireframes, tested the low fidelity prototype, created information architecture, content, visual standard and strategies for improving the company by providing online services.

The aim of designing the mobile application is to create a simple to use, attractive product, informative and creating a painless and fantastic user experience for customers. Creating an online presence is not the only proposed solution, My aim now is to find out how to create a better experience for them when they finally have what they require.

Having identified the problem TravisHomes is currently facing, I embarked on a journey to understand what their users want. At the discovery phase of my project, I conducted user interviews in order to get a better understanding of the problem.I worked hand in hand with the marketing team who made calls to the clients so that I can engage them and find out how their experiences can be improved. I chose this method for the interview because it has been the main type of contact TravisHomes has with their clients hence it the ideal way to speak with the clients and about their pain points and what improvement they would like to see from the current way of their custom with TravisHomes.

Before i conducted the interview, i requested for consent and explained what the aim of the interview is. I managed to get consent from about 200 clients for the interview. I was curious to know how they feel about the current way of doing things, I wanted to know why it is so frustrating for them and why some of them are considering taking their business somewhere else.

From the interview, it is clear that that the absence of online present is frustrating for TravisHomes client and they will like to have a better way of conducting business.

I conducted phone interviews to understand needs, views and strategies for the design. This stage was important to understand the current situation of the process the client use, to understand flows . The questions used were age range, work industry, Level of technology use, location and hobbies. This is to help me create a user persona and a target group.

Why is your current mode of conducting business with TravisHomes

What other means would you like to have to be able to conduct business

Ranging for 0-10 how likely are to continue with TravisHomes in the current state

What are you most frustrated about

Are there any other improvements you would like

TravisHomes is an established real estate agent. They have grown a significant list of high-profile clients over the years. Currently the company uses non-digital means. This means there are paper files and documents related to the business. Other companies and start-ups have evolved and have created user friendly online platforms for users. This makes TravisHomes less competitive in the current day and age where most businesses are run with an online presence and risk losing clients to other businesses who can provide a better experience for customers. My goal is to help the business stay active competitively in the ever growing market with the digital online presence. With this design,TravisHomes will aim to provide better user experience than the current competitors

The clients I engaged with highlighted how they would like to conduct business and engage with TravisHomes. Below are what the users would like to be able to do.

·  As a user, I would like to be able to create an account and manage my personal account.

·  As a user, I would like to be able to view current apartments

·  As a user, I would like to be able to search for apartments in specific location

·  As a user, I would like to be able to select apartments and view details of the apartment.

·  As a user, I would like to be able to contact Travis homes and show my interest in apartments.

·  As a user, I would like to be able book a viewing.

·  As a user, I would like to be able to save and view my choices

The personas were important to analyse the behaviour of the users that will use the mobile application, its preferences and demographic data. How well their technical knowledge is and what motivates them etc.

User Flow Map

Here are the steps mapped out that the users will take from the start to end.

Wireframes

At the beginning of my design process I created wireframes for testing purposes. Wireframes are useful to get the initial ideas of the design started. It is also useful as a test of what works and can guide the changes needed as the design progresses. I made mid-fidelity wireframes because it rules out emotional attachment and changes can be easily made before the high fidelity design starts. For this wireframe i used figma as my design tool and it helps with the imagination of the actual design.

Once I have tested out the flow of the design with the wireframe, I started designing the high fidelity UI screens in figma. Throughout the design process i was focused on the the mobile-first, this is because it was the main aspect that is being currently explored with the aim of moving on to web design at a later stage.

From what i learnt about the users, the design needs to be pleasing to the eyes with an easy flow, with few steps to achieve what the aim to achieve.

Creating this design will help the company reach out to more prospective customers and increase the revenue, while avoiding losing current customers due to the frustration of not having this platform.

As Don Norman said "A brilliant solution to the wrong problem can be worse than no solution at all: solve the correct problem.”

One thing i learnt during this project is never stop asking questions. The project or design is not about me. it is about the users and being able to provide them with the experience they want.

At first i had ideas in my head of how the design will look and feel. But after speaking to the users, i realised that what i had in my head could look really good but may not be useful for the users. In my future projects i will endeavour to have an open mind, and understand the users extensively before generating ideas for the design

Most Importantly

Listen to users, Engage and communicate regularly with the team, evaluate the process and iterate.

Thank you for Reading.