liveco

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  Interview Process

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  Affinity Diagram

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  Empathy Map

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  User Persona

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  User Insight & Problem Statement

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  Competitor Analysis

Co-Existence Track

What is the problem that your solution address

One of the biggest challenges of co-living is managing shared responsibilities, particularly when it comes to household chores. Roommates may have different standards of cleanliness or varying levels of motivation to complete their assigned tasks, which can lead to disagreements and tensions within the living space. A co-living management app that holds users accountable for not doing their chores addresses this problem by providing a centralized platform for assigning and tracking household tasks. By using the app, roommates can assign specific chores to each other, set deadlines, and receive automated reminders to complete them. If a roommate fails to complete their assigned task, they will receive a notification reminding them of their responsibility alongside an action of accountability which promotes a sense of shared responsibility. Ultimately, this can lead to a cleaner, more organized living space and a more harmonious co-living experience.

Why did you pick this solution, and how does it address the problem?

The problem of managing shared responsibilities and household chores in a co-living situation can be a significant source of conflict. Traditional methods of managing chores can be cumbersome and often lead to misunderstandings or disagreements among roommates, and sometimes even family members. We decided to create liveco, an app that holds users accountable for not completing their household tasks/chores, as a solution as it provides a convenient and efficient way to manage household tasks in a shared living space.

Essentially, liveco is a collaborative planning app that allows users to view and track their assigned house chores with the people in their shared living space. However, contrary to regular planning/to-do list apps, liveco possesses an additional feature, Wallet, that holds users who do not complete their promised tasks on time, accountable for their actions. Within their group, users can set a preferred and appropriate monetary amount to be charged from one another if they were to not complete their task on time. Giving users the freedom the set the consequential weight to their own actions not only permits fairness in the agreement process with their groupmates but also allows users to develop more responsible and disciplined habits over time. Oftentimes, it's easy to say you're going to do something, but it's hard to find the motivation to act upon it, especially after a long day of school or work - it's understandable, and you're not the only one. liveco strives to help users find a fair and respectful way to share a living space with their tenants.

Inspiration

The inspiration behind liveco is based-off of our past experiences. Sometimes, living with your best friends does not always turn out the way it seems. Having close relationships with one another can mean less boundaries, and reduced boundaries can sometimes look like messy common areas, late rent payments, and unfulfilled chores (instances that both of us have personally experienced). The app aims to promote a sense of responsibility and mutual respect among users by holding them accountable for their tasks and expenses, while also simplifying communication and coordination between roommates.

The idea for this app came from our own frustrations in previously experiencing these circumstances which led to a desire to create a solution to these issues, which others experience as well. By holding users accountable for their tasks and expenses, the app aims to create a sense of responsibility and mutual respect among co-living roommates. The accountability feature ensures that everyone is doing their part to maintain a clean and comfortable living environment.

What it does

liveco presents a more efficient and effective way for roommates to manage their living space, while also promoting a sense of accountability and mutual respect among users. Users are able to create groups where they can collaborate with the people they share a living space with, managing household tasks that need to be completed in a timely manner in order to foster a shared space of respect and courtesy with one another.

How we built it

We began tackling this designathon by brainstorming a variety of ideas that could be tied in with the prompt of coexistence, in which we ended up with liveco. After having a solidified idea, we conducted user research to learn more about the experiences people have with managing household tasks in co-living spaces by facilitating a total of 5 interviews and sending out a survey. Through our conversations, we were able to identify user wants and needs as well as recurring pain points among users. With the insights we gained from our research, we began affinity diagramming and empathy mapping to organize our findings and to better understand the user perspective. Following our statements, we created a user persona to represent our target user, which we often revisited when making new design decisions during the process. We then devised a user insight statement and a problem statement to summarize the overarching issues of co-living to be addressed. Moving forward, we created user flows and low-fidelity wireframe sketches that went through several rounds of iteration before we created our high-fidelity clickable prototype of liveco, which you can check out in the link down below!

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest challenges we ran into was actually coming up with our idea itself. With such open-ended prompts allowing for much freedom in thought and exploration, we initially struggled to come up with an idea that really spoke to us. The idea for liveco emerged when we began talking about our experiences as children, in which we discovered that we both are individuals who moved around a lot and constantly had to adapt to living with new people through homestay and boarding school experiences. Together, we gradually built upon this commonality, sharing both the good and the bad experiences we had, and were able to bring liveco to you.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our biggest accomplishment while working on this project was sharing our unique and diverse background to identify and solve complex problem in a effective and efficient manor.

What we learned

Working in a group provided opportunities to learn from each other, share knowledge and skills, and develop new competencies. This lead us to personal and professional growth for the both of us.

Future Opportunities and Next Steps for liveco

There are other features and extensions to be added to liveco in the future. Some ideas we thought about was potentially implementing blockchain technology in the app. Relative to the prompt of coexistence, an important core value for liveco is a sense of community. We see possibilities of liveco having a token economy of its own, where users can purchase decentralized tokens which will eliminate data and privacy concerns. Furthermore, implementing decentralized tokens, gamifies the experience, in a way, which can create more engaging app interactions and experiences for the user.

Built With

• figma