Nesterly | Product Design & Strategy

www.Nesterly.io

Nesterly is a platform for intergenerational homesharing. Nesterly makes it safe and easy for households to share an extra room with a young person long-term. In addition, housemates can exchange basic help like grocery shopping, dog walking, and tech support for lower rent.

The problem

Affordable housing is a fundamental right, yet it is out or reach for most Americans, especially in urban cities like New York City and Boston. At the same time, there are an estimated 90,000 spare bedrooms in homes of empty nesters in a city like Boston. Among the empty nesters, many are older people who want companionship and help around the home. Nationally, the number of households headed by someone 65 or older will make up a third of all US households. A platform like Nesterly, that facilitates intergenerational home sharing has the opportunity to help the rapidly aging population in the U.S. stay in their homes while tackling the shortage of affordable housing.

What did we think about?

The user experience design of Nesterly from sign up to booking a home with a host, embodies these three values. Throughout the design process, we asked ourselves:

1. How can we design an experience that caters to users with different ages and levels of tech familiarity?

2. How do we instill trust in the Nesterly community for long-term home stays (WITHOUT making trust the main focal point of the experience)?

3. How do we ensure that the hosts and guests contribute to the overall mission of Nesterly to create more affordable housing?

Selected design and process

Additional work may be requested