Background
International students face a lot of challenges when they first come to a new city. The biggest one of them all is finding reliable, safe accommodation.
The process of finding a home away from home, in a completely new environment is quite a daunting one. Especially with the new culture, weather and so many new factors to adjust to. Language barriers, lack of understanding of basic rental laws and lack of transparency in real estate findings make this process a lot more difficult.
Through this project, I understand what it really means to be renting in a completely foreign country, student’s hardships, thoughts and feelings, to understand how to come up with a solution for the same so that students don’t feel completely overwhelmed by the process and can focus on other important tasks.
SOLUTIOn
All of my research inculcated into a digital application called Ascent. This would serve as a one stop solution for all of international students needs when it comes to finding accommodation.
Screens & motivations
Step-by-step onboarding process
When the user first sign’s up, they will be taken through a series of onboarding screens that will take things one at a time. This will ask primary information about the user so that the app can recommend properties accordingly. These questions are also tailored to international students.
Personalized help
Top performers - The home screen has a list of top rated real estate agents, whom the user can trust for finding their home.
Blog - A blog which can be accessed by the user on the home screen in order to obtain relevant and up-to-date information about renting in their city.
Communities
Communities is a feature for fellow international students to connect with each other. This page will have lists of groups which the user can join. Upon joining they will have access to a group chat and can find participants and access fellow group members’ profiles if they want to contact them further.
Filtering properties
The app will use AI to learn about the user’s preferences and give accurate property listings.
End-to-end support
The research provided an insight that a lot of students do not have a reliable person on the ground when they are looking for accommodation for the first time. Hence, Ascent will help connect users with certified property consultants from reputed organizations, who would help them with anything they need at any point in their journey.
“To investigate the multifaceted challenges of housing insecurities faced by international students, exploring the intersections of affordability, trust, and cultural adaptation, with the aim of developing a comprehensive design solution that addresses their unique needs.”
RESEARCH PLAN
TARGET USER PROFILE
The participants are majorly international students who have relocated to another city.
Students who have started living by themselves in the last year.
Students who are enrolled full time in a course.
Living only in a metropolitan city.
KEY SURVEY INSIGHTS
The primary things that students look for when finding a home is location, followed by affordability and safety.
Majority students used online platforms to search for their first home.
Most students settle for an average home because of the difficulties that they face.
A lot of students face a lack of transparency and do not trust listings, wishing that there was an experienced middle-man to do all the checking for them.
INTERVIEW PROCESS - KEY QUOTES
INSIGHTS GAINED
A very important conclusion that came out of the interviews is that most international students are overseas when looking for their first accommodation, and do everything digitally.
The listing search involves a lot of competition and students find it difficult to compete with locals, often leading to rejections.
All of them felt that having a person who has been in the city for longer and understands better is a huge aid.
The need for having communities so that they do not feel alone was also highlighted.
DATA VISUALISATION
To synthesize all the information that I had in mind, I made use of tools like creating user journeys, storyboards and personas to condense the information into meaningful data that could transform my designs. Some of them are shown here, please refer to the slide deck for all of them.
USER JOURNEY MAP
user persona
CHALLENGE FRAMING
5 WHYS
5 Whys is an iterative process that was conducted in order to really get in depth of the problem. This broke the problem down into the most fundamental issues, which helped ease the process of ideation.
Why is it too overwhelming and difficult to find satisfactory accommodation before their classes commence?
Because even if they find proper accommodation they seldom get accepted for those properties.Why do students seldom get accepted for their ideal properties?
Because students have weaker profiles compared to locals.Why do students have weaker profiles compared to locals?
Because they often lack a rental history, stable income, and local references which landlords typically prefer and are not acquainted with rental rulesWhy are students not acquainted with the rental rules?
Because they are new to the city and lack experience in the local housing market.Why are they new to the city and lack experience in the local housing market?
Because students are moving from different countries to attend university and have never rented in this area before.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
DESIGN SOLUTION
DESIGN HYPOTHESIS
By designing a digital app that offers tailored rental information, customized end to end support and a community, international students can confidently secure accommodation in new cities so that they feel less confused and overwhelmed.
STORYBOARD
A storyboard was utilized to visualize the revamped customer journey.
UPDATED USER SCENARIO
THE USER
Geet is a 23 year old who has one year of job experience, and is soon going to be an international masters student.
RESULTS
- Geet finds a place which is in her budget and ticking all the boxes for her ideal home.
- She goes from being worried and overwhelmed to being confident about her new place.
- She gets more time to manage other things like her visa, paying her uni fees etc.
TRIGGER
Geet has just gotten accepted into Monash University for doing her masters in Business administration. As a result, she needs a place to stay before she moves to Melbourne from Bangalore.
WHERE? WHEN?
She is sitting in her living room at home and starts thinking about her living situation as soon as her visa arrives when she gets accepted.
COURSE OF ACTION
1. Geet first makes a list of what all she wants in her home and what her priorities are when looking for a home.
2. Next, she goes onto google, as somewhere to start researching about renting culture in Melbourne.
3. She gets overwhelmed, looks at student accommodation as that is straightforward and reliable.
4. Panics, when she finds out that student accommodation has filled up, and goes back to finding rentals.
5. Does not trust rental listings online.
6. Learns about the app
7. Finds trustworthy listings and end to end support for international students
8. Is happy that the process is now streamlined and worry-free.
final screens
Thank you for watching!
Find the slide deck here.