Home Hunt is an apartment rental app prototype designed in Balsamiq. It helps users search for apartments, view details and 3D walkthroughs, report maintenance issues, and manage shared living with roommates.
📌 This project was approached as a full UX case study, from critique and concept to prototyping, user testing, and iteration.
Inspiration & Problem Space:
Renting and sharing an apartment involves many fragmented tools, including map search apps, separate payment portals, email chains for maintenance, and shared calendars for roommates. This creates friction and wasted time.
Goal:
Explore how an integrated mobile app could streamline the renter’s journey from apartment search to daily living.
Solution:
Home Hunt consolidates apartment discovery, touring, issue reporting, rent management, and roommate coordination into one app. The prototype was built in Balsamiq to quickly test usability and design patterns before high-fidelity design.
-
Map Search for Apartments
- Interactive map + list view
- Pins display apartment details and contact info
- Search filters: location, bedrooms, bathrooms, price, pets
-
Apartment Details & 3D Walkthrough
- Floorplan filters (bedrooms, rent)
- Photo gallery and interactive 3D virtual tour
- Rich detail view with amenities and specifications
-
Report Issues / Maintenance Requests
- Form with required fields, room number, description, and optional image upload
- Track open vs. resolved issues
- Re-open or resolve tickets from a central “My Issues” view
-
Roommate Support Tools
- View roommate info
- Shared calendar with notes
- Rent ledger with payment history + “Pay Now” feature
- Chores tab for weekly assignments and editing
- Interactive Components: radio buttons, checkboxes, dropdowns, modals, slideshows
- Navigation: bottom navigation bar, breadcrumb navigation
- Layouts: vertical stacking, card-based results, generous borders for mobile usability
- Consistency: shared base template ensured cohesion across modules
We conducted in-person usability testing with multiple participants.
Positive feedback:
- Clear filtering and map visualization
- Gallery and 3D walkthrough felt immersive and helpful
- Icons and large touch targets supported quick navigation
Pain points:
- Lack of “back”/“cancel” buttons led to navigation confusion
- Uploading images for maintenance wasn’t intuitive
- Calendar notes and chores lacked clarity in presentation
- Missing trust features (ratings/reviews for apartments)
Lessons learned:
- Always provide visible “escape routes” (back/cancel)
- Align system feedback with user expectations (labels like “Upload” vs. “Open”)
- Small trust signals (reviews, confirmation modals) significantly improve decision-making confidence
- Interaction Design: High fidelity (complex flows, multiple interaction types)
- Information & Visual Design: Medium fidelity (consistent, but branding not fully refined)
- Editorial Content: High fidelity (realistic content and imagery)
Inspired by:
- Google Maps → map pins, smooth zoom/scroll
- Apartments.com → card layouts, infinite scrolling, virtual tours
Strengths:
Cohesive navigation, diverse interactive elements, realistic task flows.
Next Steps:
Refine visual branding, add advanced filters, and improve communication features (notifications, confirmations).
- balsamiq_prototype_report.pdf - Case study report, including task flows, wireframes, design patterns, user testing, and lessons learned.
- balsamiq_prototype.pdf - Interactive Balsamiq prototype file.