COHABIT
Product design · 2026A roommate mediation app that helps college students share a room without awkward confrontations.
Problem
60–70% of college students experience roommate conflict, and cleanliness is the leading cause. Our research pointed to missing systems rather than bad roommates: standards are never agreed up front, nobody keeps a record, and raising an issue feels riskier than living with it.
My role
I led the five-person team from zero to a tested prototype. I defined features and designed onboarding, the core chore flows, and the AI integration. In synthesis I wrote four of the team's five final insights, including that students won't go to their RA without evidence.
Solution
Three tabs (Chores, Inventory, and Group) and a five-step onboarding where roommates sign a shared agreement before move-in. Habi, an AI helper, sends reminders and handles the messages nobody wants to send.
- Role
- Product Design Manager
- Team
- UX Baddies, 5 designers
- When
- Spring 2026 · UXDG 101, Prof. Ha-Young Ra
- Methods
- 2 surveys, 12 interviews, 3 observations, cultural probe, 5 whys, personas, heuristic evaluation, SUS and NPS testing
- Tools
- Figma, Figma Slides
Prove chores with photos
Survey respondents asked for a clear system (29.1%) and accountability features (28.6%). Each chore ends with a timed before-and-after photo, so the whole room can see the record and nobody can say "I thought you did it."
Let Habi and the RA do the hard part
Habi sends reminders, reassigns chores, and escalates in tiers, so nobody has to be the bad guy. If that isn't enough, a one-time code lets the RA see the full history without a recap, and access expires on its own.
Fix the system after testing
A heuristic evaluation with Prof. BC Hwang found ten issues, led by inconsistent visuals, no feedback after taking a photo, and no clear way to retake one. We rebuilt the design system and micro-interactions, and the app's rating rose from 4.4 to 4.6.
How might we…cultivate motivation and communication in an accessible way to encourage accountability and consistently prevent problems that occur in shared living spaces?
Outcome
In the second test round, 84% of participants said they were likely to use the app frequently (up from 76%), and 87% said they'd recommend it (up from 82%). I was the only first-year UX student selected to submit the project to The Rookies.
Next steps
Testers asked for more gamification and a bigger role for Habi as the app's personality. Those are the two directions we'd take next.
