Openn
A digital real estate management platform designed for agent ease of use.
Company:
Openn Negotiations (NA)
Project Dates:
April 2022 - March 2023
Project Type:
Offer Management Application
User Research
After my initial introduction at Openn, I quickly realized they were extremely lacking in user research and stakeholder development.
Research is the foundation of my design process, so I made research a priority at my time here.
Personas
Utilizing user data compiled by focus groups and customer support data, I created multiple user personas to help facilitate a baseline stakeholder group for all current and future designs.
I also cultivated the idea of stakeholder reliance at Openn, showcasing a unique situation where users’ needs and vulnerabilities directly impacted each other.
All sensitive information is blurred in terms with NDA.
Focus Groups & Journey Maps
Personas are a hallmark of user research but I’ve always found that the best, most genuine opinions come from live user focus groups.
Our focus groups consisted of realtors from state-level MLS groups, such as California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS). We walked each group through a demo of our product with both Figma prototypes and the actual webpage, looking for any spots for feedback and criticism we could use in our next iterations.
We also made use of journey maps to organize our personas and gain a better understanding of how they were going to use our product.
This process was influenced directly by our focus group candidates, as we ended up using their answers as a baseline to form the moments in our map and using their reactions and tone to help formulate the emotions our users were giving off.
Competitive Analysis
The most intuitive designs build on the foundations and shortcomings of previous iterations, especially those of our competitors.
I utilized this research phase to discover what concepts our competitors were implementing to make life easier for their agents, and brought those basics back into my design language at Openn.
All sensitive information is blurred in terms with NDA.
The Design Process
Being the first designer in Openn’s North American workspace, one of my main goals was to outline an effective design process that could be used when creating new projects.
At Openn, most design projects began with a meeting with shareholders where we identified missing features or problems within the user experience. Here, the meeting was led by either myself or a PM using Mural to brainstorm ideas and interface with the other teams to solidify a baseline idea.
Ideation
Tools Used: Mural
With a solidified idea, I started researching to shape my first prototypes. Using the developed personas and designs done by the competition, I compile all our resources in one place - usually a spreadsheet or a moodboard.
This is also where documentation begins. I write up user stories, specifications, and any more relevant information into a confluence page to keep everything sorted.
Research
Tools Used: Confluence, Sheets, Hotjar
I’ve realized that what makes a design truly effective is the ability to translate user research into an aesthetic design effectively, and this step is where it all starts.
I usually begin with a simple wireframe just to get my ideas onto the board and follow it up with a low-fidelity drawing in Adobe XD.
After some initial feedback from the team I usually tend to follow it up with a high-fidelity mockup, since I’ve found that tends to yield better results in the forthcoming testing phases.
Design
Tools Used: Balsamic, Figma / Adobe XD, Adobe CC
Using the aforementioned mockups I begin testing. I utilized both external and internal testing throughout the process. However, at this current stage specifically external testing using Maze yielded much more concrete results.
Testing was split between a variety of versions and often had questions that I would prepare ahead of time - usually when I’m designing.
Testing
Tools Used: Maze, Teams
Arguably the single most impactful (and time-consuming!) step in my entire design process, this is where much of the testing and feedback I receive comes to fruition.
I’ve also come to understand how to juggle the needs and expectations of multiple teams here at this stage since there isn’t always a consensus on what is necessary for a design.
Iteration
Tools Used: Figma / Adobe XD
Presentation is where the design is finalized and polished. I add animations using Adobe XD and implement any last minutes changes before presenting the design to team of shareholders.
While the design may be polished it is by no means complete. The design is still subject to change based on the results of the presentation, and it might even be presented again at a later date. (in rare cases)
Presentation
Tools Used: Adobe XD, Teams
When all is said and done and the design itself is finished, it’s time to send it over for development. Zeplin has been the best tool I’ve found for relaying information over efficiently, as it includes all the pixel information and converts it over into CSS directly.
I also take this final stage to update the documentation with any last changes made and update all screenshots to the most recent result.
Production
Tools Used: Zeplin
Solutions & Features
Applying the aforementioned process allowed me to ideate numerous new features while maintaining a tight work cycle.
It didn’t take much research to realize that a huge pain point for agents was ingesting offer info from their respective contracts. They’ll never have to flip through a contract again looking for a closure date.
All the info on any offer placed on Openn is deposited into a buyer card, detailing the offer’s terms and conditions and contact information should they choose to move forward.
A staple in Openn’s user experience, this card is used throughout the site allowing our agents' quick access to the information they need the most.
Offer Cards
Another hallmark of our research indicated that our agents often compared batch data from the offers they received on a property.
Openn already had a table that listed all the offers a property receives, so why not do the sorting there?
Ultimately we found that adding several filtering options along with linking the previously mentioned offer cards gave agents an internal tool they could use to sort data without having to export it to an external program.
Dynamic Offer Display
One of the biggest challenges I overcame at Openn was the redesign of their offer upload process. It was originally a rudimentary design that relied on navigating to multiple pages to complete.
My updated workflow includes accordions rather than pages to give quick completion feedback to our users and was especially helpful given the simple navigation in the case that users missed fields.
Alongside the accordion design, I also designed it to be used as a modal rather than loading a separate page since we found that users were often frustrated with having to navigate back to their dashboard when they finished.
Uploading an Offer
Another additional key feature I designed for Openn was their Dashboard. I intended to create a consolidated area that displayed all agents' property updates and notifications since their last login.
Since our research showed that agents favored designs familiar to them, I decided to implement a stacking banner design, similar to the ones seen on most modern smartphones.
The result was a page that was bold and followed a modern aesthetic but retained the intuitiveness of notification banners that were already well-known by agents.
Dashboard Redesign
Closing Thoughts & Takeaways
A final introspection into the skills and concepts I derived from my time at Openn.
Off the top of my head, I can list a few key aspects of my work that changed with this position. I learned to listen more effectively and was forced to communicate much more than I was used to since my review meetings were large and very opinionated. In the future, I hope to hone that communication to efficiently process criticism and convert it into meaningful design adjustments.
Another big change I dealt with was the pacing of a startup workload. Creating and applying a design process in a busy, industrial setting was difficult at first but eventually gave me the foundation to work on projects back to back so effectively I was often ahead of schedule.
Ultimately, I felt as if I grew here as a designer much more in terms of design theory and structure rather than raw skill. Truthfully, I came here to lift Openn’s design aesthetic into something with a more modern feel while also improving its usability - and I learned just how much of a challenge that can be.
“It’s very easy to be different, but very difficult to be better.”