The term “user experience” usually sparks visions of wireframes, but your users’ experiences don’t always start and end online, even if your product is an app. There’s major potential in those offline experiences to really bring your brand story full circle and make people feel like they’re part of something bigger. That’s why Nooklyn added a more tangible element to their otherwise pixel-based user experience.
Nooklyn is an online resource and app in New York City (for now) that helps you find apartments, roommates, and local gems in a way that’s less creepy and more appealing than Craigslist. While their product is an online service, CEO Harley Courts has taken a more hands-on approach to reward people when they actually find a place to live.
When you find a new apartment or roommate on Nooklyn and move into your new digs, you’re greeted by a welcome package that goes way beyond a mint on a pillow. Inside their custom box, you could get local jam and snacks, printed mugs, sandwiches from a local deli, a discount for a Casper mattress, a thank you note, and a lot of local treats. It’s a gold mine that goes beyond swag and starts to help their users envision their lives in a new neighborhood.
They add the Nooklyn brand wherever they can on everything from stamped coffee cups to embossed stationery. And their thoughtful package is just a piece of their invaluable efforts.
“We’ve painted apartments, payed for moving trucks, clients have crashed on my couch — it goes on and on. We are a people-first company.”
“The teepee, for us, represents the ability to easily pick up and move — something our generation is doing more of.”
The Nooklyn logo is one that's easy to put on anything. Big or small, the iconic, rounded teepee looks friendly and feels inviting. Harley came up with the logo himself as a symbol of the original homes. (The branding is by Daniel Haire.)
With their teepee mark and their boxes of goodies, Nooklyn can help control an experience that would otherwise be out of their hands. If something can go wrong, it can — and most definitely will— go wrong when moving, but Nooklyn takes their experience offline to ensure that they not only help people settle on a new place to live, but settle into their new place.
Compared to building a location-based, community-driven app and online platform, curating welcome boxes is a small thing. But for the frazzled Brooklynite whose legs are wobbling after hauling boxes up and down flights of stairs, who is finally out on their own, or who is just trying to make it in the big city, a sandwich or a free latte can make Nooklyn feel like less of an app and more of a welcoming, local community.
To explore Brooklyn and see what cities Nooklyn goes to next, follow them on Instagram.
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Katelan CunninghamEditorial Director at Lumi |