Case study

PadMapper redesign for Android, iOS, and responsive-web

Overview

I worked with PadMapper as their first designer, with a focus on UX and UI, between May 2015 and January 2016.

During my time with the team, my work was focused on redesigning both the Android & iOS apps and the first responsive version of PadMapper.com.

While the audience was very diverse (consisting of 2 million unique users every month), what connected our users was a need for a home. They were from every walk of life, used a wide variety of devices, and had varied experience-levels with technology. Designing for such a diverse group brought its own challenges, but also helped bring focus to the core functionality and value of the product.

Joining the team as PadMapper's first designer

We were a four-person team consisting of the CEO, CTO, a business Dev/ Junior iOS Dev, and myself as the company's first designer. My role was to guide the design process from start to finish: research (conducted over twitter, and through feedback given to the CEO over support channels), defining user flows, creating initial wireframes, UI exploration, user-testing, and prototyping.

My first project was to redesign the Android app, as it had the most use out of the existing mobile experiences. As the existing Android app was built primarily as a utility, my goal was to leverage the high level of thought and care that went into the app's functionality and apply the same level of care to the interface and UX.

The design process was similar to the scientific process: we started with ideas, performed research, and tested the ideas to see if they had merit. My first step reviewing any similar apps, websites, or products that I could find, from Airbnb to Zumper and Apartments.com. The bulk of my user research involved conversations with the CEO about support requests that he had received, and referencing Twitter mentions to fix open areas of improvement.

Working with few resources led to some shortcuts being made, such as conducting user interviews by sharing live prototypes with people I would meet after work. I would share what I had learned the next day with the team, which led to several improvements in heuristics (such as giving the Filters butten a label in place of an icon).

Some improvements over the previous app experiences included making the filters easier to use, reducing the number of steps users would have to take before contacting a landlord, and leveraging more of the screen's real estate to display a larger map.

After refining the existing user flows and creating wireframes, I quickly moved on to creating higher-fidelity mockups before moving into a phase of rapid prototyping.

Shortly after the Android redesign was build and launched, I moved on to redesigning the existing iOS app, as well as creating the first responsive web experience. With a holistic approach in mind, I leveraged what I had learned during the Android redesign. The responsive web experience was especially rewarding to take on (prior to my involvement, visiting PadMapper.com on a mobile device would display a modal instructing users to view the site on a computer).

We were a very agile team, which allowed us to work quickly and iterate often. In fact, in my first month working full-time, I was given the task of rebuilding a template page for apartment listings in Python. I had no prior experience with Python, but I was eager to learn. Under the tutelage of PadMapper's CTO Rob Crowell, I learned enough to build a working template (the builk of which is still in use, years later).

The redesign was a huge success

One month after my departure, PadMapper was acquired by Zumper.
In the words of PadMapper's founder and CEO, Eric DeMenthon:
"Zumper’s actual roadmap reads very much like the wish list for making apartment hunting suck less that I’ve had banging around in my head for years. I think this combination makes it much more likely that we’ll actually pull it off. It’s been a crazy adventure so far, and I’m really excited for the next few years."