Yuxin Cheng

Five-Star Living

2021

Product designer

OVERVIEW OF rxo home APP

Client

RXR Realty, one of the largest landlords in the New York tri-state area.

Background

The McKinsey team was hired by RXR to build RXR Digital Lab, which contains a suite of digital products designed to enhance the quality of life and operational efficiency within RXR’s urban residential communities. The initiative reimagines how residents and building staff interact with their living environment, delivering a connected, seamless, and data informed experience that elevates modern city living.

Scope of work

Part of the product suite is the RXO Home app, a resident application deployed in luxury residential buildings managed by RXR. I focused on designing the UX and UI of the RXO app, including its MVP features, creating the design system, and implementing several post-launch iterations to enhance the user experience.

Home screen redesign

For the quick MVP launch, the home screen was designed to be primarily utility focused, with visual and structural refinements planned for future releases. We knew this was not the ideal experience we envisioned for the homepage, as several shortcomings were present in this version:


  • Usability: Navigation was unclear, requiring multiple clicks for users to return to the home screen

  • Visual Design: The screen did not reflect the brand’s luxury positioning and lacked a sense of building or brand identity

mvp home screen

At the start of this redesign, I noticed that no formal Information Architecture existed. To create a more efficient navigation, I created the IA, which provided a holistic view of the product structure and served as a foundation for current and future design decisions.

Zoomable image

rxo home app ia (hover to zoom in)

home screen redesign

Redesign key updates:


  • Visual Enhancement: Incorporated brand and building identity elements and reorganized the screen layout to create a more refined and luxurious experience

  • Information Hierarchy: Introduced a tiered structure displaying content in descending order of importance: items requiring immediate attention, frequently used features, and promotional materials

  • Navigation Improvement: Added a bottom navigation bar based on the IA to provide clear, accessible pathways to key sections of the app


The redesign improved usability, strengthened the brand presence, and created a more intuitive and visually engaging home screen for residents.

Feature showcase - Maintenance

The maintenance feature in the MVP allowed users to submit requests and review service request tickets. After we launched the MVP, we conducted user testing with building tenants, building superintendents, and maintenance staff, which revealed several opportunities for improvement:


  • Clear nomenclature: Maintenance categories should be easy to understand for all users

  • Photos and supplemental materials: Users wanted the ability to add photos and captions to better describe issues

  • Status updates: Tenants and staff wanted a visible digital trail of ticket progress, including updates and notes

  • Pet information: Maintenance staff needed to know if pets were present in the apartment and any relevant notes

screens from the mvp maintenance feature

redesigned maintenance feature

Based on these insights, we made the following updates to the post-MVP Maintenance feature:


Visual enhancements to align with updated brand guidelines and the design system

Improved nomenclature for maintenance categories

Ability to add photos while creating tickets

Enhanced progress tracking with status updates and notes


These updates created a more intuitive, informative, and visually cohesive maintenance experience for both residents and staff.

Measurement for success

In parallel with the launch of the RXO Home app, our team also developed a dashboard to track key performance indicators and benchmark progress against quarterly goals. During this process, we collaborated with our client to identify what is working, uncover areas for improvement, and determine strategies to enhance the product experience, and gradually transitioned the ownership of the products to our clients.

dashboard example

YUXIN CHENG | NEW YORK | 2025