01
INTRODUCTION
Project Logistics
ABOUT THE PROJECT
uRent is a peer-to-peer rental application that matches users with products based on location and time. Be more. Spend less.
DESIGN TOOLS & UX METHODS
Sketch, InVision, Principle, Frog’s Research Learning Spiral, The Lean Startup, User-Centered Design, surveys, and observations.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES & ACTIVITIES
I concieved and designed a mobile application to help facilitate peer-to-peer (P2P) renting by engaging in a user-centered design process and adopting methodologies such as Frog’s Research Learning Spiral and The Lean Startup. My research fueled surveys and observations which helped to uncover insights that lead to several iterations of wireframes and eventually a working clickable prototype.
MY INVOLVEMENT
uRent is a hypothetical, digital product. I was hired (hypothetically) to concept and design a digital product that allows users to build relationships, instill trust, and foster communication to improve location-based rental searching.
BUDGET
Based on a 6-week timeline at 40 hours a week and $65 per hour this project will cost $15,600. This timeline includes user research, hi-fidelity designs, and a working clickable prototype.
CHALLENGE
A better understanding of who my end-users were helped me:
- Design a product better tailored around user needs
- Mitigate the risk of designing for the wrong person
- Provide stakeholders with confidence that my design was effectively addressing a real problem – not just something that I thought was a problem.
Additionally, I needed to understand user engagement in the P2P rental space by taking a look at what brings people to other rental applications, what keeps them there, and what might drive them away.
Design Insights to Uncover
Why uRent?
- The largest community of peer-to-peer renting
- Secure and reliable verification process
- Ease in matching the best products for renters based on location and time
Objectives
What we hope to accomplish
- Conduct studies by talking with target users
- Determine what type of items uRentees are more likely to search for
- Understand delights and pain points that uRentees experience while searching for products
Surveys & Interviews
Key Insights
02
EMPATHIZE, CREATE, & TEST
Understanding the Landscape
It was evident that competitors in the P2P rental space (Getaround, Airbnb, goBaby) lacked digital products that offered a broad product search (Facebook’s Marketplace): instead, I limited the search to specific products. In most instances, P2P rental services give users exactly what they are looking for. The drawback of this approach: downloading an app that only serves one purpose may cause the app to become forgotten if the single purpose use case is not one that is frequently engaged. Solving this meant making uRent users aware that they can find/sell an array of products that support a wide range of interests that can be pursued throughout different seasons, during different economic situations, and across a variety of short or long-term passions, hobbies or mere interests. This addresses a use case that other apps in the rental space neglected: helping users find something they weren’t necessarily looking for.
Process
I utilized Frog’s Research Learning Spiral to help articulate and define the focus and scope of my research. The process of learning and need-finding enabled me to answer questions and overcome obstacles while trying to understand the direction of how to move my design forward.
Jointly, I utilized The Lean Startup method to help me learn more quickly what works and discard what doesn’t. “Lean” is not equivalent to “frugal” or “cost-constrained.” Instead, it is a deliberate process that helps to eliminate waste. As I was operating within a short time frame, this method proved to be the perfect avenue of exploration for my product.
Discovery
I defined clear objectives, established a hypothesis, and worked within The Lean Startup guidelines.
I administered a user survey and gained responses from 16 individuals with a varying array of socioeconomic backgrounds and who fit my target audience (18+). I found key insights that allowed me to move forward with initial design concepts.
- I discovered that potential users who were 18+ participated in activities that required a collection of products to be purchased or rented for daily/weekly use.
- Users were more likely to rent a product they knew wouldn’t frequently be used.
- Many users who purchased high-priced products and weren’t using them on a daily basis showed interest in gaining a profit: this number grows when the product is ensured to be returned in the same condition it was rented. 65% of those surveyed felt comfortable with peer-to-peer renting.
Knowing this, I formulated a value proposition that allowed users the opportunity to effortlessly search for/rent products based on their location in a prompt and timely manner. When testing my initial concepts, I sought to reinforce good behavior by incorporating forms of social proof and by allowing users to interact comfortably through messaging before making an exchange.
Wireframes and Prototypes
I defined clear objectives, established a hypothesis, and worked within The Lean Startup guidelines.
I administered a user survey and gained responses from 16 individuals with a varying array of socioeconomic backgrounds and who fit my target audience (18+). I found key insights that allowed me to move forward with initial design concepts.
- I discovered that potential users who were 18+ participated in activities that required a collection of products to be purchased or rented for daily/weekly use.
- Users were more likely to rent a product they knew wouldn’t frequently be used.
- Many users who purchased high-priced products and weren’t using them on a daily basis showed interest in gaining a profit: this number grows when the product is ensured to be returned in the same condition it was rented. 65% of those surveyed felt comfortable with peer-to-peer renting.
Knowing this, I formulated a value proposition that allowed users the opportunity to effortlessly search for/rent products based on their location in a prompt and timely manner. When testing my initial concepts, I sought to reinforce good behavior by incorporating forms of social proof and by allowing users to interact comfortably through messaging before making an exchange.
Testing and Iterating
To continue to refine and solve user pain points and to design an innovative concept for a P2P rental application, I benchmarked behavioral key performance indicators (KPI) and sought out how they would fair with competitors as well as with uRent’s high fidelity design. I wanted to understand what people are doing and how they are doing it. Here are some findings for uRent that helped add color to whether or not I was achieving certain KPIs under certain design choices.
- The initial checkout task completion rate was 68%
- After instilling a visual breadcrumb, the average task completion rate rose to 88%
- Searching for a product was most successful with a search function rather than through a filter function
- On average, tasks took longer to complete when users weren’t sure when or where the product would be exchanged
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03
FROM KNOWLEDGE TO DESIGN
What I Learned
After 4 weeks of continuous research, prototyping, testing, and iterating, I designed a user-centered product that enhanced P2P rental services in a unique and effective way. I presented my final designs to a panel of guest critics who commended the thoughtfulness of features that embedded trust and versatility. The final product gave users a platform to have meaningful interactions with the notion of being more, by doing more for less. For me, uRent instilled the importance of developing a user-centered design process and the impact users have on specific design decisions.