Sojourner Goods
(née “Kiko”)
Context
Sojourner Goods is a start-up venture seeking to create a subscription-based marketplace to allow short term rental hosts to stock local goods in their rentals that are purchasable by guests. This phase focused on the front-end host interactions.
Client: Wherewithal Ventures, a boutique innovation consulting firm.
Tools: Axure RP, Google Drive, InvisionApp, Mural, Otter.ai, Sketch, Validately
Timeline + Teams: I was the lead UX designer, along with two UX designers and two UI designers.
Solution
Problem Statement
Short term rental hosts need to impress guests in order to remain competitive in their market. This requires a differentiated service that appeals to guests and integrates well with existing operations–minimizing the effort, time, and money it costs to deliver a personalized experience.
To function, Sojourner Goods must find a balance between curation and marketplace.
To be unique to users, it also needs to make the value it provides clear, while personalizing the shopping experience.
The voice needs to be playful, but not unprofessional.
In collaboration with the UI team, I designed wireframes that are crisp, utilize white space, and strike a balance between image and text content. The final result was a core user flow to demonstrate the base use case.
Design Principles
The Process
Sojourner Goods began as a fluid concept that required refining and focusing through user and market research. While this allowed for a broad variety of solutions, it also created challenges in forming the initial research plan. I began by analyzing the state of the short term rental market industry and host directed add-on services. I also took a look at the subscription box industry.
Domain Research
Sojourner Goods has an opportunity to jump into the market by providing an add-on service that targets a cross section of hosts, travelers, and local retailers. To better understand the feasibility of such a challenge we will examine the following in order to evaluate the landscape of the short term rental industry to specifically identify the gaps and opportunities that may determine a niche for Sojourner Goods:
Dominant Competitors in Short Term Rental Industry
Growth of Start-Ups + Response
In the past year, AirBnB has purchased Urbandoor, Hotel Tonight, Gaest, three start-ups that had the potential to become serious competitors as they grew (source).
Expedia Group, which already owns HomeAway and VRBO, acquired Pillow and Apartment Jet in 2018 (source).
Predicted Consumer Travel Trends
User Research
8 Interviews were conducted remotely. Users were sourced through Reddit and arms length connections.
As a team, we broke down each interview, highlighter transcripts, created an affinity map, and synthesized the user needs.
Themes
Local Decor
I decorate my rental according to a specific theme.
I decorate my rental to match the local vibe.
I want the traveler to have a continuous local experience while staying at my rental.
Revenue
I would like to be financially independent.
I operate a short term rental as a source of income.
I want to secure my investment for the future / retirement.
Competition
I have noticed competition in my area is increasing.
I have to remain competitive to maintain my business.
I also use short term rentals when I travel, and I pay attention to what they're doing well and where they could improve.
Properties
My short term rental is run out of an investment property, not my primary residence.
I focus on traveler friendly locations, primarily upscale homes and neighborhoods
Ideation
To capture the function and feel of Sojourner Goods, we went through a couple iterations of wireframes as a team. We produced one round of low-fidelity wireframes, and an initial set of mid-fidelity wireframes. Later, as I continued on as the solo UX Designer, I refined twice more to land on the final solution.
As a team we quickly sketched out low-fidelity wireframes to identify the basic function of the app. These then became the basis for our mid-fidelity wireframes.
The first round of mid-fidelity wireframes were used to establish functionality of our app by demonstrating the purchasing user flows. The style ultimately did not align with the client's desire for a fun and modern aesthetic, and so I continued iterating upon the wireframes.
I adapted my team's wireframes to align better with our client's vision. I experimented with different layouts to see what would work best. In this design, I began focusing on using images to create the feel of the app, which ultimately led to the final design.
Usability Testing
With the first iteration of mid-fidelity wireframes, we created a prototype and I conducted a usability test. Initially, we intended to run multiple tests, however due to time constraints we were only able to complete one test. This test proved useful in that it identified a few prototyping issues and raised additional questions about Kiko’s business model.
Positive Feedback
Simple + Easy to use
Positive reaction to the concept of making additional profit from products
Interested in the data visualization options
Liked the categories for different products
Interested in product trends/ability to predict popular items to stock in advance
Critical Feedback
Some of the flows were disconnected (prototyping error)
Reduce cognitive load of buttons
Expressed a strong interest in testing the Support flow
Iteration + UI
After our team’s involvement with the project ended, our client contacted me and asked me to continue working with him on the UX design and to assist with the transition to UI. I assisted as a solo UX Designer for the next stages of the project.
When the UI team was onboarded, the name of the platform changed from Kiko to Sojourner Goods, and my client was able to more clearly articulate the aesthetic he wanted to achieve, which lead to the final design.
At this stage, I collaborated with UI to see how my image place holders would translate to a high fidelity mockup. There were still some changes to be made. After a few weeks of testing different options we finally landed on the layout and style that fit Sojourner Goods.
Final Thoughts
I was fortunate to be able to offer consistency as our client managed changing design teams. Working with a startup allows for a lot of space for creativity, but also the margin for error is tiny. Sojourner Goods is a test in patience, persistence, and pixel-perfect design.