Moving is one of life’s most stressful experiences. For renters, this stress is amplified by a fragmented, often frustrating digital experience that makes every step of the journey more difficult than it needs to be:

• Finding a new home when you can no longer afford your current rent
• Filling out repetitive rental applications, often providing the same information multiple times
• Navigating complex move-in processes across multiple systems
• Getting help when something goes wrong in your unit
• Managing monthly payments with unexpected fees

Property managers face their own challenges: rising tenant expectations, increased competition, and the need to provide excellent service at scale. Meanwhile, existing solutions only solve individual pieces of the puzzle, leaving both residents and property managers juggling multiple apps and systems.

The Opportunity

The resident journey was an essential journey for our customers (and their customers). We created a journeymap in FigJam to help align our work with critical moments.

We saw an opportunity to reimagine the entire resident journey. Our existing app, with its 1.5-star rating, told us everything we needed to know: residents didn’t see value in an experience that charged high transaction fees while providing minimal convenience.

The challenge was clear: Could we create a unified, delightful experience that would serve residents throughout their entire rental journey while helping property managers build their brands and enabling AppFolio to develop higher-margin services?

Leading with Design

Setting a New Standard

One of our first designs shows a revamped homescreen and tab navigation. We wanted the simplest design possible, with clear navigation and information architecture. We invoked “Fisher Price” design, prioritizing legibility and affordance. We specifically removed confusing elements like hamburger menus.

To transform the resident experience, we needed to think beyond traditional property management software. I led the development of a “Consumer Grade” standard that would meet modern expectations:

1. Seamless and Effortless

   • An intuitive experience that feels like an extension of daily life
   • Beautiful, trustworthy design that inspires confidence

2. Just for Me

   • Personalized experiences that remember past interactions
   • Proactive assistance that anticipates needs

3. Fast and Reliable

   • Quick, smooth responses to every action
   • Clear status updates and feedback

4. Meets Me Where I Am

   • Seamless cross-device experiences
   • Context-aware interactions

Building the Team

To deliver on this vision, I organized a dedicated team of two UX managers and seven designers, structured around key experience areas:

• Core team focusing on navigation, information architecture, and our design system
• Process teams handling end-to-end experiences like onboarding
• Specialized focus on key moments of delight

Creating Moments of Joy

Early moodboard invoking the space-age visual language. We would evenutally move away from outer space, but kept some of the influence of mid-century modern design, which has a long history with multi-family residences.

Working directly with our art and brand teams, we developed a distinctive space-age inspired visual language that would bring moments of joy to traditionally stressful experiences:

• Animations revealing personalized details
• Disco ball celebration for major achievements
• A laser-etched key with the resident’s name appearing at move-in completion

These weren’t just decorative touches – they were carefully crafted moments that made the experience feel like it was made just for them.

The Technical Foundation

To deliver this experience at scale, we needed a solid technical foundation. I architected our technical and usability approach using React Native and led the evaluation and implementation of Material You as our design system. We adapted this to align with our brand while maintaining the high bar of consumer expectations.

Design Principles in Action

We developed clear principles to guide our work:

• Wayfinding: Creating clear paths through complex processes
• Feedback: Ensuring users always know what’s happening
• Mental Models: Leveraging familiar patterns
• Affordance: Using progressive disclosure for complex tasks
• Symmetry: Maintaining visual harmony

We also adopted “show me that you know me” as a guiding principle. This meant never asking residents for information we already had – if they’d filled out a rental application through AppFolio, that information would be readily available to streamline future applications.

Bringing it All Together

The redesigned onboarding flow exemplifies our approach. Using a hub-and-spoke design, we guided users through previously fragmented tasks – signing their lease, paying deposits, setting up insurance and utilities – in a unified, intuitive experience. Each step was enhanced with thoughtful animations and celebrations that acknowledged the significance of creating a new home.

Looking Ahead

The transformation of FolioSpace represents more than just a digital renovation – it’s a reimagining of how technology can make the rental experience more human. By bringing together resident needs, property manager capabilities, and business objectives, we’ve created a foundation for:

• Unified, delightful resident experiences
• Enhanced property manager service capabilities
• A platform for higher-margin services
• A product worthy of positive ratings

Most importantly, we’ve shown that with careful attention to human needs and thoughtful design, we can make even the most stressful life experiences a little bit easier and more joyful.