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Resident Portal Redesign
Redesigning The Epic's resident portal for better resident services and property management
TIMELINE
February 1-14,2023
MY ROLE
UX Design, UI Design
TOOLS
Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator
THE STORY
Waking up to the maintenance workers knocking on my door is definitely a frustrating way to begin my day. However, there was no option for me to select my preferred times on the portal. After experiencing delays, setbacks, and challenges in communicating with the building's management team, I had an epiphany - what if I could take this initiative and redesign the portal's interface to make it more user-friendly and something residents can actually enjoy?
WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?
The current portal is outdated in design.
To improve the portal's usability and user experience, I conducted a thorough site audit of its design, content structure, and functionality. However, I was disappointed to find that the portal's design, usability, and content structure were outdated and reminiscent of the early 2010s. The interface lacked essential features, a clear visual hierarchy, and intuitive navigation, making it difficult for residents to locate the features they needed to request services seamlessly.
The current portal design
THE SOLUTION
Develop a portal that prioritizes user-friendliness, enhances community engagement, and provides an intuitive experience for residents, resulting in an enjoyable and efficient user experience.
Revised portal design
TALKING WITH RESIDENTS
What do residents think?
To get ideas on the functionality & usability of the portal, I wanted to gather feedback to understand user experiences and their issues.
Question: What problems or pain points do residents have when trying to use portal to request services or facilitate management communication?
No feedback
"I didn't know if there was any progress on my requests. The portal felt "one-way" to me." - Sarah Meina
"It was hard to maintain efficient communication with the management through the portal because the system was very outdated." - Nikita Ko
Hard navigation
"I just feel that it's easier to ask them in person rather than going on the portal to do the extra work since it was so hard to find information I need." - Robert Lee
Inefficient communication
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE PROBLEM
IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
Issue # 1 - Lack of Necessary Functionality
Effective communication is crucial for managing residents, yet the portal's limited communication options made it challenging to maintain efficient communication. The platform only offered a single page of contact links that were outside the portal, leaving no direct channel of communication with management.
Opportunity: Implementing a "chatbox" in the portal to facilitate fast & easy communication.
Additionally, residents were unable to specify a preferred time when requesting repairs, and there was no easy way to track the progress of submitted requests.
Opportunity: Adding a time preference option and a page to show the request status.
Issue # 2 - Poor Visual Hierarchy
The current homepage lacks a clear visual hierarchy, presenting an overwhelming number of options that fill half the page with feature boxes of the same size, without an efficient use of layout. Additionally, there are several elements on the homepage that do not contribute much value.
Opportunity: Reorganize elements with efficient use of whitespace, highlight the most essential features through organizing the information hierarchy
Issue # 3 - Complicated navigation
Navigating through the website was challenging due to its layout, and it often required multiple clicks to reach the desired page.
Opportunity: Restructure the user flow and make it as easy as possible. (ex: 3 click rule)
WHAT WAS VALUABLE...WHAT WAS NOT?
To improve the portal's information architecture and determine which functionalities should stay, be relocated, or eliminated, a card sorting session was conducted with two residents. This session involved organizing the portal's features based on their value and relevance to the website's overall information architecture.
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The card sorting session involved organizing the portal's features based on the residents' likelihood of using them and identifying the features they felt should be removed from the portal. Through this process, a pattern emerged indicating that residents mainly utilized resident services, such as repair requests, paying rent, and checking deliveries.
I then categorized those insights into 3 main features that were most important for residents
Resident Services
Repair requests, Delivery, Amenity Reservations, Pay rent, management communication
Community Dashboard
Community marketplace, needs, discussions, events, pet parks
Building Information
Building information, Contacts, Documentations
REORGANIZING EVERYTHING
Streamlining the portal
Recognizing the importance of a streamlined resident portal experience, I used the results from the card sorting session to reorganize the portal's information architecture and how contents are presented. The goal was to ensure that users enjoy their experience when visiting the portal.
LEVELING UP: THE NEW PORTAL
Home
The portal's homepage will display announcements, deliveries, and maintenance requests for easy access
Chat inbox feature will be implemented to enable messaging between residents and management
Rent and utility information will be prominently displayed, requiring no more than a single click to access
Resident Services
Residents will be able to check deliveries, assign front desk instructions, request repair, and reserve amenities all from a single page, providing a streamlined experience requiring only a few clicks to access what they need.
Community
Our community dashboard is designed to help you connect and engage with your neighbors by participating in building events, introducing your furry friends to new pets, and exploring nearby places recommended by the management.
Building Library
Newly designed portal offers a convenient place for residents to access important building information and contact details for management. You can easily view documentation related to your move-in records, lease agreement, insurance, and other relevant information.
LESSONS LEARNED
Don't be afraid to improvise
This was a quick project done in a span of 2 weeks. However, this project, inspired by a problem I personally experienced, allowed me to learn a lot as I created a "design sprint" of my own. I had to outline milestones and prioritize my tasks. My biggest takeaway is that I shouldn't be afraid to improvise and adapt to obstacles in the design process. The most challenging part for me was figuring out how to reconstruct the information architecture of the old portal since it was so complex. I overcame the challenge by drafting out what residents look for the most and synthesizing all functions into several key categories. I enjoyed putting on the design thinking hat myself and redesigning existing elements to make my life easier. I am excited to share this with other residents and the management team to see if residents could navigate through the redesigned portal with ease and enjoy the process.
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