A HOME RENOVATION LAB, ON YOUR LAPTOP.

GOAL

make home renovation work intuitive, engaging, (and dare we say fun?) for home-owners.

ROLE

user experience designer & visual designer.

OUTPUT

hi-fi mocks.

Talo is a French start-up with a simple goal: removing the hassle and stress of making home renovations.

The challenge – designing a UI that steals the hearts of users and investers.

I worked towards a clean, simple interface that would make the daunting process of home renovations feel effortless, transparent, and actually kinda fun. Shortly after I started, they got selected to work with a famous incubator that provided their own design team. This cut our collaboration short, so I’ll show you what we came up with in the few weeks we worked together!

Talo helps people who want or need to make renovations in their home. They usually would describe themselves as one of two things –

The reluctant newbie

Not familiar with construction work, unsure of where to start, and dreading the stress of the process.

The hopeful creator

Looking to enhance their interior, expecting the ability to switch between different options and get expert recommendations.

How these two types shaped my design approach.

Making the user feel comfortable

By ensuring the information they need is directly accessible every step of the way, and by using a conversational, no-jargon tone. The objective was to help the user see Talo as a familiar tool making renovation work feel effortless.

“What does this mean to someone who just wants to redo something in their home?”

Keeping the jargon away and the question “Tangibly, what does this mean for the person’s home?” in mind, always. Making sure all information on display helped the user understand the value and impact of each feature on their project, instantly.

Promoting and facilitating customization

To help the user be in control of the process and frankly, bring the fun into home renovations.

To the sketching board.

Laying out a high-level flow

To be able to outline a flow, I started by going through the different levels of customization available and the features/goals for each with the founding team. Then decided for a flow where users start by creating a project (e.g. “Emma’s room”,“House windows”, or “broken windows”). They add elements and/or services to it (e.g. two windows and a booking for installation with a selected professional), customize their equipment, and have it added to their project. This approach allows the user to adapt to a complete house renovation as well as to more granular tweaks.

Sketching

For quick, numerous iterations with low investment – I hand-sketched different layout options for each step of the customization flow.

Wireframing

From this phase of option generation, I moved to a phase of decision-making. I selected, integrated and enhanced the key functionalities, and used Sketch to translate these sketches into medium-fidelity wireframes. Having a digital version of the basic elements allowed me to create reusable elements and the room to explore how the components would work individually and collectively.