A realtor in your pocket
The client first came to us via our Twitter page, which he had been following for a long time to stay up to date on the Chicago startup scene. During our first meeting the client arrived with not only an idea, but decent wireframes for his app called Ezome.
Laying the foundation
When creating the branding for Ezome we wanted to build a brand that emphasizes knowledge, trust, and affordability. The client also asked for a more ‘abstract’ feel to it, so we didn’t use high resolution photos, which one might find on other housing type apps. We wanted a ton of different options for the logo, and with the limited budget, we decided to work with 99Designs on the logo design. After a few weeks, you can see the minimal house logo with the emphasis on greens and blue (money & calming) which you see in most cost saving and financial industries.
At first, the client wanted to make a very big app with lots of features, e-commerce, and a community functionality, but we whittled down the app to an MVP to better fit the project’s budget & to prove out the concept. Moreover, if we couldn’t make the 1.0 a success, the other two major parts of the app would be a lost cause.
Construction
The first step in bringing the app to life was to standardize the written content. We did this by implementing a lesson by lesson approach, which consisted of a total of 8 lessons. Each lesson is broken down into 5 or 6 chapters, many of which feature examples such as a mortgage or interest calculator.
After normalizing the content and reviewing the wireframes, we understood the ‘core’ of the app, but the navigation between chapters and lessons didn’t flow correctly for a native app. We came up w/ a custom way to jump from chapter to chapter, and also made sure to put lessons front & center, ensuring that users would know where to start.