LAHKIO (Tenant Exchange)
Full website and branding redesign built to give Ann Arbor renters trustworthy, tenant-verified housing reviews
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
Jun 2026 - Aug 2026 (3 months)
Team
2 Project Managers
1 Developer
2 UX Designers
Type
Product Design • B2C
context
Designing for a city of renters
LAHKIO (previously known as Tenant Exchange) gives Ann Arbor renters honest, tenant-verified reviews of apartments and houses before they sign a lease, replacing guesswork with real experiences from people who actually lived there.
Our task: Redesign the site and brand to make that possible.
54%
of Ann Arbor housing units
are renter-occupied
75%
of UMich undergrads
live off campus
$2,058
average monthly apartment
rent in Ann Arbor
the problem
Renters are deciding blind, on the clock
Ann Arbor's housing market is uniquely high-pressure and students often have to sign leases before their current semester even ends, as off-campus occupancy sits near 98%.
As someone who's gone through the Ann Arbor housing race, I know how students (including myself!) rush into signing a lease without much information.
Decisions happen too
fast, too early
Students sign leases in Oct/Nov for the following year, often before they've lived anywhere long enough to know what to look for.
Reviews that exist are
hard to trust
Anonymous platforms can be gamed; a 5-star average from 3 reviews tells you nothing.
No visibility until its
too late
24% of renters never visit before leasing, so bad experiences (mold, unresponsive management) surface only after signing.
research
Letting renters tell us where reviews fail them
7
Interviews conducted
37
Public reviews read
7
Buildings audited
Renters can’t tell a good review from a bad one
I recorded and analyzed reviews by what it talked about and counted.
Spreadsheet for tracking public reviews
38%
Mention maintenance
27%
19%
Mention noise
16%
Mention value
Alan Martin
Sophomore Undergrad, first lease
"I signed in like October, and it was only maybe six weeks into the semester. I had no idea what questions to ask. Everyone kept saying units were going fast, so we toured for like fifteen minutes and just signed because we were all stressing."
Shriya Kankatala
Senior Masters, third lease
"I had like six tabs open, Google, Reddit, a Facebook group. I read maybe a 20-30 reviews and still couldn’t tell you which place was better. I just wanted someone to tell me the basics about the place."
Reviews don’t tell renters enough...
Leases are signed in Oct/Nov (peak midterm season), with little time to read long reviews.
A 4.2 review won’t say if the problem was maintenance or noise.
and can’t be trusted without context
Renters want to know if the reviewer lived there and for how long.
Management turns over, so old reviews can mislead.
design decisions
Decision 01 - Layout
Option 1 for apartment and housing pages: listing first
Follows a traditional rental layout, with the description, details, amenities, floor plans, and management info in a sidebar and reviews below.
Option 2 for apartment and housing pages: reviews prioritized
A Tenant Snapshot sits at the top, followed by a Rating Breakdown (Management, Maintenance, Noise Levels, Value in price), Common Pros and Cons, then the reviews, with filters and similar apartments nearby.
Went with Option 2 because it puts tenant-sourced information first, which is the whole point of the product and directly answers the problem of platforms that prioritize marketing over lived experience.
Decision 02 - Color
The existing brand used a beige, maroon, and black palette with a bold sans heading.
Second system with a serif heading, a cleaner sans for subheads, and a maize and blue palette.
Chose maize and blue for the audience of University of Michigan students. Those colors read as “this is for us” immediately, which supports trust, and the navy gives the interface a more credible, informational tone than the warm beige.
Decision 03 - Informative navigation
final designs
A trust-first housing search experience for Ann Arbor renters
Browse apartments and houses at a glance
Each card shows rating, average cost, safety rating, and a real tenant quote, so renters can compare before they click.
See who’s behind the reviews
Explains what LAHKIO does and why renters can trust what tenants say.
See what living there is really like
Starts with a tenant snapshot and ratings for management, maintenance, noise, and value. Reviews are labeled by tenant status, unit type, and time lived there.
Answers for house renters before they sign
House facts, landlord details with average repair time, and common questions to ask before signing, followed by detailed reviews.
reflection
My takeaways
If given more time…
Listen before you design
My first project built on interviews. Asking about real decisions, not opinions, surfaced problems I wouldn’t have guessed.
Add a compare view
Let renters put two buildings side by side, since choosing between options is where most searches end.
Design for how people actually decide
People are rushed, distracted, and comparing options. Lead with what matters most, let the details follow, and make every element earn its place.
Surface the leasing timeline
Show Ann Arbor’s 150-day leasing rule dates so students know when landlords can legally sign new tenants.