INEST - Mobile APP

For my Digital Design module, I developed INest, a UI/UX case study tackling the challenges of student housing. The app helps students aged 18–35 easily find affordable rooms or roommates with trust, accuracy, and convenience.

My Approach:

• Research & Insights: Reviewed the 2023 National Student Accommodation Survey, competitor analysis, and conducted user interviews to uncover pain points—expensive rent, misleading listings, lack of verified roommates, and poor multilingual support.

• Human-Centered Design: Built personas (room-seeker and roommate-seeker), empathy maps, and detailed user journeys to highlight struggles like booking anxiety, trust gaps, and complex payment processes.

• UX Process: Applied design thinking (empathize → define → ideate → prototype → test). Created sketches, card sorting, information architecture, and both low-fi & hi-fi wireframes leading to a Figma prototype.

• Brand Identity & UI: Defined INest as “a secure nest for students.” Crafted a clean identity with Poppins typography and a blue + orange palette—blue for trust/reliability, orange for energy/accessibility. Designed logo, icons, and consistent UI elements.

• Prototype & Testing: Developed an interactive Figma prototype including verified listings, real-time availability, roommate matching, secure payments, virtual tours, multilingual options, and personalized assistance. Tested with students (Alex & Aisha) whose feedback validated features and suggested future improvements (reviews, rent payment integration, safety highlights).
   

Outcome:

INest positions itself as a trusted, student-first housing companion—a centralized platform where students can easily find safe, affordable accommodation and compatible roommates. By blending research-driven insights, empathetic design, and scalable features, INest demonstrates how digital design can directly tackle real social issues while delivering a seamless, reliable, and supportive housing journey for students worldwide.