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Project
RoomUs App
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Role
UX Designer
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Where
Athens, Greece
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Duration
1 week
The context
To enrich my portfolio and further develop my UX thinking and skills, I sought out an engaging design challenge that resonated with me and had the potential for meaningful impact. After thorough research, I discovered a design exercise originally created for evaluating candidates, which immediately captured my interest. My goal was to complete this challenge within one week, aligning with the typical timeframe requested for hiring candidates.
RoomUs: The App That Safely Connects Ideal Roommates and Promotes Harmonious Living
The Brief
A few noteworthy trends: 54% of the world’s population lives in urban communities, the average marriage age for men is 29 (up from 26 two decades ago) and for women is 27 (up from 23 in the same period). Given these trends, city dwellers tend to spend most of their twenties living with roommates.
Design a mobile product experience that appeals to millennials and makes it safe to find the ideal roommate in Athens. Consider the experience from the perspectives of both someone looking for a roommate and someone looking for an apartment. Once the ideal roommate is found, think about what else this product could do to improve the roommate experience.
We are looking for you to identify pain points in the “finding/keeping a good roommate” journey and find ways to address these challenges.
Even worse in Greece
This issue resonates deeply with me, especially in Athens, where I live. After a decade of economic recession, around 78% of Greeks aged 20–29 still live with their parents. Combined with soaring rent prices, affording an apartment—particularly for singles—has become a major challenge. Finding and keeping a good roommate could be a practical solution, making this design exercise both meaningful and personal.
There must be something out there
I explored the internet and the App Store, searching for existing solutions that could inspire me. I benchmarked three apps: Roomster, Roomi, and SpareRoom, as many others were unavailable in Greece. From these, I gathered ideas and user flows, and the core concept of the app began to take shape in my mind.
Taking the dive
It was clear from the problem statement that two dominant personas emerged. My target audience included:
I began brainstorming questions to ask people in my environment who fit these two personas, aiming to gain deeper insights into their needs.
What matters most to them when searching for a roommate? What are their fears or frustrations? What makes a good match? How can this work in my city? Do they have specific concerns or interests? It felt like uncovering insights for both a dating app and a real estate platform, all rolled into one!
Research Findings
After conducting four usability tests and interviews with Roomster, the only fully functional app available in Athens, I gathered the following key findings:
Room Provider
Uncertain about whether a room seeker is trustworthy.
“Can he indeed pay the rent on time?
“What if he causes damages or violate lease terms?Afraid of the provider’s lifestyle
“What if it doesn’t align with my lifestyle and he is dirty or smoke?
“I would like to know more about his sleep schedules”Have safety concerns
“I fear a lot of scams or unsafe situations, what if he is not what he seems to be”
“How can I protect myself and my property while renting out a room?”Would like to meet in person before the move in process
“I’d really appreciate the chance to meet in person first—it helps build trust from the start, especially since I’ll be living with this person!”
Would like know how to maintain harmony while living together
"How can I handle a roommate who doesn’t follow the agreed-upon rules and isn’t open to collaborating transparently to resolve any disputes? I’m sure there will be some along the way."
Room Seeker
Uncertain about whether a room provider is trustworthy or if they might make false claims about the living situation (e.g., photos vs. reality)?
“One picture is worth a thousand words and trust is built on transparency.”
Afraid of the provider’s lifestyle
“What if it doesn’t align with my lifestyle and he is dirty or smoke?
“I would like to know more about his sleep schedules”Have safety concerns
“I fear a lot of scams or unsafe situations, what if he is not what he seems to be?”
Would like to meet in person before the move in process
“I’d really appreciate the chance to meet in person first—it helps build trust from the start, especially since I’ll be living with this person!”
Would like to know how the handle potential disagreements and conflicts.
“What happens if someone breaches the signed terms?”
“What if expectations are not clearly communicated to me.”
“Share responsibilites scare me the most.”
The making or RoomUs
From the data I collected, I created two ideal user flows that outline how I imagined my app to function and what the desired user experience would look like—both for a Room Provider seeking a roommate and a Room Seeker looking for both a roommate and a place to stay. In this way, I mapped the most important touch points/actions, needs, and potential experiences.
From here, I was able to identify the crucial and beneficial actions and features, and designed a sitemap around these conclusions. From the initial flows, I realized that I should focus on features that enhance two distinct parts of the flow:
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Finding the right person with trust and safety
Finding the right person + place with trust and safety
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Maintaining symbiotic harmony, with a feature for dispute resolution
Sketches of early sitemap
For the needs of this initial part of the design I just focused on the user flows below:
A room seeker flow
A room provider flow
Book appointment through the app
Raise an issue/case
Create a room provider listing
Create room seeker listing
Create profile
Finalise and Sign agreement
Complete Moving in Checklist
As a clear vision of the app began to take shape, I started ideating with hand-sketched wireframes and creating lists of elements each wireframe should include. After exploring some of the competitors, I realized how extensive and variable the list of filters, listing information, and posting questions would be.
1st Round of Design
Oboarding
Profile Creation
Home Page
Search for a place results, Filters
Book an in person appointment
Search for roomate results & Filters
Raise a case & Solve dispute
Create a flat listing
Moving forward
Moving forward, this case study was all about tackling a UX design challenge in just one week—no small feat! But there’s still plenty of room to grow. Next up, I’ll dive into user testing to see how my design decisions hold up in the real world. How do users feel about this first approach? Does it hit the mark or need a few tweaks?
There are also exciting features waiting in the wings, like a 'Finalize and Sign Agreement' process and a 'Move-In Checklist' to make settling in a breeze. And why stop there? Imagine a 'Roommate Harmony Hub' packed with tools like a chore scheduler, an issue resolution system, a shared responsibilities tracker, and a shared calendar. With these additions, the app could become the ultimate roommate sidekick!
Explore the latest Prototype.
To be continued…..
Thanks for scrolling!
If you have any feedback, want to collaborate or just want to say hello, let’s get in touch!
mariannakouppa@gmail.com