First, let's check out the final design!

THE SOLUTION

In the video below, you can see the user flow for adding a tool on NeighborTools.

Problem Statement

Our Solution

Many people have tools sitting unused at home, but finding a convenient way to share them for occasional use, while also benefiting the community and environment, can be challenging. This is often due to logistical challenges and concerns about trust, which can complicate the process of lending securely and easily.

Our app provides a user-friendly platform that simplifies tool lending within communities. By connecting lenders with borrowers securely and conveniently, we facilitate a seamless sharing experience. Features like comprehensive rating and review system, detailed tool descriptions, and secure payment options ensure trust and reliability. Our goal is to promote community cooperation, reduce environmental impact, and empower individuals to earn from their unused tools effortlessly.

So, how did we get to the final product?

Voice of The Interviewees

In a semi-structured interview with a group of 8 individuals, we endeavored to explore their willingness to lend their spare tools. To find the interviewees I posted in our neighborhood Facebook group and asked if people are interested to do the interview. My objective was to identifying their pain points and concerns in this process by delving into their past experiences and apprehensions regarding lending.

DISCOVER

"Sometimes it's not easy for me to trust someone who wants to borrow my tools, especially electronic tools."

"One of my worries is that someone might reserve my tools and then cancel them right before the scheduled time."

"I think setting a reasonable price for my tools is not an easy task. It's going to be challenging for me."

"I like the idea of sharing my tools, but sometimes people don't handle them responsibly."

"being able to rate borrowers helps me to provide feedback on their reliability and responsibility, ensuring a safe and trustworthy lending process."

"I appreciate the concept of tool-sharing, though it can be disappointing when people don't treat them with care. I had a really bad experience in the past with my neighbor."

It started with interviews

Then, we analyzed the competitors to gather inspiration.

We decided to understand our competitors. We tried to go through the below apps and had 3 main goals while conducting competitive analysis:

1. To analyze what features these apps are offering to solve customer needs.

2. To get inspiration for the user interface design and identify existing design patterns that users might be familiar with.

3. To identify possible pain points and what’s missing with respect to the user experience and interface.

We also analyzed Facebook Marketplace, a strong peer-to-peer platform, and Airbnb, a successful app for sharing personal properties. By studying their design and user experience, we gained valuable insights to enhance our own product’s user experience.

Analyzing and weighting our insights

After doing interview and analyzing our competitors in order to connect with more people and validate our findings we decided to design a survey. We received a total of 102 responses. Here are the most important factors for people who want to rent their tools, based on the percentage of participants who mentioned each factor:

of participants rely on the review and rating system to trust someone or something.

of participants were looking for verified user profiles and identifications to trust more easily.

of participants prioritize insurance / eecurity deposit .

of participants emphasize clear terms and conditions .

83%

of participants expressed concerns about secure payment and transactions.

83%

72%

56%

54%

Research Insights

Defining Design Principals

Core value that needed a boost

Ensure that tool owners feel secure and confident when lending their tools to encourage more community engagement and participation.

Streamline the tool lending process to make it simple and user-friendly for tool owners, including clear and transparent pricing guidance.

Incorporate insurance, protection options, and a reliable rating and review system to build trust and enhance the overall lending experience.

01

02

03

Based on our research, we identified a user persona and brought it to life with visual, to ensure always kept in mind who we were designing for and could easily see what features were needed to make this product useful for our target audience.

Mapping user journey

Who we are designing for?

With the user stories and features requirements from the project brief in mind, we developed a user flow diagram to ideate and visualize what screens and interactions users would go through whilst using the website.

DEFINE

Uncertainty regarding Insurance and tool protection against potential damage or loss for owner.

Challenge

Concern regarding fraudulent activity and trustworthiness.

Owners faced uncertainty in determining the appropriate pricing for their rentals.

After thoroughly researching and understanding our users' needs and problems, we brainstormed solutions to address their concerns in our design. Here are the options we've come up with:

User needs and potential design solutions

DEVELOP

Challenge

Challenge

It was a iterative design process

We iteratively created and tested wireframes and interactive prototypes to refine our design. By conducting testing in 2 rounds, we ensured that our final product met the needs of our user persona.

ITERATE

Here is the iterative design process for 'Choosing Category'.

'Describing Item'

'My Listing Page'

'My Listing Page'

Defining the visual journey: UI Kit & Mood Board

"In crafting a high-fidelity interface for NeighbourTools, we began by creating a mood board that reflects the primary objectives and desired emotions identified by stakeholders. This initial step helps us in setting the visual tone and overall style for the interface.

Mood Board

UI Kit

The contrast between the foreground and background colors of the primary and secondary buttons was tested on websites that test color blindness, to ensure its acceptableness.

Ensuring Color Accessibility For All Users

DELIVER

What I learned

• Effective communication with team members and lead challenging situations

• When designing, it's important to strike a balance between meeting users' needs and aligning with stakeholders' marketing strategies.

• The project taught me a valuable lesson: instead of fixating on being right from the start, it's more crucial to embrace the iterative learning process and adapt as you go along.

Next Steps

• Finalizing the mobile version of platform.

• Evaluate the current design by doing more user experience testing.

• Think about the solution for the time when it comes to tools becoming outdated or less utilized over time.

• Enable owner-managed shipping options.

• Change the list item to begin with uploading photos. The app will then suggest a bunch of related categories. Based on the selected category, additional boxes will pop out asking for more information.