Roommate Searching Tool for Craigslist

Roommate Searching Tool for Craigslist
Group: Siqi Wang, Justin Berner, Elena Duran L. Meghana Battini
Text by Justin Berner

The product is for students who is new to the area does not have a place to live, but are looking to live with new flatmates/roommates. Currently, roommate-hunting websites primarily present a lot of information about the personality of the roommate and the specifics of the apartment, but they provide little information about the dynamics of the neighborhoods in the area. Our user can thus first discover the neighborhoods in which they would feel most content (i.e. a neighborhood with nightlife, restaurants, parks, etc.) before diving into the personalities of possible roommates.

Design Flow:
After deciding whether they are offering or seeking a roommate, the user puts in a range of prices and possible roommates. Then, they go to a map that has circles overlaid it to represent both number of matches (size of circle) and the most salient feature of that neighborhood (color of circle). The user can be taken to a screen where they can choose from a predetermined set of tags to help refine roommates. Once they have a sufficient number of tags, they can go to a new page with a group of circles with photos of prospective roommates. They can then click on the roommate to see a list of social media characteristics (top songs, top photos, mutual friends, etc.) and then from there they can click a button to contact this person.

The desired feeling that the product should evoke would be someone between the classic feeling of craigslist/newspaper browsing for roommates and the more immersive, navigational feel of applications or social media. It should try to take some of the uncertainty out of this process since it is geared towards those who have little-to-no knowledge of the area.

One thought on “Roommate Searching Tool for Craigslist”

  1. The design of the app can draw more inspiration from match-making experiences(dating-like app), cooking app(choose your diet) and fitness app(goal, timeline setting), and less inspiration from a traditional house-hunting app.

    The next step could be to nail down one signature experience, that makes interacting with the ‘dense’ information fun.

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