Homies
Reimagining flat-hunting as collaborative and mobile-first
Synthesis
·
2023
Key Challenges
Shared frustrations in the flat-hunting journey
I interviewed five people who had either just found a new flat or were actively looking. They represented different life stages and motivations, such as moving in with friends, living with a partner, or preparing for a new child, but they shared similar frustrations.
1.
The leading platform wasn't mobile-friendly.
Because flat-hunting is time-sensitive, people wanted to browse whenever they had a spare moment—on their commute, in line at the grocery store, or while watching TV.
However PropertyGuru, the leading platform, was not optimised for mobile. Users tolerated the clunky experience because there was no better alternative.
2.
Collaboration was scattered across too many channels.
Most people weren't flat-hunting alone. They collaborated with friends, partners or agents, sharing listings across WhatsApp, Telegram and Google Sheets.
PropertyGuru allowed users to “like” listings, but these weren't visible to others. Users had to manually share links to them. WhatsApp often became the de facto coordination tool, but the mix of personal messages made it hard to keep track of decisions.
3.
Messaging agents was a pain.
To contact a property agent, users had to add them on WhatsApp and start a new chat. In practice, this meant juggling dozens of separate threads outside the main platform. Users described this experience as cluttered and frustrating.
These friction points compounded in a disjointed experience, made all the more stressful by the time-sensitive nature of flat-hunting.
Approach
Designing a unified, simple mobile experience
I set out to design a collaborative, mobile-first app that centralises listings, messages, and decisions in one place. This would enable users to search for a flat on-the-go, while keeping information in one place.
After rounds of sketches, prototypes, and usability testing, the Homies concept took shape.
Final Designs
1. Centralised home feed
The home feed serves as the hub for the latest updates: new viewings, listings, and messages.
It’s organised around key phases of the flat-hunting journey:
Discovering new properties
Shortlisting options
Tracking updates
Contacting agents
Because users often juggle multiple phases at once (i.e. scheduling a viewing while keeping tabs on new listings) the feed displays information from all of them, but surfaces time-sensitive updates at the top.
2. Listing pages that balance focus and detail
Listings are displayed as a stack of cards to help users focus on one property at a time.
Each card includes conversationally worded headings that summarise current filters and sort order. Tapping a card expands a drawer with full details users can scroll through.
3. Swiping to shortlist flats
To make browsing mobile-friendly, users can use a card-swiping interaction to categorise properties as “Likes” or “Maybes."
User testing revealed that participants were hesitant to “dislike” listings entirely, so the option of a softer “maybe” option worked better, along with an "undo" button.
Prototype
Explore the prototype below.