02 / Case Study · Concept

Settle. Relocation & travel partner.

A personal relocation assistant that turns the chaos of moving to a new country into a clear, guided and manageable process.

Role: Product Designer (UI/UX)
Duration: 8-week design sprint
Platform: Mobile · iOS + Android

Project Overview

Problem — International relocation is rarely a seamless transition. It's a complex web of hundreds of fragmented tasks.

Role — I led an 8-week end-to-end design sprint to create Settle, a mobile relocation partner. Grounded in comprehensive user research, the app bridges the gap between travel and residency, organising the chaos of moving into a clear, manageable roadmap that prioritises the user's peace of mind.

Jump to hi-fi designs

Relocation Market

Migration is no longer a niche event; it is a global mega-trend. The 2024 UN World Migration Report counts ~281 million international migrants globally — double 1990. The OECD reports that over 6 million people move permanently to developed countries every year, excluding students and digital nomads.

281M

International migrants globally (UN 2024)

6M+

People move to OECD countries every year

70%

Move for economic opportunity

20%

Move for education

User Research

The research phase was driven by three objectives: understand relocation challenges, identify time-sensitive tasks, and learn how people currently organise moves.

Qualitative

Four in-depth user interviews to learn about pain points, needs and expectations around relocation.

Quantitative

A survey gathered insights on feature prioritisation, helping us find the common segment and validate our hypotheses.

Competitive Analysis

Existing solutions focus on isolated problems — none offer a unified, user-centric journey.

Relocation services

Deel, Localyze

Wins

Handle bureaucracy end-to-end

Gaps

B2B focused, not for individuals

Productivity tools

Notion, Todoist

Wins

Flexible task management

Gaps

Generic — no relocation context

Community platforms

Reddit, Facebook Groups

Wins

Real people, real answers

Gaps

Scattered, advice hard to trust

Document storage

Drive, Dropbox

Wins

Reliable file storage

Gaps

No guidance on what's required

Key Insights & Opportunities

The Verification Loop

70% of users waste 5+ hours a week cross-referencing data, lacking a 24/7 support system to validate their findings.

Task Sequencing

Users fail to identify which tasks block others (‘I need a bank account to rent, but an address to bank’), leading to operational deadlocks.

Asset Management

Critical documents (visas, deeds, contracts) are often disorganised, causing panic during high-stakes appointments.

Social Displacement

Beyond logistics, users struggle with the ‘soft’ challenges of relocation — loneliness and the lack of a local support network.

The Solution

Empathising with the user's problems, I distilled the research into a set of major product requirements that shape the overall experience.

01Automatically generate a comprehensive relocation task list with clear timelines, allowing users to edit, delete, and track progress in real-time.
02Let users upload required documents, reviewed internally, with anything missing clearly flagged.
0324×7 support system with an intuitive path to reach help.
04Community features — local events and discussion hubs — to help users feel ‘at home’ even before they arrive.

User Persona · Primary user

Name: Priya Sharma
Age: 27
Role: Software Engineer
Device: Mobile-first, expects quick, clear actions
Context: Moving from Bangalore, India → Berlin, Germany for a full-time job

Behaviours

Researches heavily but gets overwhelmed quickly.
Saves links, screenshots and PDFs across devices.
Relies on WhatsApp groups, Reddit and friends for reassurance.
Checks tasks multiple times due to fear of mistakes.

Feelings

Excited about career growth and living abroad.
Anxious, uncertain, mentally overloaded.
Wants reassurance that she's ‘doing things right’.

Goals

Complete all relocation tasks correctly and on time.
Avoid fines, legal trouble or missing mandatory steps.
Feel in control instead of anxious during the move.
Settle into life in Germany as quickly as possible.

Pain Points

Doesn't know what to do first.
Overwhelmed by German bureaucracy and unfamiliar terminology.
Information fragmented across blogs, expat forums and government sites.
Afraid of missing time-sensitive legal steps.
Unsure which documents are critical vs. optional.

Information Architecture

Design & Prototyping

Lo-Fi Ideation

The lo-fi ideation phase focused on defining a structure that reduces cognitive load during the stressful relocation process. A milestone-based architecture breaks down an international move into bite-sized steps before moving into hi-fi.

Lo-Fi Designs

Mood-board

I chose a cohesive palette of ombre and layered greens — from deep forest to light sage — to transform the ‘red-alert' chaos of relocation into a guided journey of growth and stability, moving away from the clinical feel of a standard checklist toward the natural transition of ‘planting roots' in a new home.

Design System & Hi-Fi Designs

Easy Onboarding

The sign-up is frictionless — email or phone. Immediately after, users complete a targeted questionnaire to capture essential move details, which is instantly processed into a personalised relocation roadmap.

The App Experience

The roadmap is divided into logical phases. Users see only immediate, actionable items rather than a daunting long list, with the flexibility to add or edit tasks. A dedicated, encrypted hub stores sensitive paperwork; a Community Hub connects users with peers; and an integrated Calendar keeps everyone aligned with the move date.

The UX through the journey

Feedback & Error states

Figma File

Accessibility Considerations

Cognitive & Visual

Primary brand palette maintains a 3.7:1 contrast ratio, meeting WCAG for large text and graphical components. High-legibility sans-serif fonts with generous line spacing reduce visual noise during high-stress relocation tasks.

Interactive & Motor

All interactive elements maintain a minimum 44×44 dp touch target. Error states provide explicit fixes, reducing frustration for users with motor or cognitive impairments.

Assistive Technology

Clear semantic hierarchy so screen readers can phrase the roadmap by milestones. Progress bars and document icons include descriptive labels (e.g. ‘Relocation 40% Complete’).

Linguistic & Inclusive

Complex legal terms translated into simple, actionable language. Integrated AI assistant (Sia) provides immediate, simplified explanations of difficult document requirements.

Prototype

Explore the interactive prototype to see how the relocation journey feels in action — from onboarding to the first completed task.

Open prototype

Key Takeaways

01Designing for journeys is more effective than designing for features — structuring the product around user progress and mental models made the experience feel personal.
02Information architecture plays a critical role in reducing anxiety. A well-thought-out IA reassures users of what to focus on now and what can wait.
03Contextual visibility improves decision-making. Surfacing tasks, documents and guidance based on the user's current phase kept things intentional rather than overwhelming.
04Support systems are as important as functional tools — community and AI provide the emotional layer that checklists cannot.
05Simplification is a design skill. Distilling a complex system into a clear IA — without losing depth — was the hardest and most valuable part.