Spaces
by HGTV
Spaces by HGTV is a mobile app that allows home lovers to build and share their living spaces, digitally.
OVERVIEW
This project is a concept for a hypothetical mobile application produced by HGTV, a television network that broadcasts reality programming about home and garden improvement.
ROLE
UX Researcher, UX Designer, UI Designer, Interaction Designer
TOOLKIT
User research, affinity mapping, persona, sketching, low- mid- and high-fidelity wireframing, prototyping, Sketch app, InVision, Principle
There’s no place like your home.
Build and share your unique spaces.
SpaceCreator™ is a tool that measures the size and shape of your space to find an optimized layout for your items.
1. Quickly understand SpaceCreator™ with the single-screen onboarding page and informational graphic.
2. Move about the space with your device and add a point in each corner, accounting for beams and such.
3. Once a complete shape is detected, the dimensions and square footage of your space is displayed.
4. Add common features like doors, windows, and closets to your space.
5. Calculate dimensions and placement of features with the same measuring interface.
6. Give your room a unique name and write a short caption describing the space.
7. Add suggested items like a bed or dresser, or use the search field to find something specific.
8. After items have been added, SpaceCreator™ will show you the optimized layout for your space.
9. Your space is complete and ready to be shared - and look, others are already viewing and liking your space!
PROCESS
RESEARCH
I began the process with an extremely vague topic: apartments. I hypothesized many problems within this space including:
home improvement
buying/selling furniture
moving in/moving out
apartment hunting
roommates
external storage
high expenses
I knew these hypothetical problems existed from personal experience, but I had to look past myself and talk to others to uncover real problems validated by real people. I used several research methods to gain a better understanding of the topic area and uncover the painpoints that “apartment users” experience, including:
user interviews
affinity mapping
competitive matrix
I interviewed 6 “apartment users” between the ages of 21 and 45 living in New York City. This is what they told me:
INTERVIEW KEY INSIGHTS
6/6
users live in a space they consider small, and say their biggest painpoint is wanting “more room” because they currently “don’t have enough space”
5/6
users value a living space that is clean and open, and admit to feeling stressed out at times when their space becomes crowded and claustrophobic
5/6
users initially find the home design process exciting, but say it can quickly become overwhelming, especially when it comes to organizing furniture
PROBLEM
A common need for a comfortable and stylish home is to have a space that is open and neatly organized, but apartments in big cities are usually small and the amount of room for a person’s belongings is limited.
User persona Gavin likes his apartment, but is struggling with the limited space in his 1 bedroom layout.
How might we help Gavin utilize the potential of his living space to create a home that is comfortable for him?
IDEATION
I used low-fidelity whiteboard sketches to begin visualizing what information should be displayed on which screens to solve this problem, and mid-fidelity digital wireframes to begin usability testing task-specific flows with real users.
TASK FLOW 1 Your closet is messy and needs organizing. Filter content on the explore page accordingly, select a post, and add it to your favorites.
Indicates where the user taps
TASK FLOW 2 You want to start building your home. Add a new bedroom and find your optimized layout.
TASK FLOW 3 View your favorite room layouts, then continue browsing for inspiration.
USABILITY TEST KEY INSIGHTS
8/8
users successfully completed Task 1 and Task 3 and found them to be “very easy",” but did not see any usefulness or novelty to the experience, noting that they already use applications like Instagram or Pinterest for similar functions
8/8
users successfully completed Task 2 and found it to be “somewhat easy” following a minor learning curve, while making comments about how “unexpected” and “useful” the feature is, one mentioning how they would “use this app just for this feature"
KEY TAKEAWAY
Narrow the scope of the application to primarily focus on the interactive building tool that measures the size and shape of your space to find an optimized layout for your items.
There’s no place like your home.
Build and share your unique spaces.
Spaces by HGTV
