Jores

A chore management app that can make sharing housework easy and transparent.
ROLES
  • UX Design: User Survey, Competitive Analysis, Persona, Wireframing, Usability Testing
  • UI Design: Lo-fi & hi-fi prototyping
project context
  • Sring 2021 (4 weeks)
  • Class: User-centred Design
  • Team: Myself, Nhung Bui, Yewgenji Baburkin
Tools
  • Whimsical
  • Marvel
  • Adobe XD
ProblemSolutionUser ResearchCompetitorsFeaturesWireframingTestingReflection
THE PROBLEM
Roommates often argue about shared chores
Generation Rent is used to living with others due to financial, social and personal reasons. Cohabitation is never easy and during covid, it has become increasingly more difficult as housemates can’t leave the house to relieve their stress when conflicts arise. According to a research done by MSU, roommates often argue about shared responsibilities within the household.
Top 5 problems among roommates
DESIGN CHALLENGE
How might we set expectations and build an ongoing sense of responsibility between roommates?
THE SOLUTION
Jores aims to improve communication between roommates through a transparent, shared chore schedule.
Using the mobile app, users can create, schedule and assign tasks to each member of their household. Moreover, the point system can help roommates maintain a fair chore distribution.
‍
(The project itself was done after the testing phase but later I went on and designed some hi-fidelity screens by myself to better visualize the product.)

Flexible Task Scheduling

When scheduling a task, you can set it to repeat every 2 days, weeks, months and have it rotate between household members.

Sub-in for your housemates

Easily sub-in to help cover for someone when they're busy and unable to complete the task.

Let others know when you'd be away

Mark dates where you won't be available to do your chores with batch selection in calendar.

USER RESEARCH
We conducted a user survey to gain more insights on their struggles when cohabiting with others.
The participants were recruited through roommates Facebook groups and also people within our circle who are living with others. Out of 57 participants, most indicated that they had problems with their housemates forgetting to do the chores, while others responded that they did not have a clear schedule or any at all.
User research insights
Synthesizing the insights through personas
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
How Jores can stand out among other chore management apps
Jores has the opportunity to combine helpful features and solve minor flaws from these apps as well as introducing a sub-in and mark unavailability feature. Through this, we hope to encourage empathy between housemates and allow them to support for each other by sharing housework.
FEATURE PRIORTIZATION
From the survey, we decided on the essential features to include for this iteration.
MVP
01

Task to-do list

02

Rotation and repeating tasks

03

Point system

04

Calendar & unavailability

05

Notes/comments on tasks

FUTURE ITERATIONS
01

Upload media

02

Calendar export

03

Supplies tracking

WIREFRAMING
Wireframes based on the 5 main testing tasks
create chore (By Thao Le)
edit chore (BY Thao Le)
View tasks in calendar & Mark unavailability (By Nhung Bui)
Sub-in for others  (By Thao Le)
Ask for sub-in & Compare scores (BY YEWGENJI)
TESTING
We then carried out usability tests with the lo-fi prototype
After the completion of the wireframes, the screens are exported as .png files to Marvel in order to add hotspots and create an interactive prototype. Even with limited functionality, the prototype can show the interaction and navigation possibilities of the app. Test subjects can have a better sense of how the app would look like on-screen and how they could navigate it. Therefore, it is possible to validate whether users understand the interactive elements and to expect meaningful feedback from the subjects.​
Testing method
We tested with 6 students who are living with roommates or with their family. 4 of the tests were done in person, while the other 2 remote. After briefing the participants, we encouraged them to think aloud and asked follow-up questions between each task or whenever they got stuck.
User tasks
  • Create task & mark it as done
  • Edit Task
  • View everyone’s tasks
  • Mark unavailability
  • Put up a task for sub-in
  • Sub-in for someone else
  • Compare scores
Results
Positives
In terms of functionality, test subjects commented that they appreciated the helpful features such as sub-in, mark unavailability, and the point system. Most users thought the icons and language used were clear and straightforward. Regarding information architecture, the minimal bottom menu was highly appreciated and thought to make it easy to navigate through the app. The design was reviewed to have good contrast which brings out the call of action.
Needs work
Two subjects raised the question whether it would be possible to mark days as unavailable from the day detail screen as they are used to this from other scheduling apps. While the currently implemented batch select should prove more convenient, it would not hurt to provide this functionality based on already established conventions.
REFLECTION
What I’ve learned & would have done differently
Defining the scope for this project was quite challenging as we didn’t want to overload the app with too many functionalities and confuse users but also want the app to be of actual help to target users.

If we had more time and resources, the project would definitely benefit from gathering more insights from in-depth user interviews. Overall, despite minor flaws with the icon usage and testing procedure, according to the feedback given, I think the product we proposed is quite useful and could help roommates better organize and share their housework.
Next project
Walking Bus