La Casa
LA CASA helps digital nomads find short term rentals or shared living spaces, or digital nomads earn money hosting guests.
Project Info
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UX UI Design
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User Research
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Brand Creation
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Landing page
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App Mockup
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Working MVP Development
Duration: 3 Weeks
Team: Product Designer, Software Developer
AFTER THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, many businesses went entirely remote and the digital nomad phenomena increased substantially. I have at least 10 friends who consider themselves digital nomads and live in places like Columbia, Spain, Portugal, etc while working for companies in North America. Living in a country different from where you were born or used to allows you to see the world, meet different types of people, and often live in a very favorable climate.
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How do digital nomads find a place to stay while abroad?
By scanning the internet and various apps on the app store, I found that currently, digital nomads are using sites like Airbnb to book short-term rentals while abroad, or scanning sites like Coliving to secure a short-term rental; however, users complained that these properties didn't come with comfortable working spaces and were generally overpriced. I also came across many people addressing their struggles to make friends as digital nomads. As a result of these searches and conversations with my digital nomad friends, I began to research to see if there was a platform that would connect you to the best workspaces and living arrangements for remote workers while in any country, and I came to realize a service like this did not exist...
Taking the Dive
To solve this problem I began brainstorming.. What does a digital nomad need to make an unfamiliar country feel more like home? What amenities are people interested in? How can ex-pats make friends? What kind of work environments are important? Which countries in the world are digital nomads gravitating more towards and how can I find the digital nomads in those destinations?
Quantitative Research
After identifying my target market to be single men and women ages 24-40 working remote jobs. I performed interviews with digital nomads I know and other individuals on LinkedIn ages 24-40 to explain to me what is/isn’t working for them while looking for a live-work environment abroad, and what would make their experience better.
What do you look for in a short term rental?
Sample size of 22 people
Observations:
(based on a sample size of 22 people)
70% of digital nomads said that they found it difficult to meet other digital nomads on their travels.
30% of digital nomads said their experience abroad would be better if they could find like minded people to split a large villa with while earning money to be a host.
80% expressed that airbnb’s prices were too high for monthly stays abroad.
80% of digital nomads expressed their interest in an app that would allow them to connect/work and share space with other digital nomads.
The making of LA CASA
With the data I collected, I came to the assumption that Digital nomads are lacking sufficient services to find a worthwhile co-living space with adequate amenities, they're essentially faced with hostels when looking for co-living spaces abroad. Also, the current co-living offering sites (like coliving) aren't providing adequate host management options and payment systems for ease of payment. There is also a lack of an application and customer screening process for hosts to identify if they want to accept or decline the booking request.
Based on my data I jotted down the most important/not important features I would need to include in my app.
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Early Protype of LA CASA.
Early Design Decisions
Early Design Decisions
With my main idea clear, I started to pull design inspiration from other short-term rental apps like coliving and Airbnb to come up with an early-stage low-fidelity design for LA CASA. I wanted to create a smooth experience for my target audience, so I kept in mind my user preferences while designing the initial app layout. With the data I collected, I designed a user flow that exemplified the ideal user experience and later transformed it into an experience map that recorded the user's journey and emotional responses at each point of interaction within the app.
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A user journey captured in an experience map
Detailed Screens
Based on my analysis, I determined which actions and features were essential and useful, and developed a sitemap accordingly. My goal was to provide a smooth experience for my target users by prioritizing simplicity while finding a short-term rental property abroad. You can see the detailed screens on the right. This is an example of how to apply for a property. A thorough application allows the host of the property to gather more data about the applicant and ensure that they will be a right fit for the co-living space.
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Detailed Screens: Explore page
On the explore page the user has the option to search for a location they're looking for a short-term rental; in this case, the user has selected Cartagena to filter their search to that area. The user can also like properties for later and click "view" to see more details. ​
Detailed Screens: Property Details
The property details page ensures the user can see all necessary details about the property: including images, property reviews, amenities offered, and description, from this page, the user can either add the property to their "wishlist" by hitting the like button, or they can hit the message button to ask more details if they wish or scroll down and "apply."
Design Decisions:
I decided to go with a fun colour scheme and elegant easy to read text for the text/colour theme; whilst considering my user persona in these design decisions/​
High fidelity designs:
These are high-fidelity user flows for users trying to find a short-term rental. This flow takes you through their onboarding process and searches to find a property.. all the way to their application for a place.​
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There is still so many more features that can be added to LA CASA; what if you could organize expat events through the app or even have an "open house" concept where other digital nomads can come to your house just for the day to work and network..
Moving forward: