YEAR

2023

role

UX & UI, Creative Direction

MOVING PARTY

CASE STUDY

Moving Party is a web-based concept designed to simplify and enhance the moving experience. It brings together the concepts of organization and collaboration to make a moving a less stressful experience. With Moving Party, users can plan, coordinate, and execute their move while involving their family and friends in the journey.

Moving is a complex process that demands extensive planning and organization, often resulting in significant stress and time consumption. People must coordinate with various entities, including moving companies, utilities, and other service providers, which can be overwhelming and difficult to manage.

BACKGROUND 
TIMELINE

March - May 2023

RESEARCH

I began my research by doing a competitive analysis of both direct and indirect competitors. While each of these platforms offers solutions related to moving, they approach the concept from different angles and offer distinct features and functionalities. Understanding how these platforms operate, what they excel at, and where they may fall short will help us identify opportunities for differentiation and improvement within Moving Party.

www.mymove.com

www.taskrabbit.com

Ultimately, the core of my research was a series of (9) one-on-one interviews. I sought participants aged between 25 and 40 years old, who had recently relocated and belonged to the middle to high socioeconomic strata. My interview questions focused on identifying their pain points during each phase of the moving process and the tools and resources they relied on to facilitate the move. Here are the research insights I derived from affinity mapping.

✹ Key insights

Most of the interviewees are renters/tenants, rather than homeowners. Due to the fast-paced and highly competitive nature of the rental market, people often have a limited amount of time (usually 2-3 weeks) to prepare for a move.

The Notes app is a popular tool for staying organized among iPhone users due to its native integration. In times of stress, users prefer simplicity and may not have the time or inclination to explore alternative tools.

www.updater.com

Only a handful of interviewees hired professional help as most preferred to do it themselves or ask help from their family and friends. Most of them wish they hired help (specifically movers) after realising how tedious it is to move. 

“[When planning for the move,] I had to Google a lot but quickly felt overwhelmed by the number of articles I saw. I’m too lazy and tired to go through all of them and wish there was consolidated information about the topics I needed to look up on.”
— user-interview participant

✹ Personas

Drawing from the insights and findings obtained through affinity mapping, I grouped the learnings that would go well together. The outcome yielded three clear personas. Throughout the project, I often referred to the personas to ensure my design choices aligned with the users' requirements.

After analyzing the results, it was evident that the main pain points of my participants were not being solved by the current products on the market today. Moving is a complicated enough process and users don’t need another thing to figure out. The product has to be simple and straightforward, thus my concept: Moving Party.

Moving Party is a concept platform for people planning on moving who want to involve their family and/or friends in the process. It provides a comprehensive list of tasks recommended for your move, covering all the essential aspects of the moving process. Users can easily collaborate with friends and family members involved in the move by sharing their personalized to-do list and task progress.

initial exploration

STRATEGY

WHAT IS MOVING PARTY?

✹ Information Architecture

To establish a clear structure for the product, a sitemap was created, providing a visual representation of its navigation system.

✹ User Flows

Creating a checklist for Moving Party

Someone recommended Moving Party to Romulus to help prepare for his move. Let’s create his first checklist.

Inviting friends and family to Moving Party

Now that Romulus has created his first checklist, it’s time to invite his friends and family so he can assign some tasks to them.

DESIGN

The wireframes for Moving Party were focused on the following user flows: setting up your move, creating your first task and inviting someone to your move.

✹ Branding

To start, I identified Moving Party's fundamental core values. I believed these values effectively captured the what Moving Party embodies.

I decided to leverage primary colours and geometric shapes to align with the core values of fun, flexibility and simplicity. By using primary colours, I can create a vibrant atmosphere, evoking a sense of excitement and enthusiasm for the [moving] experience. Meanwhile, geometric shapes can offer a wide range of combinations, providing flexibility for the UI.

Progress Tracking. Stay organised and on track with Moving Party’s user-friendly interface that allows you to track progress as you complete each task.

Get helpful reminders and notifications to ensure that you don't miss any important deadlines or tasks along the way.

✹ Hi-Fi Wireframes

Moving Party’s interface is designed to be intuitive and easy to navigate, making it simple for you to access your personalised to-do list and manage your moving tasks efficiently.

Collaboration and Sharing. Easily collaborate with friends and family members involved in the move by sharing your personalized to-do list and task progress.

Keep everyone on the same page and delegate tasks, making the moving process a team effort.

Personalised To Do List. It provides a comprehensive list of tasks recommended for your move, covering all the essential aspects of the moving process.

Our smart algorithm takes into account factors like packing, logistics, utilities, paperwork, and more, ensuring that your to-do list is customised to your move's requirements.

EVALUATION

The primary objective of usability testing was to evaluate the user experience and effectiveness of key features within the platform. We engaged five participants in the testing process, focusing on three crucial user flows: setting up your move, creating your first task and inviting someone to your move. The feedback and observations gathered during the testing sessions served as valuable inputs for refining and enhancing the user interface and overall user experience of the platform. Here are some of them:

  • the Pinned Tasks section is now collapsed to lessen the cognitive load

  • the dividers are now in grayscale for better accessibility

  • the Critical Tasks section has been removed to lessen the confusion / cognitive load

  • users are now able to add a new task from the dashboard and can sort it at a time convenient to them

  • users are able to invite people to their party from the dashboard

MOVING PARTY: THE FINAL PRODUCT

✹ INSIGHTS FROM THIS PROJECTS

  • Avoid introducing too many concepts when introducing a new product to a user.

  • Copywriting is just as important as everything else when it comes to building a product.

  • Be as thorough as you can when creating mid-fi wireframes. Design every screen if possible. Simple flows will require more screens than you think.

  • Usability Testing is the best way to learn patterns, and to be a better designer. That said, try doing it as early in the project as you can.