Homes for Heels

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  Home page

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  Community page

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  Chats page

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  Profile page

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  Advice/public forum page

Inspiration

International and out-of-state UNC students face a hidden transition gap- no housing over breaks, no local knowledge, no easy way to connect with in-state peers. We wanted to fix that with a platform built by students, for students.

What it does

Home for Heels connects international and out-of-state UNC students with in-state hosts for break housing and local guidance. Users can browse hosting availability, request stays, and access an advice tab from local students, all in one place.

How we built it

Designed end-to-end in Figma, including wireframes, a component library, and an interactive prototype, then brought to life with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Design decisions were driven by user empathy: reducing friction in the sign-up flow and making navigation intuitive for users unfamiliar with the platform.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest design challenge was friction in the sign-up flow and inconsistent cross-page navigation. We iterated on the Figma prototype multiple times before implementation to catch issues early.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Shipped a fully functional, interactive website in one hackathon, and won the Genesys "Best User Experience" award, validating that our design-first approach resonated with judges.

What we learned

Learned to use Figma for full product design, from low-fidelity wireframes to a polished prototype, and how to bridge design and development handoff efficiently under time pressure.

What's next for Homes for Heels

A more comprehensive guide page that offers the students more accommodations and help. We also hope to implement a function that automatically partners students with the same interests. Homes for Heels also hopes to expand its website to other colleges throughout North Carolina, the United States, and even the world! We believe that this website can help solve a global issue that many of our peers struggle with.

Built With

• css
• figma
• html
• javascript