Places for students | WEbsite redesign
UX / UI Design
Project info
Duration: 1 month
Role: UX Designer & UI Designer
Team: Duo
Skills: User Research & Analysis, Wireframing & Prototyping, Visual Design, Interaction Design, Motion Graphics, Iterative Design
Project overview
The project aims to create a user-friendly mobile app that caters to the specific needs of international and domestic students seeking off-campus housing. The app will focus on providing a convenient, affordable, and safe platform for students to find suitable accommodations near their campuses. The app will also provide landlords a way to quickly list their properties and connect with potential renters.
Challenges
Trustworthy and verified listings to combat scams.
Detailed information about properties and neighborhoods.
Features for roommate matching to help students find compatible housemates.
Visual content like photos and virtual tours to facilitate remote searches.
Easy-to-use mobile platform due to the heavy reliance on mobile devices by the target audience.
Tools
Story
Places4Students.com is the proven Off-Campus Housing Listings Resource for over 225 college and university campuses throughout North America.
As a user, I found that the current Places4Students.com website is difficult to navigate, both for students searching for rental properties and for landlords trying to post listings. The overall user experience is not intuitive, and key features are hard to access, leading to frustration for both groups. Through a heuristic evaluation, I identified several usability issues that hinder the website’s effectiveness. These issues include cluttered navigation, unclear calls to action, and a lack of seamless flow between the student and landlord interfaces.
Based on these findings, a redesign is necessary to make the website more user-friendly, visually clear, and intuitive. The goal of the redesign is to improve the experience for both students and landlords by simplifying the process of finding and posting rental properties. A more streamlined, easy-to-navigate layout and improved functionality will ensure that users can quickly access the features they need, making the website more efficient and enjoyable to use.
heuristic evaluation
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The hero images don't indicate how many images, users can view, so the users might spend time cycling through the loop before realizing they are repeating
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The buttons are not visually aligned with familiar design standards, leaving users confused. Making it difficult for students and landlords to intuitively navigate the registration process.
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Get in touch content that located in about us page is not linked or clickable, but they look like buttons. so the users might think that it’s clickable.
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The navigation bar should be universal and lead to other pages like Home, About Us, and Contact. The login and profile option should be included, while the social media bar should not be there.
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On the registration page, there is an error when users enter a wrong email, but it’s not clear or point where is the mistake is.
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Not convenient to view the images, no left or right arrow to click to see next/previous images.
Traget Audience
Our main target audience are: International and domestic students who are pursuing higher education and seeking offcampus housing. These students typically attend universities or colleges and are looking for convenient, affordable accommodation options close to their campuses.
Demographic Information:
Age: 18–26 years old
Education Level: College or university students (undergraduate and graduate)
Nationality: Primarily international students, with a subset of domestic students from other cities or regions.
Income Level: Low to moderate income (students often supported by part-time work, financial aid, or family assistance).
Psychographic Information:
Lifestyle: These students are balancing academics with part-time work or social lives. They value independence, convenience, and the ability to manage their housing with minimal hassle.
Values: Affordability, safety, convenience, and proximity to their campus. Many also value community, seeking roommates or co-living arrangements to cut costs or form social connections.
Behaviors: They rely heavily on mobile apps for day-to-day tasks, including finding accommodation, food, transport, and entertainment. They prefer user-friendly and trustworthy apps, often seeking recommendations from peers or institutions
Pain Point(s) within Our Target Audience
Affordability: Students typically have a tight budget, and the rising cost of living in major cities makes it difficult for them to find affordable accommodations.
Safety Concerns: International students, in particular, are worried about rental scams and unsafe housing conditions. They need trusted platforms to avoid these pitfalls.
Roommate Compatibility: Students often share accommodations to reduce costs but struggle to find roommates with compatible schedules, lifestyles, or cleanliness habits.
Lack of Local Knowledge: Both international and domestic students from other cities may be unfamiliar with local neighborhoods, making it harder to gauge the safety and convenience of different areas.
Persona 1
Jenny - International Student at Humber College
Full-time international student pursuing a diploma in Business Administration at Humber College, never lived aboard before.
Age: 24
Nationality: Japan
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Income: Limited budget, supported by part-time job earning and some family assistance from home.
Pain point:
Expensive Rent: Toronto’s high rental prices make it difficult for Jenny to find an apartment within her budget.
Scams: She’s concerned about the legitimacy of listing, especially those posted online without vertification.
Motivations:
Jenny wants a stable, comfortable living arrangement that’s conducive to her busy schedule, allowing her to focus on school and potential part time work without disruptions.
Safety and convenience are key motivators - she wants a trustworthy rental platform to avoid the risks associated with renting in a new country.
Needs:
Find affordable, safe housing close to Humebr College or with easy access to public transportation.
Balance part-time work, academic responsiblities, and social life without the stress of housing problems.
Persona 2
Lucas - Domestic student at McGill University
Full-time pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at McGil University. Lucas is from BC, never lived alone outside his hometown.
Age: 20
Hometown: Vancouver, BC
Location: Monteal, Quebec
Income: Supported fully by his parents
Pain point:
High Cost of Living in Montreal: Though he is supported by his family, Lucas still wants to find a reasonably priced apartment that doesn’t require him stretch his budget too much.
Navigating a New City: Coming from Vancouver, Lucas is not familiar with Montreal’s neighbourhoods.
Motivations:
Lucas is motivated by the desire for independence and the need to establish a balanced academic life. He proritizes finding a quiet and safe living space that’s near campus and fits his lifestyle.
While he doesn’t have the pressure of balancing work and studies, he still aims to manage his time well, so procimity to campus is important to avoid long commutes.
Needs:
Find comfortable and independent housing close to McGill’s downtown campus, ensuring convenience for his studies and other activities.
Live in a quiet and clean environment, as Lucas vales having his own space to focus on academics.
Empathy Map
User FLow
Style Tile
Sketches & Wireframe
Home
Property Detail
Results
Home Page
Searching Page
Property Listing Page
Microinteraction
Live Chat Feature
Chat with the landlord
Reflection
This project is focused on creating a user-friendly, trustworthy, and efficient platform that addresses the specific needs and pain points of students searching for off-campus housing, while also providing a clear and efficient way for landlords to list their properties. The platform aims to be a convenient and accessible solution for both students and landlords.
The primary goals of the platform are to enhance the website to attract both students and landlords, providing a user-friendly platform that allows students to browse and compare diverse housing options and landlords to list properties and connect with potential tenants. The assignment also emphasizes the platform's strengths, such as its convenience, diverse range of listings and user-friendly interface to establish it as a top choice for student housing.
Make it stand out.