Room Magnet
Room Magnet was a university-sponsored senior capstone project developed in partnership with a real startup founder. The goal was to design and build an accessible digital marketplace that connects homeowners with available living space to individuals seeking affordable housing, while fostering trusted relationships through shared responsibilities and community.
Working alongside another UX designer and a multidisciplinary team of six software developers, we took the product from initial discovery and user research to a fully functional, implemented Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Our solution was recognized as one of the Top 3 Capstone Projects among our class.
Role | Timeline | Client | Team | Responsibilities
UX Designer/Researcher | 2020 | Room Magnet Start Up | UX - Developers - Stakeholders | UX Design - UX Research
Foundation
Finding affordable housing often requires compromising on cost, convenience, or trust. Existing platforms lacked a way to connect homeowners and tenants interested in flexible living arrangements built around affordability, shared responsibilities, and community. The challenge was designing a platform that made these unconventional living arrangements feel intuitive, trustworthy, and accessible for a wide range of users.
Design Process
Discover
-Meet with stakeholders to establish requirements
-Conduct user interviews
-Complete competitive analysis
-Create user personas and stories
Design
-Establish information architecture
-Create design guide
-Low and high fidelity wireframes
Validate
-Demonstrations with stakeholders
-Iterative designs
-Provide design guidance throughout development
User Personas
Design Guide & Information Architecture
Wireframes
Impact
Room Magnet was the first project where I experienced what it truly means to build a product as part of a cross-functional team. Collaborating daily with six software developers gave me a deeper appreciation for the importance of communication, working together to figure out a beautiful but feasible solution. Not everyone thinks in terms of UX or sees problems and solutions in the same way I do and it is important to not only collaborate but to advocate for the user and user centric design.
It was also my first opportunity to work directly with a real client stakeholder. One of the most valuable lessons I learned was that successful UX often requires balancing stakeholder goals, business priorities, technical constraints, and user needs. There were moments when the desired solution wasn't necessarily the best experience for users, and learning how to navigate those conversations has been so crucial in my career.
The strongest solutions emerge when people are willing to listen as much as they create.