MOVETRUTHS

MoveTruths

Role

– UX/UI Designer
– UX Researcher

Timeline

– Aug 2024 – Dec 2024 (4 months)

Tools

– Figma/FigJam
– Miro
– Google Forms
– Zoom

Imagine this: you’ve recently graduated from university and got your first job opportunity. Most people would think that this is the start of more exciting adventures in their lives, especially since some of them would move away from their homes for these new opportunities. However, what they don’t plan for is the unusual number of unforeseen costs, social problems, and new rule adjustments that await them in these moves. This causes them to spread their search far and wide which takes hours and even days. I’ve seen how stressful and time-consuming moving takes, especially when you need to get back to your ordinary schedule ASAP. So how can I help?

Based on the research above, I plan to make a mobile app called MoveTruths where users can get tips from locals in the area they plan to move to. This app will not only help with moving and social issues but it will give users all the information that they would usually need by going through 5 different pages all in 1 place.

Before I even take the first step into creating a solution to the problem, I need to understand what exactly are the main problems. To do this, I sent out a Google survey to potential key-users and asked the following questions.

1) When are you planning relocate?
2) What type of residence do you plan on looking for?
3) What do you plan your budget to be for housing and necessities (groceries, transportation, insurance, etc.)?
4) What kind of assistance would you be looking for when moving?
5) Who are you moving with?
6) What are some of the concerns you have with moving?

To get a better understanding of the data from these surveys, I reached out to 5 users who were willing to take part in a user interview and it was from here that I realized there were further problems involving the rules of their new location.

Quotes from the participants:

While the survey gave me helpful information, it was very general without providing a deep insight into specific problems that users were having. The user interviews provided me with 3 different themes to categorize their problems into.

Now that I’ve categorized my user research into different themes, I packed them into these 3 key insights:

1. Users are concerned about the logistics of moving (money, packing, moving services, etc.)
2. Users are concerned about being able to adapt to their new environments
3. Users are concerned about uncertainty when it comes to relocating stemming from multiple factors

In order to beat out the competition, I must know the competition. To do this, I set out to perform a competitor analysis of moving companies with social media aspects.

Pros:

1. Simple design and functionality
2. Shows a wide variety of services for users
3. Provides specific details such as move calculations and moving trackers

Cons

1. Support only comes from calling their number
2. Only helps with the physical move
3. Not much to do besides hiring movers

Pros

1. Acts like a social media platform for your neighborhood
2. Shows a wide variety of services for users related to after the physical move

Cons

1. Does not help with the physical move
2. Privacy concerns with users
3. Useful only for the local neighborhood and not moving

Pros:

1. Provides a lot of transparency regarding moving services
2. Lots of flexible services are available
3. Very helpful for urban living

Cons

1. Useful for small/local jobs
2. Not available in every city
3. Not ideal for long time planning

With the competition analyzed, I realized a key function that each app was missing: they did not emphasize multiple aspects of the moving process. To further clarify, if one app focused on the physical move, the users was then left to adapt to their new homes by themselves. If the app focused on the social aspects post-move, it did not help with the physical move.

In order to set my product apart from the rest of the competition, I needed to combine the different aspects of moving (planning, the physical move, and post-move) all into one app.

With my key insights, I was now able to fully understand the 3 main questions I would have to answer in order to ensure that my users would have the maximum ease of mind:

How might we ensure a smooth transition while reducing stress during relocation so that people feel more settled and supported in their new environment?
How might we allow for people who are moving to be able to connect with others socially in a new environment so that they can build a sense of community more quickly?
How might we allow for people moving to handle the logistics of a move easily so that individuals can focus on adapting to their new surroundings?

These are the main functions that I will be implementing during this project:

1) Viewing posts from locals in the area.
2) Finding/booking services related to moving/relocation.
3) Finding communities to join for help/social activity.
4) Personalization

Functions that will be implemented in future iterations will include:

1) Functions for international relocation (translation, cultural differences, global moving services, etc.)
2) AI service that will bring the user suggested posts and tips for relocation.

Just like someone planning to move from their homes and into their careers, I can’t simply rush into prototyping without a solid structure/plan. Based on what my users need, I created a sitemap to know what I needed to build for my MVP. This sitemap leads the users through the different parts of the application as well as the many different functions it offers.

User Flows

I also imagined how would users like Jake would interact with the app and created the following task flows.

The paper prototypes below follow the sitemap above and build out the basic structure of the app. The app contains the following features that will allow users to:

– Gather advice and information via posts from locals in the area they are moving to.
– Seek out services related to moving (movers, furniture, cleaning, etc.).
– Join communities to build some social connections outside of work.

After meeting with my mentor and discussing design choices and changes from my paper prototypes, I designed my initial wireframes on Figma. The following low fidelity prototypes have been categorized by function/user interaction and give the basic layout of what the final design may look like.

Onboarding

Homepage and Viewing a Post

Finding Moving-Related Services

Finding Communities to Join for Social Activity

Personalization

MoveTruths is an application that emphasizes “organization and freedom” to add that sense of comfort while going through the whole process. I added on to this idea by adding a sky blue color to emphasize a clear sky as well as a yellow to represent sticky notes.

Home Page

The home page is styled after social media style home pages which would help users be more familiar with the layout and feel comfortable. This would also help them communicate and feel at home more socially.

Moving-Related Services

Users now have the ability to walk through the entire process of hiring a moving company to aid in moving their belongings to the desired location. They can also hire other services such as buying furniture and requesting storage units to receive help all in one place.

Communities

Many people move alone and away from friends and family which can feel lonely, especially for those moving for new opportunities. The communities tab offers a way to build new social circles and become more familiar with the locals in the area.

In order to answer the question above, I sought out 5 key users to participate in a usability test. I gave these users the following tasks to complete:

1. Complete the onboarding process
2. Navigate through the home page and click on a post
3. Identify the icons in the bottom navigation bar
4. Book a moving service at a specific date
5. View a community

While the usability tests provided me with very positive results, there were still some errors that needed to be fixed. Users were able to complete all the tasks above except for task number 3.

Based on the feedback I received from my users, I made the following changes to my design:

Changing the speech icon and adding a filter to the homepage

5/5 users were unable to figure out what the last icon in the navigation bar really did or what it was for
3/5 users wanted to see filters/tags for each post so that they can find posts specific to their needs

Adding details to the confirmation details page

4/5 users wanted to see more details regarding the moving confirmation

Welcome to MoveTruths! A mobile app designed to help simplify information and tips before, during, and after the moving process. If you would like to see the final prototype, please click the link below!

In my personal experience, no project or product out there is perfect; there is always room for improvement wherever you go. Going into this project, I did have some UX experience but I still struggled with certain parts of the process. So how did I improve?

– Narrowing down research into specific themes require a lot more insight into the problem than expected.
– Identifying and categorizing proper feedback into my iterated prototypes.
– Learning to expand upon visual design beyond the scope of color and typography.

When I first began this project, I focused on the essential aspects of the application:

1. Allowing users to view and create posts to gather tips and information related to moving
2. Hiring movers/finding other moving-related services
3. Finding communities to join

If this project were to be completed, I would add the following features:

1. Adding an AI algorithm that would bring better recommendations to users
2. Integrate 3rd party apps such as YouTube to the app
3. Moving buddy system

The Problem

The Solution

Research

Thematic Analysis

Where's the Competition?

Key Takeaways

How Might We?

Who is My Design For?

Key Functions

Let's Get to Work

Prototyping

Visual Design

High Fidelity Prototypes

Did It Help?

Iterations

Final MVP Design

What Did I Learn?

What's Next?