OUGD504- Developing Icons

When evaluating the successes and failures of each other property business, what really stood out to me (as part of the target audience), was instant recognition. Often, when you have trailed through several properties it is easy for words to just look like words. Often, we do no even read them- only skim to get the premise. Despite all of this, heavy sections of text are still featured on several letting websites, as well as alternative methods of room-hunting such as Gumtree.

To simplify the user experience, I need to create some instantly recognisable icons to help the viewer distinguish at an instant the spec of the property. 

Bathroom / Bedrooms/ Shower Room/ All Inclusive Bills (Water, Gas Heating, Electric, Wifi)

I asked a group of people, all from the target audience, to put a star next to the icons they prefer. This was also a good opportunity to get some qualitative feedback on possible design decisions.

Feedback:

"Don't relay on icons too much, still may need a description to go alongside some things such as bills or landlord information"

"Icons with character have the most emotive qualities"

"The house shouldn't look too clinical, character is definitely better"

"Want to feel an upwards change, suggesting positivity, progression and excitement. Alternatively, a homely feel so the user thinks, 'time to relax soon- i'm coming home'".

Possible price sliders or animated action, rather than just entering Min £________ & Max £_________. I considered a flip card style system, where as you type, the cards flick around to the number you imputed, similar to the Kayak travel icon. However, I feel that this animation detail could overcomplicate things or even slow things down, when an easily understood method still surfaces. The more information on the page, the slower the loading speed on some browsers (internet connection depending), so this could hinder rather than aid.

Home / Pinpoint for Maps/ Back / Refresh / My Account (me)

Full icon list. This shows all basic icon's, in order top left- bottom right: 

'Me' Page, get to my account at any time, Pinpoint icon for maps, Home icon.

Washing machine, Beds required/Beds needed, Bath/Shower, 

Water Included, Electric included, Food outlets, Favorites, Back button (mainly for desktop use), Edit information, Quick search and finally, Budget controls in slider form. Townhouse illustration used for information pages on house shares.

The budget controls go off the cheapest and most affordable property on the website, but automatically keeps your budget the same. This way the user has a better idea of what portion of the market is available to them, and suggests that they may need to explore other options if that portion is small. 

I tried to keep the icons quite playful and soft, as encouraged from feedback. This was a good opportunity to design in something other than Illustrator, Photoshop or InDesign, and I found it a refreshing change using the controls on Adobe XD than on any other program- the simplicity of the program encouraged the design process greatly. I am sure I will need to create additional icons along the way, these are a basic structured guide.