Detailed Process for ProntoCasa
Qualitative Research
To understand the challenges that families living in Bergamo experienced related to housing, we had one-on-one (online & in-person), 45-minute interviews with 7 Bergamo families.
6
With children
6
Homeowners
3
Expats
Discussion Guide
Our discussion guide focused on open-ended questions about background, family dynamics, housing challenges, community, and resources. We then synthesized these findings by clustering participant information, looking for themes, and then developing insights.
Sample Discussion Guide Questions
Background:
Tell us about yourself and your family.
Tell us about your home and how you came to live there?
Housing challenges:
What are the biggest challenges in your current living situation?
Is there anything you would change about your housing situation?
Research Synthesis
Participant Clustering
We used Miroboard to begin our synthesis and analysis. We focused specifically on challenges, wishes, and user needs.
Themes and Patterns
To help us narrow down what was important, we talked about recurring themes and patterns including trust, community, and maintaining a home.
Insights
Finally, we were able to dig into the motivations and “whys” of the participants and confirm a specific design direction.
Insights
Housing bureaucracy traps families in long delays
due to a lack of transparency, lengthy waiting times, and uncertainty. Navigating complex paperwork, making big financial decisions, and dealing with banks and approvals adds to the frustration and prevents families from creating a stable home environment.
Household service disruptions add daily stress
The lack of reliable household services causes stress, forcing families to depend on DIY solutions or unreliable Google results for childcare, eldercare, and maintenance. When that fails, they turn to word-of-mouth for trusted professionals, but delays make it inadequate for urgent needs.
An extended family network is essential
When traditional family support is geographically distant, new families working and raising children experience a critical vulnerability. The pressure of work and care, compounded by new environment challenges, leaves families feeling overwhelmed, seeking a network that can act akin to a family.
Ideation
We formed “How Might We’s” for each insight and took time to ideate for all of them.
Chosen Insight
Household service disruptions add daily stress- we were able to narrow down our solution when thinking about feasibility, reach, and impact. Additionally, many of the families were struggling with this challenge.
“If the boiler breaks on Saturday, I really wouldn't know who to call... things aren't so streamlined... On Living in Bergamo’s Facebook page, very often you'll see ‘Does anyone know a good plumber?' because we want people that recommend other people.”
Participant
Homeowner, married with three children. Moved to Bergamo from Ireland.
“It is very difficult to find someone who can come for services. There aren't many people who do this work. They are old...or retired... so you ask other people that you know if they know someone...but very difficult, very expensive.”
Participant
Homeowner, married with two children. Moved to Bergamo from Milan.
“There is a big problem in finding people who do these jobs, because if you build a palace, it's easy... you can find the people who are going to take care of these things. If you're focusing on finding people who do the maintenance of little houses, it's very hard to find them.”
Participant
Homeowner, married with two children and 2 cats. Born and raised in Bergamo.
Evaluative Research
We hypothesized that families are seeking a reliable service that connects them with trusted household service professionals. Additionally, showing reviews, verification, and recommendations will help them build trust with the platform and the professionals shown. We had one-on-one (online & in-person), 45-minute interviews with 4 Bergamo families.
4
With children
4
Homeowners
2
Expats
Solution and Trust Building
For our chosen solution, we decided to create an app that connects Bergamo families to local professionals that they can trust & book to help them with household services they may need, to maintain their home for their family.
We heard again and again during the interviews that trust was crucial in finding and choosing a service provider. People wanted recommendations from people they knew. As a result, we decided to create a feature where people can see if any of their phone contacts used a specific professional under the “Recommended by” section. We also wanted to ensure that all professionals on the platform are verified and that they had visible reviews from others.
Mid-Fi Prototyping
When it came to service providers, we knew from our interviews that families in Bergamo wanted competent professionals they can trust (ideally recommendations from people they know) and hypothesized that the information in our mid-fi prototype will help instill trust in the professionals shown.
We asked users to imagine that they were searching for a plumber to help them
We focused mainly on the professional results page, since trust was important. We asked users what stood out and how they would go about choosing a professional.
We asked users if there was any other information they’d want to see or change on the professional’s profile page.
Research Findings
Trust in professionals
When it came to building trust with the professionals, participants cared that the pros were verified (although they didn’t know what it meant), had recommendations, and had reviews. They figured that being verified meant their licenses were checked or a background check was completed and figured recommendations meant that others who used them liked them.
Choosing a professional
When it came to choosing a professional, participants focused on distance first and then pricing, as long as the pro had a good rating. They did not use the experience field to make a decision.
Many also brought up the question of urgent situations. They wanted to know how quickly they’d get back to them or if they can somehow indicate an urgent situation.
Professional profile page
On the profile page, many wanted the opportunity to message or call the professional. This was important for pricing, sharing details, or communicating around any potential schedule changes. They ideally wanted to hear from the professional as they were arriving or if they can expect any changes.
Hi-Fi Prototyping
Based on learnings from the research, I started creating hi-fi prototypes and experimented with different layouts.
I experimented with labels above the pros on the search page, but ultimately decided that it was too much information and might not be relevant depending on the user’s needs.
I also experimented with displaying the information of each pro vertically. This was a difficult decision to make as I felt both options had pros and cons. I ultimately decided that the photo didn’t need so much real estate and it was easier to read information from left to right.
I also experimented with price placement/size and the titles above each section.
Additionally, I tested different ways to display the profile page and the reviews. Because the “Hired by” section is unlike the others, I decided that it made sense to highlight in a different color, which is why I moved forward with my current iteration.
I drew inspiration from similar apps like TaskRabbit, Thumbtack, and even Rover since they listed trusted professionals. I liked that Thumbtack provided the ability to call and message the professional and was drawn to how Rover simplified the pro’s capabilities.
TaskRabbit does exist in Bergamo. However, users found it too expensive and too focused on furniture building.