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Tenancy
Helping new international students find rentals in Canada
Summary
Canada's rental market isn't easy to navigate - for anyone - and international students have a particularly tough time adapting. Tenancy is a rental app built for international students who are new to Canada, to provide them with what they need to be successful in Canada's rental market.
Team
Individual
Duration
10 Weeks
Role
UX Designer
UX Research
UI Design
RENTING IN CANADA can sometimes be a wild and stressful experience. I wanted to make a positive impact in this landscape, and to do that I needed to learn where the biggest challenges were, and for whom.
In my research I discovered that International students are faced with the biggest challenges - unfamiliar with the wants of renters and needs of landlords - like credit history and rental references - and being new means having a considerably smaller network.
International students renting in Canada must navigate a foreign, unreliable and sometimes even deceptive environment which often results in sacrificing more time and needs than they expected.
So what's it like for international students?
Thinking big
I started by finding out what I could about international students' biggest pain points when renting in Canada.
Competition is tough
International students report most of their rejections coming at the hands of private landlords, due to the amount of competition.
Time to study, or time to search
16% of international students report taking longer than four months to find a home, with another 16% reporting at least three months, and another 26% at least two months.
What do the students have to say about it?
Hearing the experiences
After becoming familiar with the landscape, I needed to find where I could best make an impact. I interviewed three international students, all of whom had experience in the Canadian rental market in the last 12 months.
My biggest assumptions were that international students are unsure of what their options are as renters, and of what they need in order to be successful.
Isolating what makes their problems unique
Unexpected results
What I found was that in practice, it's difficult to tell apart which problems are unique to international students and which problems are experienced by all renters - a lot of their problems are the same.
Pain Points
Behaviors
Motivations
Affinity map excerpt - a few quotes from international students' interviews
Using what I had learned from speaking to international students, I crafted my persona and created an experience map, looking to identify what is unique about their journey versus other renters.
Experience map
What it actually came down to
I reflected on my user experience map and leaned on what I had learned through talking with students and secondary research to come to my conclusion: although their problems may sound similar, with small networks to learn from and none of the documentation that landlords often request, international students in Canada are navigating an entirely different environment than other renters.
How might we change the rental environment for international students in Canada, in order to help them find the rentals that meet their needs?
So how do I change the environment? I set my goals based on the feelings the environment should elicit in users.
Users should feel:
Informed with what they need.
Equipped with the resources they required
Empowered to find what they are looking for.
What are the core functions?
Informing the design
I iterated on 30 user stories addressing my persona's major needs - finding a place they want in the least amount of time, reliably communicating with landlords, and knowing what they need to find success. I isolated three epics that addressed the pain points, with the user stories that described what would become the 3 task flows I would be focusing on.
Tenant Profile
Search Rentals
Schedule Viewing
As a renter, I want to see what landlords want from me, so I can make sure to have it.
As a renter, I want to schedule my viewings, so I can move forward through my selections
As a renter, I want to set my language, so that I can communicate better with the landlord
As a renter, I want to send the landlord my documents, so that they can have what they need from me
As a renter, I want to communicate with the landlord, so that I can inform them of needs at the property
As a landlord, I want to view tenants' rental history, so that I know if they are a reliable applicant.
As a landlord, I want to view tenants' references, so that I know what kind of person they are
As a landlord, I want to view tenants' references, so that I know what kind of person they are
What will these flows accomplish?
Piecing together the environment
The tenant profile will inform the user of what their needs and the needs of the landlord are, ensuring they have them when renting in Canada.
Searching rentals is of course a primary flow for any rental app, but here the emphasis will be on providing the user with specific information addressing reliable communication, like including the landlord's spoken language.
Schedule viewing will be the final step, providing the landlord with documents they require of the user, and allowing a point of contact all in one place.
Tenant Profile
Search Rentals
Legend
Schedule Viewing
Refining the user journey
Initial design
Two rounds of user testing made one thing clear: users were getting lost or confused, and this of course is derailing their journey. I turned to popular rental app flows for inspiration, studying how to keep the user naturally guided through a complicated journey.
16 screen excerpt of the first, then second iteration
The next iteration was simpler, with flows like searching for your rental and uploading rental documents being intentionally succinct by completing more with less actions, and avoiding overlap where users can get lost between flows.
Brand development
Creating the environment
The visual appeal should speak to the environment I am trying to cultivate, based on what the user needs in order to succeed. I developed the brand aiming for users to feel informed, equipped and empowered, with accessibility a priority.
Iterating on names, after several rounds of feedback I went with Tenancy - one word to convey intentionality. Here, the rental environment in Canada isn't a scrappy competition, and you feel informed equipped and empowered to find what you need.
Tenancy teaches you how the environment works, and shows you how to work the environment.
How does Tenancy change the rental environment for international Students?
Value Proposition
#1
What do I need? Where do I keep it? What do I do with it?
Tenancy walks you through what you need to get the place you want.
Tenancy on all devices
Responsive web options
Students' most used devices are mobile and desktop, and looking for a place to rent can sometimes require attention at any part of your day. An accompanying Tenancy web app makes Tenancy accessible anywhere you go, whenever you might need it.
Responsive marketing website
Marketing
The process of learning about Tenancy and how it works should be just as simple as using the app itself. A responsive marketing website can show students the steps while reaching them on any device.
Design impacts and future thinking
Important considerations
My current flows address the students - my primary user. Flows addressing landlords need to be crafted.
The verification process too requires a flow, for both parties. In the future I aim to implement more language options, translators for when landlords and students don't speak the same language.
There are a few considerations to think about as well with regards to negative use cases. Tenancy needs a way to combat bad agents who use it for the opposite reason - to avoid international students from becoming their tenants - I intend to implement a review system where past tenants can attest to a landlords good intentions.
With the advent of AI, applications could potentially be created under false pretenses - Tenancy would need a way to verify references, with signatures or phone numbers.
Key learnings and takeaways
What to take to the next project
I've learned that as a designer there will always be this pull to go back and finish something, but the reality is that it won't ever be done. I learned in practice, that design is the art of reduction, and this idea can be applied to the way you think about a product. It's not to be meticulously added to forever, its important to stick to the vision so that you can see it when it becomes visible.
The most rewarding part of designing an end to end project was learning and practicing design thinking around the user's actual experiences at every step like an anchor. It is endlessly insightful and rewarding, and I find myself thinking in this way every day.
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