Enhancing the user experience of the storage area

Design thinking process

Introduction

👋Hello to each and every one of you. I’m Saurav Surendran, your friend and a user experience designer. With UX Anudeep’s mentoring, I recently completed a design-thinking project, and in this case study, I’ll describe the steps I followed and the things I learnt. So, fasten your seatbelt and be ready for the project tour.

Overview

The main goal of the project is to understand how the design thinking process helps to solve and approach user and business problems.

— But you don’t need to be a designer to apply the principles of Design Thinking —

In order to complete the project, I was given a list of areas in the house. I made the decision to choose the storage area from the list and enhance the user experience in that specific area. I’ll also describe the design thinking process I applied to accomplish this.

⭐The Problem Areas were‍

I was put in a group with seven other people to begin the project. Each individual should choose one of these areas to focus on and no two members are supposed to select the same area. After selecting the topic, members of the group have to discuss the reason behind selecting the topic, and mine was that when I read each and every topic from the list, I had some ideas before even starting the project, but when I read the storage area, I had no ideas, so I selected the storage area, and the plus point for this was that I could reduce personal bias as my mind was blank.

Design thinking process

Design thinking is a powerful foundation for innovation, collaboration, and product improvement. The design thinking is a nonlinear, iterative approach that consists of five stages, and they are.

1️⃣Empathize — [Stage 1]

Understand the needs and problems of the user for whom you are designing. In this stage I’ve to connect with the users to understand and immerse in their perspective.

Where I started with user interview (1V1) to better understand their needs and problems related to storage area. so, to start interview I have to prepare questions in a such a way that

• They should be open-ended
• Questions and interviews should be conversational rather than QNA session
• Do not directly ask your users about their issues. Because they are unaware that they have issues.

I therefore made an effort to concentrate on the above-mentioned factors both during preparation and the interview in order to better understand the user.

⭐Questions for interview

• Where do you store your least used items in your house?
• Could you describe the storage area? How does it look and feel?
• Where in your house this storage area is situated?
• Why do you think it is located in that specific area or part of the house?
• What do you generally store in the storage area?
• How are these items kept in the storage area? Explain the process?
• Describe a scenario in which you would want to take something from your storage area. How will you take that out? Can you explain the process?
• How long does it take you to put things in and take things out from the storage area?
• What are the challenges you have faced in this process?
• Think of a situation where you are shifting your house to a new place. What are the things you will check or consider in the storage area of that house?
• Do you think storage areas are an important part of a house? Why?
• What do you like and dislike about your storage area?

After preparing questions it was time for 1v1 interview with the group members (users) and during interview I noted all their points and also recorded interview for further reference.

2️⃣ Define — [Stage 2]

In the define stage, I went through every user interview notes and recordings to gather user issues and define them as problem statements.

😤Problems

• The storage space is on the terrace, which makes it difficult to access
• Require assistance while taking or storing things as storage is on terrace
• Because the storage area is not well-maintained or organized, it can often be difficult to find and search for items there
• When taking things from the cupboard, objects would typically fall because cupboard is on the upper part
• To take things and place them in the storage area, I must climb up a chair to store things because cupboard is on the upper part
• When looking for objects in the storage area, it might be a little challenging if you don’t know exactly where to look
• It’s hard to climb up the ladder to take things and put things in the storage area
• Sometimes gets scared of falling from the ladder while carrying stuffs to store
• It’s risky to store things if alone as the berths are little higher
• Every extra thing should be in storage area so there is no clutter in the other areas

Let’s move on to the third stage of the design thinking process now that the problems have been analyzed and it is time to find a solution for each problem.

3️⃣ Ideate — [Stage 3]

At this stage, I started ideating solutions using a technique called “crazy 8's”, where there will be 8 minutes and 8 ideas where I have to come up with solutions within the given time for each problem
‍
I came up with almost 25 ideas, from which I selected the top 3 ideas, they are….

💡Top 3 ideas

1. Add a long cabinet to the floor which is attached to the wall and has a cushion on top (like a sofa) so you can use it for sitting, storing things, and aesthetically matching your room.
2. To know exactly where things are kept, make a screen on the wall that serves as a storage area layout.
3. Heavy items can be carried to the terrace using a tiered cart and railing.

I have to pick the best idea from top 3 ideas to move on to the next phase.

🥇Top 1 idea💡

Add a long cabinet to the floor which is attached to the wall and has a cushion on top (like a sofa) so you can use it for sitting, storing things, and aesthetically matching your room.

4️⃣Prototype— [stage 4]

It’s time to put the chosen concept to work and create a user-friendly product that can solve the problems.

Primary problems that my prototype solves

1. Objects might fall when being taken from the berths due to the berth’s overhead position.
2. Users must climb up because the berth is close to the Ceiling area in order to take items and place them in the storage area.

5️⃣Test — [stage5]

Moment of truth; in this stage I have come to a point where I can test the prototype I have built. By testing, I mean getting feedback on it. I came to the realization that you won’t know whether or not your idea worked unless you test your prototype with users.

🗣️Feedbacks

• What if there isn’t enough space to add this cabinet?
• We have to constantly remind people to get up and move out of the way if I want to take anything from the cabinet and someone is sitting on it.

🔮Future scopes

It’s time to iterate the current design based on the user feedback I received because design thinking is an iterative process.

• I will make the prototype in such a way that it can be adjustable and easy to move by adding a tier so it can fit even in a small space
• I will add a part where it can be opened from the sides and front as well, so when someone is sitting, they can open the other part as well.

💰Key learnings

What I’ve learned about design thinking so far is.

• Iam not the user: Keeping this in mind will always assist you in better understanding the user and their needs to solve them effectively without personal bias
• You have the chance to approach challenges from a whole new angle when you use design thinking.
• How to approach an issue and develop a solution that has the potential to transform the world.
• Solving the problem is just not enough. It is important that it should work effectively
• Not everyone will accept your idea, and it is impossible to develop a prototype in one go. You can only refine and build a better product by iterating based on feedback.

--practice makes better not perfect--

Conclusion

So, this is a wrap. For now, I will make myself practice design thinking, rectify all the mistakes I have made in the process, and keep on going with the learning process to create better and user-friendly designs #studentforlife