We began by examining the brief and considering any assumptions and questions we had in the client kick-off meeting. Our aim was to make sure we removed any unknowns in the project. It helped us focus on REA Group's goals, its business needs and objectives, and to gain a full assessment of who their users were.

 

We used a whiteboard to brainstorm ideas and listed the different types of users that we would cater for. We considered: Why would they use this service? What are their current life situations? What do they do for a career? What are their needs? What motivates them?

The hosting flow is the path Bob and Alice would go through when listing their property. I was responsible for the hosting flow for Bob and Alice, and as a group we developed the user flow and sitemap that formed the basis of my work. I used data in our initial research and competitive analysis to review the process of listing a home or office space with competitor sites such as Airbnb, Ofixu, Spacehop. A few things stood out:

 

   • The onboarding process for first-time hosts

   • A useful guide to assist users to complete the listing

   • Progress bar

To start testing the concept, I converted my sketches into low-fidelity wireframes using Axure. Before working on interactivity, I gathered user feedback to test the concept's flow, page layouts and designs. The benefit of testing with low-fidelity is the quality of the feedback: participants are happy to give their insights as they understand it is not the final product. Participants can focus on the overall concept and flow and are not distracted by the minor details found in higher fidelity prototypes, such as the choice of font, use of colour and the size of the buttons.

After iterating on the low-fidelity wireframes, I included interactions to create a working prototype for testing. I find Axure a great tool to use because it allows me to quickly and easily create complex interactions and transitions without the need for coding.

 

With the interactive prototype ready for testing, we prepared our approach to the tests, including the questions we should ask participants. We briefed the participants and asked them to openly share opinions and feedback.

Three people participated in the tests and were evaluated for usability problems, completion rates and general feedback. All participants said the flow of the pages made sense and were easy to navigate. Here is some of their feedback:

 

"It would be helpful if there are tips or examples somewhere... I always struggle when completing fields like the Description."

 

"After clicking Next on the photos page, have a summary of the listing and also option to go back and make changes. Furthermore, have an option to preview the listing before making it live."

 

"As a host, where would I go if I wanted to search for a property?"

I evaluated the feedback and prioritised which changes to implement. I then handed this over to another team member who then incorporated the feedback into the final version. A preview page was added towards the end of the flow to allow users to review their listing and make changes. We then conducted another round of usability testing, which showed a better outcome: the majority of participants agreed the flow made for a better experience.

We held a design studio session where we each individually came up with designs, then discussed them and voted on features we liked. We wanted to used the information we gathered, as well as considering competitors and other websites, to design the pages that Oscar would use when booking a property. These included the homepage, search-listing page, property details page, booking details and confirmation page. 

 

A lot of great ideas came out of our design studio, such as a search feature where you fill in blank words in a sentence. From our competitive analysis, we found similar websites had a search tool prominent on the homepage because it is the primary feature used when browsing for a property.

Another great idea that came out of our design studio was a three panel search results page. This includes a panel for the search filter, a second for a list of properties and then a map view of the properties.

 

Another feature of the three-panel concept: if you click on a property in the maps panel, the property details slide out, this time from the left. The idea here is to keep the user in a single state and also to cater for people who prefer to shortlist properties for later review.

I used animated transitions to demonstrate how users can reveal and hide each layer in a clean and simple experience. Animations encourage users to interact with the design and bring empathy in user experience.

My fellow team members were responsible for developing the Axure prototype, the branding and visual design for the booking flow from the ideas we came up with in our design studio. I provided animated interactions in the prototype for the search listing panels (as demonstrated above). This is a key feature to allow users to interact with the search listing page. It is important for users to test this in the usability testing.

The team reviewed the feedback from the usability testing and, using MoSCoW, prioritised the features that were to be included in the MVP. We asked ourselves: what features are critical for the business? What are the “must haves” to make the website successful? 

The visuals were conceived by a project team member, who developed the high fidelity designs based on REA's branding guidelines. This came together well with the final prototype. 

Success can be measured by the revenue received from the 10 percent commission from rental bookings and host listings. If successful, this would cover the costs to the business for the design, construction and implementation of the new REA Spaces website. Furthermore, the number of rental bookings and listings generated over a three month period should be reviewed.

We presented our project to the client, walking them through our design process, insights and deliverables. We received positive feedback and were told that our concept felt like an extension of REA Group and a natural progression if they were to enter the short term accommodations and office space market. 

 

I learnt a lot from this project about the UX design process, including how to synthesise our findings, test with users and about working with other people. Working as a team can be difficult and we each faced our own challenges too. But in the end I felt we worked well individually and were able to come together to deliver a great outcome.