Individual
Project
12
weeks
Fall
2019
ArtCenter College of Design
intro
An app for housemates easing the everyday and encouraging people to live together!
tools & methods
RESERACH
USER TESTING
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
VISUALISATION (ADOBE XD
ILLUSTRATOR, AFTER EFFECTS)
background
People choose to live together for different reasons. It can be fun and convenient but it can also come with difficulties. During this project I wanted to investigate if an app specifically designed for housemates could ease the everyday and encourage people to live together.
challenge
The idea was to help housemates of to a good start living together by creating a fast, easy and fun communication tool. The challenge was to make them feel engaged in their household by easing common housemate problems such as economy and cleaning. Could an app for housemates ease the everyday and make it more fun to live together?
introduction video for COLIVE
02/05
research
interviews with target group
I let the people I was interviewing draw their home as we were speaking. They got to point out where they were usually hanging out and if there were specific problem areas in the home. This gave me a better understanding of their living situation.
” I had to handle all the bills and it was hard to make them pay and having to remind them”
”Feels weird not knowing if someone is home or not. With my former roommate she would just sneak in”
”We should have established rules from the beginning. It is uncomfortable to confront someone about stuff later ”
[ Insight! ]
Communication is key!
Settling on common rules prior to moving in together is really important to avoid unnecessary conflicts.
Small things such as always having someone around or having a common inside joke can strengthen a group.
Problems with economy or cleaning, can destroy a household even if the housemates were friends from before.
03/05
concept development
It felt important that the app was friendly and did not become a place for blaming each other for things
I reflected a lot upon the social aspect of things. From my research I had found that communication was key and the feeling of having something in common could really strengthen a household.
A lot of people wanted help with dividing chores in the household. But since this could be a sensitive topic having set rules from the beginning would help.
low fidelity wireframes
user testing the flow of the app
”The social chat feels a bit stiff, should be more playful!”
- Emma, 24
workshop; how do you prefer communicating in an app?
Because of the result of the user test where people said the social communication page did not feel playful enough I arranged a workshop. I let people play with different components and come up with suggestions for how they would want to interact with each other if they were housemates.
04/05
interface
moodboard
Inviting | Warm | Playful
logo exploration
developing high fidelity wireframes
swipe for: UI design system
05/05
colive -app for roommates
The final result of this project is an app called Colive. The app lets the new housemates create a digital household space where they start of by deciding on a set of common household rules. After this they can use Colive to manage household chores and financials as well as keep track of what is going on in the household.
Create a Household
Join, or create, a new household page with your new housemates!
Create a Household Agreement
To avoid future conflicts the housemates agree on common rules for the household prior to moving in.
Household Feed
Keep an overview, and share content, of what is going on in your household
Financial Management
Manage your economy and share expenses with your housemates
Chore Management
Share lists of things and chores needed in the household
explore selected work
