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LETTR
UX/ UI DESIGN SEMESTER PROJECT
FALL 2023

Subletting in NYC is difficult. The main avenue to find and
publish appartments is Facebook marketplace, but it was not
built for this purpose. The legality behind the process is also
quite confusing, and for students with little time on their hands,
these factors cause discomfort and anxiety. With this in mind,
we desgined Lettr, a swiping interface that gamifies and facilitates
the process of subletting in NYC.

The Design Process


1. Understanding the Problem


In order to better understand our target population and the issues they faced in regards to subletting, we conducted interviews on 3 different people. We found that:

1. Finding a sublet is difficult as there is no centralized platform for this.
2. It is hard to avoid scams as there is no way to verify the validity of what is posted.
3. Subletting is anxiety inducing for a variety of different reasons.

Our interview notes can be read here.


2. Affinity Diagramming


After collecting data from the interviews, my team and I constructed an affinity diagram to synthesize our findings. We began by noting general findings and comments made by our participants during our contextual inquiries on yellow post-its. We grouped them into categories labeled on purple post-its. From there, we were able to group those into our final groups labeled on blue post-its.
Affinity Diagram

Affinity diagramming gave us valulable insights and allowed us to refine our problem statement:

Finding a sublet in NYC is a difficult, overwhelming, and an anxiety-inducing experience for students with little time to spare.


3. Storyboarding


In order to brainstorm different approaches to solving our problem, each team member drew out a different storyboard. Below is the idea we moved forward with: a Tinder-like interface which gamifies the subletting experience through swiping. All 5 storyboards can be found here.

Storyboard


4. Conducting a Comparative Analysis


We investigated design solutions that can be viewed as competing alternatives to our own by describing what these solutions do well and where they are deficient for solving our users’ problem.

We concluded that subletting can be divided into 3 categories:

  • Short term vacation rental (Airbnb, Vrbo, Sonder)
  • Off-campus housing websites (Apartments.com, Zillow, Forrent.com, Streeteasy)
  • Social Forums (WhatsApp group chats, Facebook Groups + Facebook Marketplace)

    Differently to already existing alternatives to subletting, our solution:
  • Gamifies an anxiety-inducing process for increased user interactivity
  • Focuses specifically on students seeking affordable off-campus housing, tailoring to the needs of this specific target audience and providing a solution that is specifically designed for them
  • Uses .edu email verification to ensure that users are actually students, making them feel safer
  • Emphasizes things users have indicated are important (apartment appearance, chatting, prices, scam defense systems)
  • Gives the user multiple quality options to choose from without having them feel overwhelmed
    • Our detailed findings are described here.


    5. Lo-Fi Prototyping


    We created low-fidelity prototypes to test basic functionality and gather initial user feedback. This helped us refine our approach before moving on to more detailed designs.

    Low-Fidelity Prototype


    6. User Testing


    We conducted a user study using the Wizard of Oz technique. A random participant tested out our lo-fi prototype as someone looking for a sublet. We aimed to test the effectiveness, straightforwardness, and ease of our model. Read more about our user study and takeaways here.


    7. High-Fi Prototyping


    We developed high-fidelity prototypes incorporating feedback from user testing. These prototypes included more detailed visual elements and functionality, providing a clearer representation of the final product. We selected a participant who had already gone through the process of finding a sublet to test out our prototype. We gave them a scenario, and they looked for an appartment on our prototype which corresponded to it. Read more about our user study and takeaways here, and click on the prototype below to explore more screens.

    High-Fidelity Prototype

    8. Final Product

    After several stages, we were ready to code our final design solution! We used HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python (Flask), React, and SQL. Download Lettr here, and watch our team video below!

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