hello dorm | nathenia

Project Overview

Student housing, made easy

Hello Dorm is a student-centered UX case study tackling the challenges of finding housing and compatible roommates in competitive regions like Waterloo. Through research, intuitive user flows, and a high-fidelity interactive prototype, the app centralizes listings and simplifies roommate matching, making the housing search clearer, more reliable, and less stressful for students.

Timeframe

Team

4 Months

4 Business & Design Students

(May - Aug 2023)

Role

Co - Designer

UX + UI Design, Visual design, Branding, User flow, Research, Prototyping + Testing

Tools

Figma, Fig Jam, Google Forms, Illustrator, MS teams

The Challenge

Students need a way to find housing and compatible roommates efficiently.

Post-secondary students face a stressful and disconnected housing search. Scattered listings, limited information, and uncertainty around roommates make finding housing time-consuming, overwhelming, and unreliable, highlighting the need for a centralized, student-focused solution.

Objective/Goal

This UX design project aims to create Hello Dorm, a mobile app that helps students find housing and compatible roommates with ease. The app offers tools for searching listings, filtering results, and connecting with potential roommates, all in a centralized, intuitive platform.

The goal is to reduce stress, improve confidence in housing decisions, and create a reliable, student-centered solution that enhances the overall university housing experience.

Research Process

The project began by exploring the student housing landscape and user needs. I analyzed four existing platforms, each with different features, but none fully addressed students’ challenges with reliable listings, roommate compatibility, and a centralized, student-focused experience.

User Interviews

Even though I had personal experience with housing challenges, I conducted surveys and interviews with other students to uncover their pain points, needs, and preferences. Ensuring our design decisions were informed by real user experiences.

Key Questions

1.

How do students currently search for housing, and what challenges do they face during the process?

2.

Which features or tools would make a housing and roommate search app more trustworthy, efficient, and user-friendly for students?

3.

What factors influence students’ decisions when choosing roommates or housing options?

Key Insights

Reliable Housing & Roommate Matching

Students see finding suitable housing as essential, valuing not only cost and location but also roommate compatibility, which impacts comfort and academic stability.

Challenges & Need for Unified Solutions

Disconnected platforms, unverified listings, and unreliable roommate information create stress, highlighting the need for a centralized, student-focused solution.

Interest in Digital Tools

Students want verified listings, advanced filters, and roommate insights. While some value community features, most prioritize efficiency and clarity, pointing to a flexible, intuitive platform.

User Personas

Using insights from surveys and interviews, personas were created to represent key student user groups. These personas helped clarify students’ needs and behaviours, guiding design decisions throughout the project.

Points of View

Students searching for housing require a centralized, trustworthy platform that simplifies the process of finding both housing and compatible roommates, making the search more manageable and less stressful.

Students balancing busy academic schedules need time-efficient tools that help them quickly discover housing options, filter listings effectively, and evaluate potential roommates, enabling them to make confident decisions without feeling overwhelmed.

First-year or international students navigating unfamiliar housing markets need clear guidance and reliable information to ensure they secure safe, suitable accommodations, while building confidence in their housing choices.

How Might We

How might we provide students with a centralized platform that simplifies the housing search while ensuring trustworthiness of listings?
How might we empower students with tools that streamline roommate matching and reduce the stress of evaluating compatibility?
How might we support first-year and international students with accessible guidance and reliable information to make confident housing decisions?

User Flow Brainstorm

Branding

The branding for Hello Dorm was designed to feel calm, supportive, and stress-free. Soft colours, simple typography, and nature-inspired elements create a welcoming, home-like experience for students.

Color Palette:
Green and beige tones create a calm, warm, and grounding feel that helps students feel at ease.

Typography:
Clean, minimal type ensures clarity and a friendly, uncluttered experience.

Moodboard:
Cozy dorm spaces, plants, and relaxed student moments emphasize comfort, balance, and wellbeing.

Low - Mid Fidelity Wireframes

I started with hand-drawn sketches of low-fidelity wireframes to quickly explore layout ideas and navigation, focusing on the onboarding flow and the sign-up and profile creation process. I then translated these concepts into mid-fidelity wireframes using Figma to refine structure, hierarchy, and user flows.

High Fidelity Wireframes

After establishing the visual branding and mid-fidelity wireframes for Hello Dorm, high-fidelity screens were designed and an interactive prototype was built to test the app and gather user feedback.

Future Impact

This project lays the foundation for a student-focused platform that simplifies housing and roommate searches. Potential future enhancements include:

Personalized Housing & Roommate Suggestions: Use data to tailor listings and roommate matches to each student’s preferences.

Verified Listings Through Partnerships: Collaborate with universities and housing providers to ensure trustworthy and up-to-date listings.

Interactive Roommate Tools: Add features like compatibility quizzes or chat previews to reduce uncertainty when choosing roommates.

Guides & Resources: Provide tips on contracts, budgeting, and campus living to build confidence and support informed decisions.

Prototype

Learnings & Takeaways :)

Throughout this project, I reflected on the challenges students face when searching for housing and finding compatible roommates. Designing Hello Dorm allowed me to translate these insights into practical solutions while strengthening my skills in user empathy, feature prioritization, and iterative design.

1. Understanding & Empathizing with Users

This project deepened my understanding of students’ housing and roommate challenges, reinforcing the importance of designing solutions grounded in real user experiences.

2. Prioritizing Design Decisions

I learned how focusing on key features and making thoughtful design choices, even small ones,can significantly impact usability and overall experience.

3. Iteration & Continuous Improvement

Iterative testing highlighted the value of validating assumptions and revealed opportunities to enhance app usability, mobility, and speed, emphasizing that UX design is an ongoing process.