︎
akahn430@gmail.com
San Francisco, CA
Austin Kahn

Role

I led the redesign of the core flow of our platform from concept to release. This involved talking to users, working with internal stakeholders, ideation and design refinement, and working with our engineering team.

Project

Home - Lot Compatibility Redesign
August, 2022

Background

Homebuyers were not able to confidently choose a home and lot online because it is unclear if combinations were compatible

background

Direction Development

How might we help homebuyers find a compatible home and lot pairing?

user-insights image

Lack of Freedom to Explore

A linear flow restriction exploration of home-lot combinations.

user-insights image

Unclear Compatibility

Homebuyers had to research lot setbacks and zoning requirements on their own.

user-insights image

Visualization

Homebuyers had struggled to imagine a given home on a given lot.

Technology Development

Working with the engineering team, we developed an automated home-lot compatibility engine that evaluates land and compares each house footprint to assess compatibility.

techdev

Home-Lot Compatibility Engine

Using technology, we created the possibility for homebuyers to understand what can be built on each piece of land available via the MLS.

Exploring Tradeoffs

I designed and prototyped an experience allowing users to browse both lots and homes and assess compatibility between the two.

conclusions image

Guided

A linear flow to reduce the ambiguity of the process.

conclusions image

Browsable

Scrollable content of homes, lots, and combinations.

conclusions image

Exploring Homes and Lots

Mixing and matching homes and lots in once place.

conclusions image

Exploring Combinations

A visual representation of homes on compatible lots.

Prototyping and User Testing

I designed and prototyped an experience allowing users to browse both lots and homes and assess compatibility between the two.

prototiping
User Feedback
Feedback image
New users Overwhelming
Evaluating both homes and lots at the same time turned out to be too much content for one screen.
Feedback image
Existing users Lack of Guidence
Homebuyers wanted more help in narrowing down selections to final home-lot pairings.

Features & Functions

Based on user feedback, I shifted the home page to focus on land and created a separate Catalog page for home browsing.
Focusing the main page on Land Lots are time-sensitive and the grounding piece of browsing experience. When a lot first comes on the market, homebuyers must be ready to move forward quickly and with intention

Dedicated space for home browsing

A focused experience on home preferences, details, and exploration separates the complex process into bite-sized pieces.

laptop
laptop

Bringing Together Homes & Lots

When a lot comes on the market, user can quickly see if any of the homes they like are buildable on that lot.

Final Outcomes

increase Lots Saved: +20%

Shifting the attention of the home page to focus on land allowed users an easier entry point to look for lots.

increase Combinations Saved: +30%

Displaying only saved houses on the home page made it easier for homebuyers to combine lots and homes.

mobile

Mobile Browsing Experience

January, 2023