Simplifying the Renovation Journey
Designed the web experience for Renovate AI Studio, a platform that allows homeowners, real estate agents, and enterprises to remodel spaces using AI.
Company
Renovate AI
Role:
Senior Product Designer
Industry:
Home Renovation & Real Estate
Preview
Designing a seamless user experience for AI-Powered design platform
Renovate AI is a cutting-edge platform enabling users to visualize and remodel their homes using AI technology. Renovate AI Studio simplifies the remodeling process by allowing users to customize spaces, instantly view design options, and receive AI-driven recommendations. The goal was to create a seamless, intuitive experience that caters to homeowners, real estate agents, and enterprises.
When I joined Renovate AI, they had an early-stage concept with great potential. I was tasked with turning this idea into a reality by designing a user-friendly platform that streamlines the remodeling process and enhances the decision-making journey.
Challenges
Complexity & opaqueness
Many users, especially homeowners and agents, find the renovation process overwhelming due to the number of decisions they need to make—materials, colors, layouts, etc.
Varied Needs for Different User Types
Homeowners, real estate agents, and enterprises have vastly different requirements. Homeowners focus on personal aesthetics, while agents need quick staging solutions, and enterprises may require large-scale renovations.
Pre-Defined Designs Don't Fit Users' Vision
While design presets can help, they often don't align perfectly with users’ specific tastes or project requirements, leaving them frustrated.
Lack of Guidance in the Design Journey
Other AI design platforms don't offer guidance to accommodate specific user needs, and users struggle with knowing which steps to take. They often feel lost without clear guidance on how to move from one design stage to the next.
Building an MVP
The Renovate AI team had a clear vision: provide users with a platform to instantly visualize their renovation ideas without lifting a brush. Given the tight timeline, I focused on developing an AI-driven design studio that allows users to remodel both interiors and exteriors, with a user-friendly interface to explore design options, customize spaces, and get AI-powered recommendations.
The Design Process
I began by conducting interviews with homeowners, agents, and enterprise clients to understand their pain points. I also analyzed competitors, such as Remodel AI and Boxbrownie, to identify opportunities for differentiation. Through workshops with the Renovate AI team, we aligned on key features for the MVP, focusing on ease of use, personalization, and fast visualization.
Gameplan
Goals
Business Objectives
Simplify the remodeling process for homeowners, agents, and enterprises.
Increase user engagement with instant AI-generated visualizations.
Enable users to make informed design choices through AI-powered suggestions.
Allow users to explore design presets and use them in their projects.
Design Principles
Make the design scaleable for future iterations.
Renovation workflows to be clear and straightforward.
Build an app that can support all audiences to organizations of all sizes.
Guide the user as much as possible.
User Stories
Homeowner
I want to easily visualize how my space will look after remodeling without needing to hire an interior designer.
Real Estate Agent
I need to quickly stage properties virtually so potential buyers can imagine the full potential of a space.
Enterprise
I want to efficiently remodel and optimize our commercial spaces while adhering to budget and timeline constraints.
Key Features
AI-Powered Visualization
Users can upload photos of their spaces and receive AI-generated designs.
Interactive Customization
Users can modify colors, filters, and preserve objects in real-time.
Design Presets
Users can explore trending design styles and use them as templates for their own projects.
Instant Feedback
AI-driven virtual staging to guide users on optimal materials, colors, and furniture choices.
Proposed Solution
I focused on optimizing the information hierarchy when viewing a specific renovation project, that way the user has a clear understanding on the steps needed to reach the final result.
User Testing
After creating the first Renovate AI Studio wireframes, I conducted user testing sessions with actual users to gather feedback, clients gave us immediate positive feedback and suggested few fixes - some of which I had predicted would happen and planned to address In my following iterations.
Final Designs
The final Renovate AI Studio designs ensure users are guided step-by-step through their renovation projects, with clear navigation and progress indicators.
While AI provides suggestions, users remain in full control, able to adjust or override designs to suit their vision, making the process both intuitive and flexible.
Scalable Design System Kickoff
I wanted to stay focused on user's journey and not worry about "Oh, whats the padding in the primary button on the left and right vs top and bottom?" and I don't want the developers to retype the code to create a button, accordion or input field every time we build something.
I've built Renovate AI's Design System quickly and effectively to drive better efficiency and maintain consistency.
Allowing For 1 Or Many
Seamlessly stack your styles and masks into the Action Menu bar, with the flexibility to clear filters, add prompts and finally hit the AI Renovate button.
Animations & Micro-Interactions
I incorporated smooth animations and thoughtful micro-interactions, to keep users informed and engaged throughout the process. These subtle details provide instant feedback, ensuring users understand what’s happening at every step, from loading designs to applying AI suggestions, creating a more intuitive and seamless experience.
Unsaved Progress Warning
When a user is about to take an action that could result in losing unsaved progress, I introduced a clear warning pop-up. This ensures users are fully aware of the consequences before confirming, allowing them to make an informed decision and preventing accidental data loss. The design is simple yet effective, providing transparency and reducing frustration.
Launch
At launch, we rolled out the new UI to ~20% of our user base, and sent an instructional videos and guides on how to use the new features. We planned for an iterative design approach by collecting user feedback, then making the necessary changes to enhance the feature.
Actual Timeline
While we aimed for a 6 week timeline, it was launched in 7 weeks. We wanted to do more user research to understand the complexities and to address the skepticism from internal stakeholders.
Surprises
By sharing prototypes of the new OS early, we were able to train one of our enterprise users to be a teacher for the rest of the team.
We noticed an increase in subscriptions to access "Pro" tools and features, with Real Estate agents and smaller organizations - they were excited by the virtual staging feature and this sped up their property listing process.
Future Plans
As we move forward, the Renovate AI team and I plan to:
Expand the design preset library with more styles and materials.
Enhance the AI recommendation engine by incorporating market trends and user behavior data.
Revamp the mobile version of Renovate AI Studio to provide a more accessible experience.
Introduce shopping directly through the App using the generated renovations.
Introducing cost estimates and budgeting to help users get cost estimates.
Renovate AI Studio’s MVP is now live for ~20% of the users, and users are already sharing positive feedback on how much time and money they’re saving by using the app. As the product evolves, I am excited to continue improving the user experience and expanding the platform’s capabilities.