66%
A heads-up matters.
Preferred advance notice when a roommate brings someone home.
Design response ↘
Make guest expectations a visible part of the profile.
Independent project / UX·UI & illustrationShared living, with character.
A little personality.Life with MayaQuiet evenings ☾Weekend cooking ♡Guests with notice ✓
Room for
being you.
being you.
THE CASE, AT A GLANCE
Find a room through the people you might live with.
How can a room search make everyday living expectations easier to discuss?
- My contribution
- Independent · Research, UX/UI & original illustration
- What you can explore
- Room and roommate discovery · Mobile concept
Evidence & next validation
What this builds onOriginal survey: 53 participants. Recruitment and study context still need confirmation; the revised flow has not been tested.
The next question to testCan someone use the living-habit prompts to start a useful conversation before a viewing? This is a proposed test, not a completed study.
Open the project source ↗ (opens a new tab)01 / The ideaMore than a room search
A room is only
half the story.
Finding somewhere to live also means finding someone to live with.
Rent explores a more personal way for recent graduates to find a shared home. Alongside price and location, it brings the everyday things into view: guests, cleaning, pets and the rhythm of a household.
I brought research, UX/UI and a family of 16 hand-drawn characters together to make those conversations easier to start.
- My role
- Independent research
UX/UI design
Original illustration - The product
- Room & roommate discovery
Mobile app concept - This edition
- 2026 interface & presentation revisit
One home. Different lives.
Find the space.
Meet the person.
02 / The insightOriginal survey · 53 participants
The little things
aren’t so little.
A guest arriving unexpectedly. A disagreement left unsaid. The survey pointed me toward making shared-living expectations visible before a viewing.
77%
Talk through the disagreement.
Said they would address a conflict immediately.
Design interpretation ↘
Bring practical details into the conversation earlier.
Read the research context
These percentages are reproduced from the original 53-person survey. Recruitment, participant background and the study date still need confirmation. Stated preferences do not establish product outcomes or validate personality-based matching.
Open the research material ↗DESIGN EVOLUTION
What changed.
And why.
Starting points include archived directions and open design questions. The responses describe this revisit; they do not claim a measured improvement.
01 / EARLIER CONCEPT
Personality as a matching direction
THIS REVISIT
Character as an optional introduction
The original characters stay. Guests, cleaning and daily rhythm carry the practical conversation.
02 / DESIGN QUESTION
How do profiles start useful conversations?
THIS REVISIT
Living habits lead into a conversation
Preferences stay close to the message, giving someone specific things to ask before a viewing.
03 / DESIGN QUESTION
What makes a shortlist useful?
THIS REVISIT
A room includes a household
Cost and household expectations appear in the same journey, so a shortlist considers both.
03 / Meet the peopleA profile starts a conversation
Hello, person.
Not just a profile.
Explore the prototypeGet to know
Get to know
the everyday.
A personality character opens the door. Living habits give you something real to talk about.
Interactive concept · fictional people and messages.
Nothing is sent or booked.
Go on. Tap around. ↗
04 / Original illustrationDrawn by me. Made to be you.
A little character.
A lot of personality.
Sixteen ghosts, each with their own small world. An optional way to introduce yourself — without turning personality into a compatibility score.
Meet the cast
INFJ
The Advocate
Original illustration by HaojiaChoose a character ↘
Your type is self-reported. You can always skip it.
INTERFACE COLLECTIONBrowse the Rent interfaces
05 / Find a homeMake the practical things clear
Your space.
Your terms.
A good shortlist needs more than a beautiful photo. Rent, utilities, current flatmates and household expectations sit within the same journey.
Then a viewing becomes a specific proposal: a date, a time and a conversation that both people can agree to.
01 — Discover rooms
The details, in motion
A small hello.
A next step.
The profile-to-chat transition keeps the person in view as the conversation begins.
06 / Looking backWhat changed. What comes next.
Keep the character.
Question the promise.
Expression, not prediction.
The earlier concept leaned on personality as a matching idea. In this revisit, I removed unsupported compatibility scores. The characters remain; practical living habits and conversation carry the decision.
Would it help people choose?
I would ask participants to compare total room costs, find guest and cleaning preferences, and continue without choosing an MBTI type. These are proposed tests, not completed results.
Project & image credits
Independent project: original research, UX/UI and character illustration by Haojia Yang. This 2026 revisit uses AI-assisted interface refinement and presentation production under my direction. Maya’s portrait is AI-generated. People, listings and conversations are demonstration content. This concept has not been launched, and no measured usability improvement is claimed.
Next project / FitStartA small start.
A small start.
A stronger you.
