Mate2Mate
The bridge between you and previous tenants.
Role
Product Designer
Project type
New business in a market gap
Duration
December 22 – February 23
Skills
Market research, commercial design and ideation of new business
Overview
A good idea that becomes a 
powerful idea.
This project started as an app to rate landlords but the research drove me for a different path.
I saw a more interesting and holistic opportunity to fill the gap in the rental market where you can put in contact previous and potential tenants of a property so they can help each other with real information about the flat, the landlord, and the area.
You can call it “The LinkedIn of Rental”.
Problem
Is there any way to know if a landlord is trustworthy?
Whoever has rent in the past, knows that one of the most tricky things to figure out when you find a potential flat to rent, is to know if the landlord behind the property will be a good landlord to deal with. Will they be responsive? Will they invade my privacy space? Will they return my deposit?
Goal
1. Create a tool/app/service that helps to take an informed decision when renting a flat.
2. Fill the breach of communication between previous and new tenants of a flat (Added after research).
Back to the future
I know, I know: «Process and research over design»… but who can avoid tasting the cake when it’s still warm?
It's alive!
This is the result of the first iteration of this project.
Table of contents
Click to go to a specific section
Research
Research - Summary
CHANGING THE FOCUS OF THE IDEA
This research was based on a questionnaire launched to 9 person renting houses in different locations and with the wider range of profiles I could get as the project is meant to be used for the general public.
The original idea: "Rate your landlord"
In the renting market there is not a source to find reliable information about the landlord of a flat you want to potentially rent.
“Nowadays, you can do virtual tours, and find all sorts of information about a flat except whether the landlord is a reliable person”.
This was my starting point
The informed idea: “The bridge between previous and new tenants".
After my research, I discovered there was potential to build something more interesting than just a «rate-your-landlord app». Users would find it more interesting to have a platform to share real and valuable information about the flat, the landlord, and the area. So, I changed the focus of my idea.
If you want to check an extended report of my research you can check it in the following button.
Research - Insights
“A landlord rating service is good, but the real value for tenants is in the small details that only previous tenants can tell”, research shown.
I realised when you are renting a flat, yes indeed you want to know how is the landlord and that information needs to come from the previous tenant, but there is so much other information you need to gather to take the decision of renting a flat like:
– “How are the neighbours?”
– “Is the water pressure ok?”
– “Is the flat noisy during the nights?”
– “How is the thermal isolation?”
What if we use the chance of creating something that can create a stream of communication between previous tenants and you to help everyone to move between flats with better-informed decisions?
Build an app that works as a bridge between tenants sharing all information you cannot easily find in the rest of the services available.
Research - Pain Points
User Personas
User Journey Map
Problem Statement
Richard is a busy person who needs a reliable information source to gather information about potential properties to rent because he is trying to move alone for the first time and he feels insecure about the risk of choosing the wrong.
Design concept
The bridge between you and previous tenants
Competitive Audit
“There are a lot of platforms out there to find flats but anything about giving you real information about landlords and how it feels living in theirs properties”
I conducted a Competitive Audit just before to ideate solutions to look for strengths and weak points in other similar apps. My main findings are the followings:
– There are only a couple of projects in the market covering rates to landlords, and only one focuses on quality aspects of the flat and area.
– Information on the profiles is more technical (measures, financial state…) and less about the experience of living in that flat: they are missing the emotional point of view.
– Their UX is a bit clumsy, not really user-centred but more like an aseptic information chart of a property.
– They haven’t got a community perspective to allow users to communicate with each other
Ideating the product
User flow
Information Architecture
Wireframes
I explored several ways for the main screens and then I hand-picked sections to combine them and create an optimized version of it.
Creating different versions of every main screen to find innovative ideas.
Prototyping - Lo-fi version
Alpha version ready to be tested!
Usability Testing
Usability test - First round
“Prototype had some issues to fulfil its purpose but some very helpful ideas and solutions popped up”, studies showed.
I did two rounds of usability tests. In the first one, I was focused on refining the functionality of the design to get the easiest solution get the MVP.
In the second round of research, I was focused on checking whether the ideas I had collected from my previous research were properly implemented, and getting insights to refine the look & feel of the first version of my design to be as nearest as possible to the happy path.
After priorize my findings, implemented P0 & P1 Findings from my research so I could make sure the user journey will work properly and I will get my MVP.
- Does this app help the user to find valuable information which drives decisions?
- Is the user capable to start a chat with previous tenants?
- Is the experience of using this app bringing a perception of Community?
Unmoderated usability study
Location: London
Date: Feb 2023
Length: 20 min.
User will be asked to use a prototype to complete some task
People living in big cities with experience renting a flat, and that has been living in more than 1 flats along its life.
1 males, 2 women, and 1 non-binary person from different income levels
If you want to check in more detail how I planned my usability test you can check it in the following button.
Usability test - Affinity Map
Usability Study Patterns
If you want to check in more detail the usability patterns I got from my research you can check the following button.
Usability test - Findings
– P0 – Work on copywriting to show the purpose of the app.
– P1 – Create a cost-related section.
– P1 – Change chat for messaging system with new features.
– P1 – Show what the score is out of.
– P1 – Create a more extended previous tenant’s section.
– P1 – Add technical info of the properties with comparable area data.
– P2 – Find ways to motivate users to write reviews.
Iterating on the design
Prototyping - Hi-fi version
Beta version ready to be tested!
Styling and Design System
Design System - Overview
I’ve created a simple Design System that allowed me to build the app more efficiently once I got all the main design decisions taken. Here is an excerpt of colors, typeface and components I’ve built for this app.
Design System - General
Design System - Typeface
Design System - Set of Components
Drop me a message!
You can email me to sergioriquelmesanchez@gmail.com