Golhood
Web / App for managing a smart building
Before starting to explain the digital project of Godhood, I have to tell you what it’s about because it’s a new product. Golhood network of smart buildings all over the world. They are located in major city centers. There you can rent your house and they have shared spaces and extra services. They are technological buildings, sustainable and self-sufficient, so electricity, water and Wi-Fi are included in the rent. The community is very important, and therefore there will be activities and events to connect with the neighbors of both the building and the neighborhood. There are bicycles and electric vehicles at your disposal so you can move freely around the city. A person will be in charge of managing the building and help you in what you need (pick up your packages, solve the incidences of your house, etc.). And in addition, an app lets you manage everything from the palm of your hand, from your rent to the home automation. The maxims are flexibility and comfort. You choose the duration of the rental and the apartment that best suits you and your way of life.
Now, as I face the digital challenge of creating a MVP in 2 weeks, I will follow the following guidelines: research, information architecture, design and prototype.
1. Research
The first thing I did was a search for references, a lighting demo, which in my case had to focus on other industries since there was no similar product on the market, I took as reference conciergerie services, such as vincci hotels or bellhop, reservations as Porter & Sail or Airbnb, or TyDom for home automation.
I had to check if my hypotheses were true, so I started with some questions that needed to be answered. Will the tool be used? It’s really useful? Should it be a mobile application or a desktop web? What functionalities should it have?
To validate these hypotheses I established a UX strategy to follow:
And I worked out a Canvas Lean UX that will help me focus the goals and ask the right questions in surveys and interviews.
The following conclusions are drawn from the 140 answers obtained in the surveys:
30% are singles, 51% live on rent and 79% responded from the mobile, in addition, 88% would live in a Gol and they have 35 years on average.
In view of the results, I think it’s important to have a web responsible for the search of apartments, but also a native app for the management of your house and your building. Following the mobile first philosophy I start the MVP with the version for the app.
As for the functionalities that should have, the results are less conclusive. When I asked them to choose the ones they would use, the result was the reservation of shared spaces, but as shown in the chart before, quite tied with the hiring of extra services and others.
But if I asked them to stay with a single functionality, the result varied, leaving first the home automation.
To define the pain points and the final functionalities, I developed an affinity diagram, which included the most relevant data.
And to focus the application on our potential users (young, old, singles, young couples, displaced worker, self-employed, separated, widows, travelers …), I created user personas.
Later I focused on two of my user personas, Walker the displaced worker and Mildred the single, and with them I made two Customer Journey, the interaction of those potential users with the app, in two moments of the process, someone not logged searching for a flat, and other one already logged in using of the several possibilities of the app, both will have different reactions and different problems that I will have to deal with, even before they occur.
You have already noticed that I worked a lot by hand, this is because I used the Lean methodology, which isn’t to stop at the accessory to focus on the product. I thought that this option was the most appropriate for this project due to the deathline and the big dimension that was going to reach my proposal in particular.
2. Information Architecture
Once the functionalities were defined, they must be sorted and hierarchized. In this flowchart, I established all the necessary screens for the correct development of the application, both a logged-in user and an unlogged user, but also the one of the manager of the building that will have its own interface. In yellow I indicate the minimum screens necessary for the MVP and the ones that I will develop for this final project.
It was important to determine if the app was usable and understandable by the user, so I made a user test through wireframes Lo Fi, as you can see in this video.
3. Design
I was very clear about the brand tone I wanted to convey. It had to be a young, cosmopolitan, conscientious tone that inspired concepts such as home and future. It was really difficult to find out the images.
The final moodboard is the result and the guideline for the Style Guide:
Since I didn’t want the application’s complexity to cloud its appearance, I chose a color palette and a very neutral typography. But it was important for the app not to be boring and lacking in personality, so I used line icons with a character of their own. The rest of the app, minimalist and clean, to focus attention on the important, the content.
I also got into the branding redesigning the logo, because it was extremely important that everything had consistency. That’s why I went from the existing one based on text and typography with a touch of color to a more conceptual one based on lines (as the icons) that can be understood as the keys to your new home but also as the initials of the brand, gd from Golhood.
4. Prototyping
Finally, I leave you some videos with my app mockup running.
First of all I leave the happy user path for a not logged user. Here you can see the booking of an apartment for a month, and the payment process.
Now you can see the home screen of the app from a logged in user, which corresponds to my home, here you can manage your apartment automation. And some relevant information appear like the current temperature of your house, or the consumption that you take of electricity or the water spent favoring the responsible consumption. You can also view the notifications and also send them, such as a package which has arrived or that you have a problem in your apartment.
I made a lower navigation bar where you can find the 4 large sections that order the application: Home, Building, Community and Profile.
My Building section, where you can get general information, manage space reservations and hiring extra services. When necessary, a top tab-based navigation appears.
In the My Community section, you have access to events, both the building and the neighborhood, and you can target those that interest you. You can also see the profiles of our neighbors.
Finally, My profile section, where you will have access to your configuration, your personal profile, your contract and the banking data.
The next steps are to test the current prototype, and in case that it works correctly send it to production. Finishing the mobile version, with the missing screens, although I focused my efforts on making all the screens that are different for this process to be faster. Make the desktop version of the web and the doorman CRM. Test again that the application works and iterate if necessary until the application is fully debugged.
I understand this project as a complete user experience, from the real world to the digital one and where everything has to fit and be coherent. Both the architecture and the UX design to serve the user. Let’s move to a Gol!
