Homnox

Kickoff

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To kick off the project, I first reviewed the materials that were provided by our project manager and organized an intro meeting to discuss the project as a team. Homnox is a company that wants to help people create, finance, furnish, and build their dream homes using new 3D construction technology to reduce costs and time. Although Homnox already had a website, the existing website was a minimum viable product that required another design team to bring up to modern design standards. However, this newly designed website was not tested with users. For this project, our team was tasked with conducting user testing to identify usability issues and making further design changes to the website to improve the user experience.

To identify usability issues in the new website, we conducted user testing to ensure that all users were able to complete the 7 user flows that the client prioritized on the website. We first drafted a user testing plan and script and assigned a separate task to each of the user flows. The tasks were:

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1. Create an account and log in from the home page.
2. Learn more about the company.
3. Learn how to build a Homnox home.
4. Learn how to furnish a Homnox home.
5. Explore financing options.
6. Learn about the technology behind 3D house construction.
7. Contact Homnox representatives.

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Next, we created and launched a remote unmoderated usability test in UserTesting.com. We recruited 6 participants who were interested in buying a house or building their own house, were between ages 20 to 50, lived in the United States, and were able to access websites on a laptop or desktop device. From this user testing, we found out that although users reported that the website was well designed and easy to navigate, they were not able to complete tasks 3 and 6 as the original design team intended, which may have been because of the wording of the tasks, the flow of the tasks, or the information architecture of the website. We decided to change the top navigation bar and edit components such as the carousel on the main page to align more closely with how users navigate the website to complete each task. Users also identified some minor issues and provided suggestions, such as wanting more information about the company and about other people’s past experiences with Homnox homes.

Redesign

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Guided by the results from user testing, we made design changes to improve the user experience on the website. For example, our test findings revealed that users were confused by the “Build,” “Furnish,” and “3D Model” options on the top navigation bar, and grouping these options together under a “My Home” dropdown menu that only appeared upon hovering was unintuitive and unnecessarily added an extra step to the user flows. To address this issue, I decided to replace “My Home” with separate “Explore Our Homes” (formerly “Build”), “Shop Furniture” (formerly “Furnish”), and “View 3D Model” (formerly “3D Model”) options so that users are able to more easily understand the options at a glance. I also fixed some minor issues throughout the website with consistency, spacing, and accessibility, including adding dark backgrounds to increase contrast against white text and editing text on the website to match the overall tone and writing style of the website. In addition, we added biographies for the team members on the About Us page, testimonials on the Explore Our Homes page, and short descriptions on the Shop Furniture and Finance pages based on suggestions from the users and client. As a group, we created and updated the carousel and other components throughout the website so that they are more visible and understandable to users.

Prototype

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We connected the pages of the redesigned website to create an interactive prototype to show the client, developers, and other stakeholders how the website would work in practice. This prototype represents the main user flows that were included in user testing.

Before handing off the website to the next team, we annotated our designs in the developer handoff file. We included measurements and helpful notes that may be useful for developers to be aware of while coding the website. In addition, we updated the design system with the new components so that future designers and developers can easily iterate on the website.

This Homnox project was one of the more research-intensive projects that I have contributed to, allowing me to collaborate with a team to put together a testing plan and script and conduct a remote usability study to test an existing prototype. The findings provided me with actionable insights and concrete guidance on how to improve the user experience rather than relying solely on speculation in the early stages of product design without a functional prototype. Being assigned midway into a long-term project was a valuable learning experience that challenged me to adapt to rapidly changing situations. Facilitating group discussions and brainstorming sessions between other designers and the client further contributed to my professional development, as I was able to expand my UX knowledge and professional skill set by learning from their perspectives and experiences.

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By implementing the improvements we made to this website, Homnox will be better positioned to achieve its goal of attracting new customers and increasing the rate of user sign-up. Future enhancements to the website could involve more closely working with the client and developers to fine tune features, conducting additional user research, and iteratively refining the design based on user behavior and evolving industry trends. By continuing to improve the UX, Homnox will be able to create an even more compelling and effective super app to assist house buyers and builders in acquiring their dream houses.