Haven
2.5 months
Methods: User Research, prototyping, UI Design
Toolkit: Figma, Google Drive, Unsplash
Haven
2.5 months
Methods: User Research, prototyping, UI Design
Toolkit: Figma, Google Drive, Unsplash
Everyone should feel safe in their own home.
This was a personal project for me because it’s an open-ended topic that I’m passionate about. I feel that it directly addresses a need in the city and learned how to scope out the problem, iterate, and test my design.
Challenge:
How do we design an experience that allows vulnerable people to feel safe when searching for confidential housing, considering the concerns of both home seekers and providers?
Solution
Haven is a mobile app that connects people looking for confidential housing to home providers, since these home openings aren’t readily available online. It allows at-risk people to see what programs are available and find temporary home supports that match their unique needs.
Initial Design Thinking
Everyone should feel safe in their home. But this isn’t always the case for youth or women facing crisis. Anonymity is important, especially in circumstances like fleeing domestic abuse. Confidential housing is an important service that gives safety, privacy, and hope to move out of what should just be a temporary situation.
My design addresses the experience that users have, of being able to safely search and learning what kinds of support exist. I wanted to understand what are the main concerns and barriers of both sides to accessing these important resources.
Target Audience:
People (typically youth or women) seeking to find confidential housing.
Guiding Questions
- How does the current application process operate? What are some of its pain points?
- What kinds of services exist that can aid our users? (i.e. housing types)
- How do we provide an experience that makes people feel safe and secure with minimal intervention?
UNDERSTANDING OUR USERS
User Interviews
Due to the sensitive nature of the project, I didn’t interview a direct tenant but used proxy information. I talked to 3 people who were confidential housing providers or social housing workers about the needs and concerns of both these user groups.
Tenant Motivations:
- Wants to move forward and get out of their current situation
- Wants to become self-sufficient
- Wants to protect dependents (if they have children)
Home Provider Motivations:
- Altruistic call to help those experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness
- Provide the basic need of safe housing, especially for vulnerable people
- Desire to see tenants flourish and integrate with society
Tenant Barriers:
Home Provider Barriers
PROBLEM DEFINITION
What should the design do?
I wanted to be mindful of what I could and couldn’t do. With their mindsets and system limitations in mind, these were some of the big ideas I wanted to pursue.
1. Be able to search locations safely without knowing the exact address
Unsure of how to search for housing
Scared that the other person will find their home
2. Streamline the initial contact and screening process with housing providers
Wants to ensure tenants are compatible with one another
Sometimes room availability isn’t predictable and needs flexibility
3. Help tenants understand the different types of available supports
Unclear of what supports exist
Proposed Solutions
1. Be able to search locations safely without knowing the exact address
Haven lets tenants search for housing types in one consolidated area. Based on the proxy interviews, tenants generally wanted to be able gauge the general location of these houses. However, it must also meet the interests of parties without revealing too much information.
I created two possible methods to search – they can either search by viewing cards that are matched algorithmically based on their specific needs and location. This is important because with this approach, users are able to find homes that meet their needs.
Searching a map's area radius
With this second method, the circle radius hides exact addresses for security, while allowing users to gauge the general area.
This is an important option because tenants also want to search neighborhoods in various locations. Visual representation is also an easier method for users to picture geographic location.
2. Streamline the initial contact and screening process with housing providers
The tenant’s user journey has several barriers. To begin with, the onus is on them to research homes and their services, in addition to overcoming internal fear before reaching out.
On the housing provider side, I discovered that a number of general information, such as gender and age, is collected before requesting an interview. Please note that various homes have various processes.
With these considerations and barriers in mind, I designed a simple application system to streamline the contact and screening process. After viewing the different home cards, tenants can apply through a guided pre-filled application that collects information needed by the housing provider.
Don't make me think
This process makes it easy to reach out for the tenant, and also helps providers simplify the screening process.
3. Help tenants understand the different types of supports
Based on the interviews, one problem included prospective clients being unaware of their options.
Housing is complicated. It can include shelters, but these are often short-term solutions that don’t address the root problem. On the other hand, transitional housing offers services like career counselling, shelter and food, and friendship of other companions in a similar situation. The vision of these groups is to restore people back into society in a sustainable manner.
With the goal of awareness, I decided to include an informational page with related supports. Due to the nature of these supports always changing, the user will be brought to an external link page of the support.
Seeing wanted supports
From the onboarding inputs, users can see the supports that are most relevant to them.
LOW FIDELITY
Testing with my first screens
With limited access to direct tenants, I chose to hold a critique session with three UX designers and one person from social housing real-estate. I conducted a usability test with everyone, recording their positive and negative feedback. The most useful feedback from the SME who validated and provided detailed feedback on the processes.
“If the objective is to display information based on user needs, then the main page setup isn’t effective because it doesn’t show the needs”
“If the objective is to display home locations safely without someone being able to locate the home, then the circle radius has to be larger.”
“If the objective is to collect personal information from people, then not explaining why it’s needed doesn’t promote trust and could deter people from using”
“If the objective is for the user to easily track and understand how many people they’ve reached out to, then this match page isn’t effective because it doesn’t show how many houses they’ve applied to.”
UI DESIGN
Creating a feeling of safety
I wanted Haven to invoke a sense of safety and trust. I used a variety of different blue hues as color research shows it creates a calming feel. To create an aspect of hope, the interface is light and uses soft drop shadows throughout. A soft coral shade is used sparingly to give a hint of warmth.
Since the people using this app are seeking privacy and safety, it’s important the brand conveys this. Avenir was chosen as the font as a san-serif style that has a clean yet inviting appearance.
Meeting Accessibility
The prerequisite for all design should include accessibility. I practiced using colours and font sizes that met the WCAG requirements (and yes, carefully checked for every combination of text and background).
Iterations
HIGH FIDELITY
Design Solutions
A secure way to search for transitional homes
Users can search locations safely without knowing the exact address, and identify the supports it provides.
Simplifying the initial contact and approval process
This process makes it easy to reach out for the tenant, and also helps providers simplify the screening process.
Track and manage applications
Users can see active and closed chats, as the main purpose of this is the first point of contact.
Discover and learn about different available supports
Tenants are now able to search up relevant programs and understand its accompanying services.
REFLECTION
Lessons Learned
One of the things that I learned was importance of considering the business process of these applications. The largest challenge was to create a process that was usable by different housing providers, as each had their own requirements. In the future, I think it’s still important to gauge how these providers are able to customize what they need.
Secondly, I think that the content design truly matters for this product since it addresses emotional needs. Messaging needs to be deliberately consistent and frequent. It is important to explain why certain types of information are needed, and to constantly provide reassurance to users.
Next Steps:
- Need to design for the use case of showing when rooms become available vs. unavailable
- Users should be made aware the steps for verifying home provider safety
- Design the platform flows and functions for the home provider platform
Next Project
SSM Portal