Redesigning Airbnb’s mobile App
As a part of my application for an internship program earlier this year, I decided to do a quick design challenge on redesigning several features of the current Airbnb mobile application on Android.
My Role: UX designer (individual project)
Duration: January 2017, 2 Days Design Challenge
Tools & Methods: Redesign, User Testing, Prototype, Invision
For this project, I started by doing a quick research on who the users are and defined their main goal. I conducted a few informal testing sessions for user insights, analyzed several design issues in the current application, and prioritized 3 of the most important areas for improvement. For each issue, I proposed a solution in which I believe can enhance the user experience. I also created an interactive prototype to demonstrate my proposed ideas using Invision. Lastly, I discussed several measures which can be used to determine if my redesign had made a positive impact.
Discover
Who are the users?
From a short research on Airbnb’s target audience, I found that there are two main group of users — the travelers and the hosts. Travelers are those who are looking for accomodations for their trips. Hosts are house owners who are willing to rent out their places. The goals and needs for these two group of users are very different. For the purpose of this project, I would like to focus on redesigning the features for travelers using Airbnb’s mobile application.
What are their goals?
The travelers’ main goal is to discover a place that best suits their needs while staying within their budget. Airbnb offers a wide variety of alternatives to hotel rooms, allowing them to serve the specific needs of many users. These needs may range from booking the cheapest option within a particular area to finding a luxurious home to relax on their trip.
To find out and understand more of the user’s needs, expectations, and usability issues in the current app, I did 3 informal user testing sessions with my friends on the airbnb mobile application using the think-aloud method. My quick, informal testing sessions only took roughly 15 to 20 minutes — each with a single task:
You are planning a 2 nights getaway trip to your dream destination. Choose a home and book your stay through the app.
From those sessions, I gathered several important insights about their goals — particularly those relevant to the decision making process:
- Users are likely to make comparisons between several of their short-listed options based on a range of criteria — such as how the houses look, what amenities are available, and which area the house is located.
- Users may be looking for very specific things in a house based on their personal preference, such as access to Wi-fi or what the bathroom looks like.
Define : Current Design Issues
Based on the usability issues found during the tests, I prioritized 3 of the most prominent issues and lack of desired features that hinders the experience towards the user’s goals.
Issue#1: How do I compare between two houses?
While the application allows users to save their favorite houses to a list, it is very difficult to make a comparison between them. Users would need to look into each house individually, remember all the details, and analyze those information in their mind. This information overload makes it hard for users to make a decision.
Issue#2: What’s missing in this home?
Although users can see a list of amenities that are available, other amenities that are not available has been completely disregarded. In some cases, these missing amenities may be very crucial to the user’s decision. One of the participants stated that a place without connection to Wi-Fi is a real deal-breaker for him.
Issue#3: Why do I need to scroll through 20+ images to find what the bathroom looks like?
The design currently utilizes a carousel to display images of the house, which makes it very difficult for users to quickly browse through. One of our participants mentioned that she would likely be spending a lot of time in the bathroom and often prefer to see a photo of what it looks like. Having to scroll through all the images to find that one photo for each house she was interested in was not a pleasant experience.
Design: Proposed Solutions
For each of the issues defined earlier, I brainstormed several ideas for how those issues could be solved. After analyzing the strong and weak points of those ideas, I selected a design solution with an aim to address each problem individually.
For Issue#1: Add a comparison feature
To assist the user’s decision making, I recommend having a comparison feature on top of the existing favorites list. When the user views their list, all the houses within that list would be selected by default. The user would be able to select or deselect their desired houses, then click on the Compare button to generate a list showing a side-by-side comparison of various properties. To accommodate comparison of many houses at the same time, the list would be in a horizontal scrollbar.
For Issue#2: Show a comprehensive list of amenities
Instead of displaying only the available amenities, I suggest providing a feature which allows users to be able to customize their prioritized amenities. These selected amenities would be displayed on the main home screen, using green color as an indicator of availability.
Additionally, they can view a comprehensive list of amenities, with their prioritized ones on the top, to see which ones are available and which ones are not. Additionally, instead of having the page title on a separate line, I moved the title up to the same line as the close button to reduce the amount of unused white space.
For Issue#3: Add a gallery feature
By adding a gallery feature, the user will have the options to either click on the image for a maximized view, or click on the gallery icon to browse the whole gallery. Once in the maximized view, the users would still be able to slide back and forth to browse through the images. Additionally, they can either go back to the gallery or to the main home screen.
Prototype
Using Invision, I created a prototype to demonstrate how the user would interact with the screens and how the screens would flow from one another for each of the proposed solutions. To view the prototype, please refer to the link below.
https://projects.invisionapp.com/share/85A9HT1GA#/216930118_Airbnbredesign_Main
Evaluate
How to determine the results of my redesign?
Although I have not done evaluation tests for this project, I propose several metrics that can be used to measure the outcome of this redesign. These metrics would help determine whether each design solution had successfully solved the issues we’ve defined. I would also like to note that these factors may vary greatly depending on the amount of budget and scale of testing.
1. An increase in conversion rate
(user successfully complete Airbnb booking)
2. An increase in satisfaction on house ratings and reviews
(indicates a better match between user expectations and reality)
3. A decrease in the amount of time taken to complete tasks
(finding a photo, deciding on a home)
Reflection
Considering the amount of time spent on this quick 2 days project, I am personally very satisfied with the outcome. However, I realize that there are several things that could’ve been improved during the process. These are the important lessons I learned from doing this project.
1. Don’t overlook the importance of user data — gather your findings before jumping into any conclusions .
Many of my assumptions were proven wrong after just 1 hour of testing. Even if you have the correct assumptions, it is always crucial to have user data to verify your statements.
2. To generate more diverse ideas while working alone, try assuming the role of your old teammates.
While I was brainstorming the solutions, I found that most of my ideas are very similar and repetitive. I started thinking back to the teams that I’ve worked with and asked myself — What would A suggest in this situation? Would B be against this idea? Assuming such roles helped me generate more creative alternatives and find holes in my solutions.
3. It’s all about how you tell your story.
The original draft of this article was created back in February, with a focus on the end product. However, looking back, I realized that the story is incomplete. By deciding to publish this article, I challenged myself to re-tell the story — adding the important parts that were missing from my process.
