Renan Malato

Kick off

STNL is a company that tracks commercial real estate single-tenant properties across the country. They regularly publish reports to help investors evaluate and transact assets. These reports began as printed documents and later transitioned to PDFs sent via email.

Project Overview

What did I need to build?

After conducting secondary research, we uncovered data that helped us understand emerging user behaviors—specifically, a shift toward receiving market updates directly on mobile devices. Based on these insights, I proposed a mobile app as the most effective solution to deliver a modern user experience.

Challenges

How can we deliver a large volume of complex information on a small mobile screen—without overwhelming the user? The challenge was to transform dense, traditional reports into an intuitive, mobile-first experience.

The Problem

These are the actual reports that were previously sent by mail, often printed in a tri-fold or brochure-style layout. While visually rich, they struggled to communicate key insights effectively. Important data was crammed into limited space, making it hard for users to scan or digest quickly. The lack of clear hierarchy and digital interactivity led to user confusion - many didn't know where to look first, reducing engagement and impact.

Meet our users

To protect user privacy, the individuals shown here are fictional personas based on real user data, behaviors, and goals. These profiles were created to represent the typical needs, challenges, and motivations of our core user segments during the product design process.

George Graham

Age: 68 Occupation: CEO of a Real Estate Company George oversees a portfolio of over $100 million in commercial properties across the U.S. Staying informed about market shifts is critical to his role, but his demanding schedule leaves little time for deep research. He often relies on quick updates between meetings, using his phone to catch up during brief windows throughout the day. The STNL app provides him with a convenient and efficient way to stay current—turning spare moments into valuable insights.

Austin Jobles

Age: 49 Occupation: Former Baseball Player - actual Real Estate Investor Austin transitioned from professional sports to entrepreneurship and real estate investment. He manages a growing portfolio and is constantly evaluating new opportunities. To make informed decisions, he needs timely updates on market trends, asset performance, and industry movement. The STNL app delivers everything he needs in one place—giving him both a streamlined experience and the confidence to act quickly when opportunities arise.

What type of app structure?

I chose a sequential flow to guide users through content step by step—starting with the most important information displayed upfront in card format. Additional details are revealed progressively through "read more" interactions, making the experience feel lighter and more digestible while maintaining focus.

Competitive Audit

While there are no direct competitors in the commercial real estate research space using a mobile-first approach, I conducted a comparative audit by exploring apps from other industries that apply sequential user flows effectively. One strong reference was AT&T's "Smart Home Manager" app, which presents data in a clean, step-by-step format. Its use of progressive disclosure and card-based layout helped inspire the structure and interaction model for our application.

Wireframing

1st version build

To conduct a usability research we build the first prototype.

Usability Study

In the usability study we identified some points to build the new version.

Key Findings

Colorful

Too many colors in the app which was identified by the users as something less formal what was inadequate for this kind of business.

Interactions

Too many interactions

Loop

At the ending of the sequential there was not a way to get back to the home page.

Users identified that would be good to have a Read More button with the complementary information

Final Flow

Final Version

Takeaways

The STNL app was a valuable opportunity to dive into the trillion-dollar commercial real estate market—and also gain insight into its intersection with finance and investment. Through this project, I identified a significant gap in digital tools for this space. The next step is to evolve the platform into a full-featured experience, including user registration, category-based navigation, and advanced search filters—bringing greater utility and scalability to the product.

STNL Reports