Introduction
Flatform is a flat management application to increase the ease of flat living. We have identified eight common, difficult, and tedious tasks which occur inside flats. Flatform is able to address these tasks in a collaborative manner, reducing strife and pain between flatmates. Flatform attempts to provide an intuitive design by borrowing from popular existing tools and maintaining a consistent design language.
Flatform increases overall coordination of flat tasks and chores by consolidating all features into one easy to use app. Flatform has been designed using TCSD design practices with the intention of creating an app that is aesthetically beautiful, intuitive, and straightforward. During our discussions and design meetings, we prioritized simplicity and consistency. Flatform is designed to be a functional app which convincingly solves users’ problems - it has not been explicitly designed to be fun, thus simplicity and consistency is key. We do not want to irritate users, especially since flat management is inherently mundane. Additionally, we considered ease of use and intuitiveness as high priorities the design process for similar reasons.
Flatform increases overall coordination of flat tasks and chores by consolidating all features into one easy to use app. Flatform has been designed using TCSD design practices with the intention of creating an app that is aesthetically beautiful, intuitive, and straightforward. During our discussions and design meetings, we prioritized simplicity and consistency. Flatform is designed to be a functional app which convincingly solves users’ problems - it has not been explicitly designed to be fun, thus simplicity and consistency is key. We do not want to irritate users, especially since flat management is inherently mundane. Additionally, we considered ease of use and intuitiveness as high priorities the design process for similar reasons.
Categories
The first category of tasks we identified was the basic ability to add and remove members from your ‘flat’. This was a high priority task, as it was relied on for all following tasks to work. All flats by our definition had people in them, and we required a way to maintain these and provide unity and information to all flatmates.
The second category that we identified was expenses. Every flat that we talked to have to deal with expenses, and some find it to be difficult to coordinate. Flatform addresses both the payment of regular bills, and the splitting of one-off bills in a straightforward manner.
The third category that we identified was flat chores. Most flats have common, recurring chores, and occasional one-off chores. This can be hard to manage since some chores must be completed within a specific time frame, and/or completed by different individuals each recurrence period. Thus, Flatform has an integrated chore scheduler which allows users to create routine and one-off chores, and to assign users to each chore.
The fourth category that we identified was organisation. Most flats listed organisation as one of their key flat dealings on a daily basis, which included things like lists and document storage, or in some flats a noticeboard. Flatform has integrated important shared documentation into a document library which allows all new and current flatmates. Lists are integrated into chores and the cooking roster which are separated for ease of access.
The fifth category that we identified was social. All of the flats we talked to utilized messaging applications. The specific messaging applications would depend on the age and regions of the flats. However, the majority of the functionality was largely uniform between the various apps. We did consider that there is flat-specific messaging functionality, however, it is highly unlikely that users would use built-in functionality as opposed to their favored app.
The second category that we identified was expenses. Every flat that we talked to have to deal with expenses, and some find it to be difficult to coordinate. Flatform addresses both the payment of regular bills, and the splitting of one-off bills in a straightforward manner.
The third category that we identified was flat chores. Most flats have common, recurring chores, and occasional one-off chores. This can be hard to manage since some chores must be completed within a specific time frame, and/or completed by different individuals each recurrence period. Thus, Flatform has an integrated chore scheduler which allows users to create routine and one-off chores, and to assign users to each chore.
The fourth category that we identified was organisation. Most flats listed organisation as one of their key flat dealings on a daily basis, which included things like lists and document storage, or in some flats a noticeboard. Flatform has integrated important shared documentation into a document library which allows all new and current flatmates. Lists are integrated into chores and the cooking roster which are separated for ease of access.
The fifth category that we identified was social. All of the flats we talked to utilized messaging applications. The specific messaging applications would depend on the age and regions of the flats. However, the majority of the functionality was largely uniform between the various apps. We did consider that there is flat-specific messaging functionality, however, it is highly unlikely that users would use built-in functionality as opposed to their favored app.
As you may have noticed, these designs are annotated - if you would like access to the annotation supplement please contact me.
