Simplifying Rent Payment for Landlords in Qatar
My Role
Product Designer
Team Mates
Ajiri Omafokpe, Marie Emechebe
Year
2024
Our design for Tatami played a crucial role in helping the company secure over $50,000 in funding, validating the demand for a seamless rent collection platform in Qatar.
This case study documents the design process in achieving this highlighting how our team built a solution that simplified rent collection and turned a hassle into a seamless user experience
What is Tatami?
Tatami is a digital solution designed to streamline rent collection for landlords in Qatar. The platform simplifies the payment process, reduces administrative burdens, and enhances transparency by providing automated invoicing, multiple payment options, and real-time tracking of rental payments.
Problem Statement
Landlords in Qatar face challenges with fragmented rent collection and delayed transactions, causing inefficiencies, errors, and disputes. Tatami was designed to address these pain points by introducing an automated, user-friendly solution for landlords and tenants.
Deliverables
Landlord Module – A dashboard for managing multiple properties and tenants, tracking payments, and automating invoicing.
Tenant Module – An interface for tenants to view rent status, receive reminders, and make payments.
Admin Module – A backend system for monitoring transactions, user activity, and resolving disputes.
Crafting a solution
The client provided a well-defined brief, so we focused on executing a structured design process using the following steps:
User Journey Maps & Flows
These were created to visualize the experience for landlords and tenants, ensuring seamless navigation and identifying pain points. This process was also used to check in with clients, aligning the design with stakeholder expectations.
High Fidelity Prototypes
The steps outlined in the user flows guided the design of high-fidelity prototypes,these prototypes were then interactive and used for developer handoff, providing clear guidance for proper implementation.
Payment Reminders: This feature allows landlords ensure timely rent payment by automatically detecting late payments and sending bulk reminders, enhancing efficiency and reducing the need for individual follow up
Multi-Property Management: Allowing landlords with multiple properties to list and manage rent collection effortlessly
Invoices & Receipts: Automatically generating invoices and receipts for landlords and tenants.
Flexible Payment Options: Integrating multiple payment options for Tenants such as Apple Pay, PayPal and card payments for faster and more reliable transactions, unlike traditional methods that take multiple days to process.
Impact
Although the project was discontinued before full development, the designs played a crucial role in securing funding. The Tatami team successfully raised over $50,000, leveraging the high-fidelity prototypes and well-structured user experience to showcase the platform’s potential to investors.
Additionally, the design phase successfully laid the groundwork for a seamless rent collection experience. Early stakeholder feedback validated the need for an automated solution, reinforcing the importance of solving pain points related to rent collection in Qatar.
Learning
My key takeaways from this project were:
Client Collaboration is Key: With no research phase, aligning closely with the client’s vision was essential to executing a solution that met their expectations.
Payment Integration Challenges: Understanding the complexities of integrating diverse payment gateways and the regulatory considerations involved.