Knot

Knot

Knot

Living with roommates can cause some tension - let us help iron out some of those knots! Knot is a roommate communication and task app that helps ease some of the uncomfortable confrontation that can come with living in a shared space.

Living with roommates can cause some tension - let us help iron out some of those knots! Knot is a roommate communication and task app that helps ease some of the uncomfortable confrontation that can come with living in a shared space.

Living with roommates can cause some tension - let us help iron out some of those knots! Knot is a roommate communication and task app that helps ease some of the uncomfortable confrontation that can come with living in a shared space.

Project

Group Course Project

with Emily Lin, Rueyu July Qi, Airu Ivy Zhang, Natalie Zhu

Brown University

CSCI 0130: User Interfaces and User Interfaces

Project

Group Course Project

with Emily Lin, Rueyu July Qi, Airu Ivy Zhang, Natalie Zhu

Brown University

CSCI 0130: User Interfaces and User Interfaces

Project

Group Course Project

with Emily Lin, Rueyu July Qi, Airu Ivy Zhang, Natalie Zhu

Brown University

CSCI 0130: User Interfaces and User Interfaces

Skills

User research, sketching, wireframing, prototyping, user-testing

Skills

User research, sketching, wireframing, prototyping, user-testing

Skills

User research, sketching, wireframing, prototyping, user-testing

*this will denote my specific contributions

*this will denote my specific contributions

Timeline

Mar 2023 - May 2023

Timeline

Mar 2023 - May 2023

Timeline

Mar 2023 - May 2023

Premise

Premise

Premise

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had to share a room with my sister, who had the same pile of clothes on her chair all throughout high school - I swear. When I got to college, I assumed it wouldn’t be all that different . . . except it was worse.


My first roommate’s desk was home to a month’s worth of moldy leftovers, until my suitemates made me a makeshift hazmat suit to dispose of the odorized toxic waste.


My second roommate gifted me with violin concerts every night . . . during my midterm week, until I finally bought myself a pair of $300 noise-cancelling-headache-inducing headphones.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had to share a room with my sister, who had the same pile of clothes on her chair all throughout high school - I swear. When I got to college, I assumed it wouldn’t be all that different . . . except it was worse.


My first roommate’s desk was home to a month’s worth of moldy leftovers, until my suitemates made me a makeshift hazmat suit to dispose of the odorized toxic waste.


My second roommate gifted me with violin concerts every night . . . during my midterm week, until I finally bought myself a pair of $300 noise-cancelling-headache-inducing headphones.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had to share a room with my sister, who had the same pile of clothes on her chair all throughout high school - I swear. When I got to college, I assumed it wouldn’t be all that different . . . except it was worse.


My first roommate’s desk was home to a month’s worth of moldy leftovers, until my suitemates made me a makeshift hazmat suit to dispose of the odorized toxic waste.


My second roommate gifted me with violin concerts every night . . . during my midterm week, until I finally bought myself a pair of $300 noise-cancelling-headache-inducing headphones.

I ended up being best friends with my first roommate, so it’s definitely a blessing in disguise sometimes - but getting past the disguise can be hard. I struggled to advocate for my needs, and I traded the comfort of a living space I deserved for the comfort of non-confrontation.

I ended up being best friends with my first roommate, so it’s definitely a blessing in disguise sometimes - but getting past the disguise can be hard. I struggled to advocate for my needs, and I traded the comfort of a living space I deserved for the comfort of non-confrontation.

I ended up being best friends with my first roommate, so it’s definitely a blessing in disguise sometimes - but getting past the disguise can be hard. I struggled to advocate for my needs, and I traded the comfort of a living space I deserved for the comfort of non-confrontation.

Preliminary Research

Preliminary Research

Preliminary Research

Context

Context

Context

What contributes to the experience of living with a roommate?

What contributes to the experience of living with a roommate?

What contributes to the experience of living with a roommate?

We conducted interviews and surveys on young adults in college to find out what some of their living preferences are.

We conducted interviews and surveys on young adults in college to find out what some of their living preferences are.

We conducted interviews and surveys on young adults in college to find out what some of their living preferences are.

Roommate relationships:

Trends in communication:

Incompatibilities:

Frequent general communication BUT

low communication on habits and schedules

Only ~30% participants cited an intervention YET

every participant noted passive frustrations

“I am just afraid of confrontation generally, especially if I don’t know the person very well. I am also just not the best at vocalizing my concerns, it takes a lot of energy for me to initiate the conversation, let alone having the interaction to begin with.”

“I find it awkward to talk about and being fully open and honest is hard. I don’t want to offend anyone or anything. Better if I know what I say won’t be taken to heart. For example, if I want her to clean something better, I don’t want her to mistake it for her personality and blow up.”

z

z

Sleep schedules

Chore distribution and reminders

Guests

Schedule

Space share

Friends

Randomly assigned by school

Mutually looking for roommate

Roommate relationships:

Trends in communication:

Incompatibilities:

Frequent general communication BUT

low communication on habits and schedules

Only ~30% participants cited an intervention YET

every participant noted passive frustrations

“I am just afraid of confrontation generally, especially if I don’t know the person very well. I am also just not the best at vocalizing my concerns, it takes a lot of energy for me to initiate the conversation, let alone having the interaction to begin with.”

“I find it awkward to talk about and being fully open and honest is hard. I don’t want to offend anyone or anything. Better if I know what I say won’t be taken to heart. For example, if I want her to clean something better, I don’t want her to mistake it for her personality and blow up.”

z

z

Sleep schedules

Chore distribution and reminders

Guests

Schedule

Space share

Friends

Randomly assigned by school

Mutually looking for roommate

Roommate relationships:

Trends in communication:

Incompatibilities:

Frequent general communication BUT

low communication on habits and schedules

Only ~30% participants cited an intervention YET

every participant noted passive frustrations

“I am just afraid of confrontation generally, especially if I don’t know the person very well. I am also just not the best at vocalizing my concerns, it takes a lot of energy for me to initiate the conversation, let alone having the interaction to begin with.”

“I find it awkward to talk about and being fully open and honest is hard. I don’t want to offend anyone or anything. Better if I know what I say won’t be taken to heart. For example, if I want her to clean something better, I don’t want her to mistake it for her personality and blow up.”

z

z

Sleep schedules

Chore distribution and reminders

Guests

Schedule

Space share

Friends

Randomly assigned by school

Mutually looking for roommate

Problem Space

Problem Space

Problem Space

How can we help non-confrontational young adults establish comfort and responsibility in their shared living spaces?

How can we help non-confrontational young adults establish comfort and responsibility in their shared living spaces?

How can we help non-confrontational young adults establish comfort and responsibility in their shared living spaces?

Personas

Personas

Personas

To further understand the user base, we created personas representing both those who may benefit from the platform in an emotionally-relieving way and those who may simply benefit from it organizationally.

To further understand the user base, we created personas representing both those who may benefit from the platform in an emotionally-relieving way and those who may simply benefit from it organizationally.

To further understand the user base, we created personas representing both those who may benefit from the platform in an emotionally-relieving way and those who may simply benefit from it organizationally.

Non-confrontational Nala

Non-confrontational Nala

Non-confrontational Nala

Nala is a pretty shy girl who struggles to communicate her boundaries and requests to her roommate, leading her to suffer quietly and feel a lot of discomfort in her living space.

*Serves as main target audience, the “sender”

Nala is a pretty shy girl who struggles to communicate her boundaries and requests to her roommate, leading her to suffer quietly and feel a lot of discomfort in her living space.

*Serves as main target audience, the “sender”

Nala is a pretty shy girl who struggles to communicate her boundaries and requests to her roommate, leading her to suffer quietly and feel a lot of discomfort in her living space.

*Serves as main target audience, the “sender”

Busy Beatrix

Busy Beatrix

Busy Beatrix

Bea lives with her friends and is swarmed! From nocturnal study seshes to late-night networking parties, her schedule is jam packed. Unfortunately, this makes communicating with her roommates quite difficult.

*Serves as secondary target audience, the “receiver”

Bea lives with her friends and is swarmed! From nocturnal study seshes to late-night networking parties, her schedule is jam packed. Unfortunately, this makes communicating with her roommates quite difficult.

*Serves as secondary target audience, the “receiver”

Bea lives with her friends and is swarmed! From nocturnal study seshes to late-night networking parties, her schedule is jam packed. Unfortunately, this makes communicating with her roommates quite difficult.

*Serves as secondary target audience, the “receiver”

Lo-fi

Lo-fi

Lo-fi

We then moved onto developing a design that focused on friendliness!

We then moved onto developing a design that focused on friendliness!

We then moved onto developing a design that focused on friendliness!

Sketching

Sketching

Sketching

We had a lot of overlapping features amongst our sketches, but our final set ended up following the layout of these initial screens from Natalie with elements of each of our sketches (i.e. dashboard separation and checklist format, multiple schedules, etc.)

Final Sketches

We had a lot of overlapping features amongst our sketches, but our final set ended up following the layout of these initial screens from Natalie with elements of each of our sketches (i.e. dashboard separation and checklist format, multiple schedules, etc.)

Final Sketches

Storyboarding

Storyboarding

Storyboarding

We envisioned how our app might affect roommates Non-Confrontational Nala and Busy Beatrix through this scene:

We envisioned how our app might affect roommates Non-Confrontational Nala and Busy Beatrix through this scene:

We envisioned how our app might affect roommates Non-Confrontational Nala and Busy Beatrix through this scene:

Wireframing

Wireframing

Wireframing

From our sketches, we moved on to creating our app layout in wireframes.

From our sketches, we moved on to creating our app layout in wireframes.

From our sketches, we moved on to creating our app layout in wireframes.

Iterations

Iterations

Personas

Dashboard

Dashboard

Dashboard

scroll→

Requests

Our Tasks

Schedule

Requests

scroll→

Our Tasks

Our Tasks

Schedule

Schedule

Profile

Profile

Dashboard

Iterations

Requests

Our Tasks

Schedule

Profile

Visual Design

Visual Design

Visual Design

scroll→

Knot’s main goal is making our users feel comfortable, which meant it was imperative that our style was friendly - so, meet our little mascot! It’s a logo of two roommates joined together, but it’s also the little character that asks you for a request; it takes some of the pressure off receiving an ambiguously-toned text, and incorporates an air of approachability.

Knot’s main goal is making our users feel comfortable, which meant it was imperative that our style was friendly - so, meet our little mascot! It’s a logo of two roommates joined together, but it’s also the little character that asks you for a request; it takes some of the pressure off receiving an ambiguously-toned text, and incorporates an air of approachability.

Knot’s main goal is making our users feel comfortable, which meant it was imperative that our style was friendly - so, meet our little mascot! It’s a logo of two roommates joined together, but it’s also the little character that asks you for a request; it takes some of the pressure off receiving an ambiguously-toned text, and incorporates an air of approachability.

Hi-fi

Hi-fi

Hi-fi

Dashboard

Our Tasks

Profile

Schedule

Requests

Accept/Decline

Send

Dashboard

Our Tasks

Profile

Schedule

Requests

Accept/Decline

Send

Requests

Accept/Decline

Send

Dashboard

Our Tasks

Profile

Schedule

Requests

Accept/Decline

Send

Prototype I

Prototype I

Prototype I

User Testing

User Testing

User Testing

Preparations

Preparations

Preparations

• Using the prototype above, tested in class on 4 peers

• Prompted with background questions

• Tasked to explore, accept/decline requests, and send requests

• Using the prototype above, tested in class on 4 peers

• Prompted with background questions

• Tasked to explore, accept/decline requests, and send requests

• Using the prototype above, tested in class on 4 peers

• Prompted with background questions

• Tasked to explore, accept/decline requests, and send requests

Analysis

Changes Made

1.

All users: Feedback

Users were confused where Requests and Task went after accepting

Added pop-up

2.

2 in 4 users: Consistency

Actionable icons and features changed position per on the page.

Made features more distinct

3.

2 in 4 users: Categorization

How is a request determined to be a task or reminder?

Task/Reminder as

well as type is predetermined

by sender

4.

1 in 4 users: Incomplete Feature

Confused how to quickly update status

Added pop-up accessible by Dashboard and Profile

5.

1 in 4 users: Icon Recognizability

Request icon isn’t really understandable

Added pop-up accessible by Dashboard and Profile

Analysis

Changes Made

1.

All users: Feedback

Users were confused where Requests and Task went after accepting

Added pop-up

2.

2 in 4 users: Consistency

Actionable icons and features changed position per on the page.

Made features more distinct

3.

2 in 4 users: Categorization

How is a request determined to be a task or reminder?

Task/Reminder as

well as type is predetermined

by sender

4.

1 in 4 users: Incomplete Feature

Confused how to quickly update status

Added pop-up accessible by Dashboard and Profile

5.

1 in 4 users: Icon Recognizability

Request icon isn’t really understandable

Added pop-up accessible by Dashboard and Profile

Analysis

Changes Made

1.

All users: Feedback

Users were confused where Requests and Task went after accepting

Added pop-up

2.

2 in 4 users: Consistency

Actionable icons and features changed position per on the page.

Made features more distinct

3.

2 in 4 users: Categorization

How is a request determined to be a task or reminder?

Task/Reminder as

well as type is predetermined

by sender

4.

1 in 4 users: Incomplete Feature

Confused how to quickly update status

Added pop-up accessible by Dashboard and Profile

5.

1 in 4 users: Icon Recognizability

Request icon isn’t really understandable

Added pop-up accessible by Dashboard and Profile

Final Prototype

Final Prototype

Final Prototype

Demo

Demo

Demo

Figma

Figma

Figma

Key Features

Key Features

Key Features

*screen consistency clean-up!

*screen consistency clean-up!

*screen consistency clean-up!

Pop-up for personal status update

Clicking opens up room/suitemates’ profiles and preferences

Horizontal scroll to see only most relevant Reminders

Reminders and Tasks stylistically different

Able to compare different suitemates’ schedules

Included a Recently Completed section in anticipation of slips, if accidentally check off, don’t need to toggle to Task Log

Adding a shared task allows randomization to make sure everyone contributes equally

Swipe to edit

To-Dos

Reminders

Option to add a comment, but full declination helps non-confrontation

Remind after something has been sent

Can send to multiple people

Able to see progress of request

Predetermined if Task or Reminder so receiver can add to Dashboard accordingly

Tags for receiver to see

Various selectable preferences

Dashboard

Pop-up for personal status update

Clicking opens up room/suitemates’ profiles and preferences

Horizontal scroll to see only most relevant Reminders

Reminders and Tasks stylistically different

Schedule

Able to compare different suitemates’ schedules

Our Tasks

Included a Recently Completed section in anticipation of slips, if accidentally check off, don’t need to toggle to Task Log

Adding a shared task allows randomization to make sure everyone contributes equally

Swipe to edit

Requests

To-Dos

Reminders

Option to add a comment, but full declination helps non-confrontation

Remind after something has been sent

Can send to multiple people

Able to see progress of request

Predetermined if Task or Reminder so receiver can add to Dashboard accordingly

Tags for receiver to see

Profile

Various selectable preferences

Dashboard

Pop-up for personal status update

Clicking opens up room/suitemates’ profiles and preferences

Horizontal scroll to see only most relevant Reminders

Reminders and Tasks stylistically different

Schedule

Able to compare different suitemates’ schedules

Our Tasks

Included a Recently Completed section in anticipation of slips, if accidentally check off, don’t need to toggle to Task Log

Adding a shared task allows randomization to make sure everyone contributes equally

Swipe to edit

Requests

To-Dos

Reminders

Option to add a comment, but full declination helps non-confrontation

Remind after something has been sent

Can send to multiple people

Able to see progress of request

Predetermined if Task or Reminder so receiver can add to Dashboard accordingly

Tags for receiver to see

Profile

Various selectable preferences

Reflections

Reflections

Reflections

Main Takeaways

Main Takeaways

Main Takeaways

Foundation work: We were really eager to start, but we skimped out on some of the fundamental ground-layings such as a clear user flow, which led to confusion during the prototyping stage as a result.


The more, the merrier: Working in a team can be difficult to coordinate sometimes, but a huge pro is it showed me how critical proliferation is during the iteration stage. Everyone brought really great ideas to the table, and it helped to have options to choose from!

Foundation work: We were really eager to start, but we skimped out on some of the fundamental ground-layings such as a clear user flow, which led to confusion during the prototyping stage as a result.


The more, the merrier: Working in a team can be difficult to coordinate sometimes, but a huge pro is it showed me how critical proliferation is during the iteration stage. Everyone brought really great ideas to the table, and it helped to have options to choose from!

Foundation work: We were really eager to start, but we skimped out on some of the fundamental ground-layings such as a clear user flow, which led to confusion during the prototyping stage as a result.


The more, the merrier: Working in a team can be difficult to coordinate sometimes, but a huge pro is it showed me how critical proliferation is during the iteration stage. Everyone brought really great ideas to the table, and it helped to have options to choose from!

Future Work & Implications

Future Work & Implications

Future Work & Implications

This project was moreso about teamwork for me than the product. I’d been working on solo projects for a while, so it was really nice to have support from other designers as a change of pace. I was able to get direct feedback and find collaborative compromises, and I had a network to bounce ideas off of. Something I would likely do differently, though, is organization; because we had this network, we had a lot of ideas that were bouncing around, and we struggled to tackle big tasks together; instead, I would probably strengthen our design system so we could really focus on the usability of the features separately.

This project was moreso about teamwork for me than the product. I’d been working on solo projects for a while, so it was really nice to have support from other designers as a change of pace. I was able to get direct feedback and find collaborative compromises, and I had a network to bounce ideas off of. Something I would likely do differently, though, is organization; because we had this network, we had a lot of ideas that were bouncing around, and we struggled to tackle big tasks together; instead, I would probably strengthen our design system so we could really focus on the usability of the features separately.

This project was moreso about teamwork for me than the product. I’d been working on solo projects for a while, so it was really nice to have support from other designers as a change of pace. I was able to get direct feedback and find collaborative compromises, and I had a network to bounce ideas off of. Something I would likely do differently, though, is organization; because we had this network, we had a lot of ideas that were bouncing around, and we struggled to tackle big tasks together; instead, I would probably strengthen our design system so we could really focus on the usability of the features separately.

Made by Fiona with the help of lots of kombucha!

Made by Fiona with the help of lots of kombucha!

Made by Fiona with the help of lots of kombucha!

Made by Fiona with the help of lots of kombucha!

Made by Fiona with the help of lots of kombucha!