Planning a good trip is not always exciting, especially when busy finding an ideal place to stay. Recently I started to plan my relocation from Atlanta, Georgia to the bay area in California. Originally I thought this should be rather easy since we've already had so many apps and platforms available for finding lodging.

However, I ended up finding myself jumping back and forth between Google Map and multiple apps for gathering information. I then realized that there are actually whole bunch of other criteria other than "Date", "Price", and "Guest" that needs to be taken into considerations when looking for the potential fit.

I reached out to my couple of friends for their thoughts about the existing experience when hanging out. I didn't want to make the conversations too serious, so it went out more in the style of semi-structured interviews. Our conversations were around the following questions:

• Have you ever found a place to stay?
• Elaborate on the purpose. Is it for a short-term or long-term stay?
• What frustrated you most about the experience?
• How did you make your decision?
• What kind of information you need to help you make the decision?

1. People mostly first think of the Location (e.g. the city or area) when finding a place to stay.
2. Some people start their planning by Date.
3. Budget is also important when matching the candidates.
4. "I'd like to see if the place is near to the public transportation or at least the traffic is not too crazy."
5. "I'll definitely check if the apartment is in the safe area."
6. "See if there's any fun places nearby."
7. "Food! It's always good to have several food options nearby."
8. "I would check with my friends who ever been there and see what they recommend to visit in that area."

"Overview first, zoom and filter, then details-on-demand."

I summarized my interview findings and then started to work on the information architecture design. Based on the priority of the required information for decision-making, I layout the information architecture as shown in the flow chart. Users should be able to filter and narrow down to a list of candidate options by "Location", "Date", "Price", and potentially "Guest". And then once located at a specific candidate option, users should easily browse the detail information in terms of "Transport", "Food", "Safety", and so on to help them make the final decision.

I followed the "Mobile First" design principle to start from the design on mobile device, and then incrementally enhance the experience for larger screens.

Mobile Design