Understanding the problem

According to various reports many international students encounter challenges during their first week in Australia, with some falling victim to scams, misinformation, and exploitation during their initial stay. When they arrive in Sydney and housing turns out to be much worse than advertised or other things go wrong, they’re often not legally protected as tenants and face barriers to getting help

"Many international students pay money upfront to unverified landlords they find online." - Maria Nawaz, Lecturer and Clinical Supervisor at UNSW Human Rights Clinic

Problem Statement:

International students studying in Australia face a complex challenge when seeking accommodations due to various factors. The combination of miscommunication, compounded by language barriers, and students’ unfamiliarity with the local housing market, creates obstacles that hinder their ability to secure suitable housing options. The security and well being of international students need to be ensured by addressing these multifaceted complications.

Gathering insights

As our team is primarily composed of overseas university students with many connections to other stakeholders and personal experiences related to the accommodation search process and its challenges, we figured it would be best to conduct interviews and focus groups to gather insights, as this allows us to take a more personal approach, delve deeper into individual experiences, identify common pain points, and thus develop solutions that better address students' needs.

We conducted interviews with 8 participants and held 4 focus groups, each consisting of international students who have been in Australia for more than a year and have lived in multiple places during their stay. In addition, nterviews were semi-structured, allowing participants to share their unique challenges as we navigate through key themes such as rental application rejections, inspections , and bond deposits.

After collecting the recordings from the user interviews and focus groups, I conducted affinity mapping with my teammates to synthesise the pains identified. We grouped these problems under common themes and features in the platform.

Key insights

72.7% of the participants are unfamiliar with cultural nuances such as bond deposits and inspections.

International students weigh up their choice of housing in Australia based on safety, convenience and cost factors.

They seek information primarily through online platforms and social networks, but are more likely to trust word of mouth and personal recommendations.

Most students wish to secure a formal rental contract to ensure their rights, but it is not always guaranteed.

In person site inspections are often mandatory, but they can be difficult for international students to attend, especially if they are still abroad.

International students do not fully understand the local market or context of each area they are considering, such as safety, convenience, and the quality of living conditions.

Design Approach & Rationale

As reflected in the key findings, some common and recurring issues that overseas students face are inconvenience, insecurity, and lack of access to information. In order to better bridge the gap between students and the housing market, it is essential to provide a solution that simplifies the search process, ensures reliable information, and offers remote access to property inspections.

In addition to having a mobile app with extensive filters based on tertiary institutions and up to date information on housing options and essential facilities near the selected area, we also sought to address the challenges of arranging inspections and language barriers or miscommunication.

To solve these issues, we developed a smartwatch app that complements the mobile app by enabling inspectors to provide real-time updates, live feedback, and detailed insights to students during property inspections. This ensures that international students, even those overseas, can receive accurate, trustworthy information about potential accommodations without needing to be physically present.

The smartwatch app facilitates communication between students and inspectors through its portability and ease of use, allowing inspectors to efficiently gather and share property information. This, in turn, reduces misunderstandings and enhances the efficiency and accessibility of the inspection process.

High-Fidelity prototype

Promotional Video

The following video presents the key functions of the phone and smartwatch prototypes, and IRoost's mission.

Setting Search Area

Agree to T&Cs(1)

Select State (2)

Select Institute (3)

Detailed Search (Optional)

Setting Parameters

Property Filter

Search Radius

Check Property

Onboarding Walkthrough

Application Process

Select Pin (1)

Property Info (2)

Area Background

Application Portal (3)

Arrange Inspection

Inspection Page (1)

Select Inspector (2)

Inquiry Interface (3)

Schedule Inspection (4)

Smartwatch Inspection App Rundown

For the smartwatch live inspection app, the inspector would first decide whether to initiate the inspection. After selecting "start" and accepting the data protection regulations, the app would automatically notify the individual who scheduled the inspection. During the inspection, the interface would remain consistent with the one presented at the0:08 mark in the video. Once the inspector chooses to conclude the inspection, they would notify the user and await the user's response regarding the inspected property. When the user either accepts or declines the property, the student and inspector can decide whether they wish to continue inspecting other properties.

Challenges

One of the significant challenges we grappled with within the design process, was finding a balance that catered to the diverse cultural and linguistic needs of international students from drastically varied backgrounds.

This required extensive research and a deeper understanding of different cultural perspectives, which was heavily restricted by time constraints. While our team proposed innovative solutions to improve accessibility across cultures, we often found ourselves restricted by the lack of access to as many cultural groups as we had hoped due to the limited time available for testing and design iterations.

Takeaways & Next Steps

Some key takeaways from this project are:

Focus on building an MVP. When creating software for platforms that try to bridge cultural gaps, there is only so much time and effort that you can invest, so it's important to focus on the features that can deliver the highest value for your users generally.
Regular and constant user testings and feedback are they key to efficient design, and are invaluable in refining a design solution.

In the future, we aim to continue collecting user feedback and making iterative improvements. Expanding the app's coverage to serve students in various global locations is another exciting possibility, along with tailoring the app's content for specific regions and increasing outreach as we move forward.

We also recognise the importance of staying updated with the evolving needs of international students and the housing market. This may involve further collaboration with housing authorities, universities, and student associations to provide the most comprehensive and reliable housing information.

IRoost: Housing & Inspection Platform

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