Client Ask

For this project, our client presented us with four design concepts and asked us to evaluate and prioritize each based on the appeal it might have with Millennials. The goal for our client was to design a top-notch service offering directed at millennial consumers, which could help improve short-term earning for the company and create a sustainable market of goods and services for millennials.

Market Research

Given that our client’s interest in attracting tech-savvy millennials, we initially thought our solution needed to be a fresh, visually compelling app or website design. In order to better understand the competitive landscape, we conducted back to back SWOT and Competitive Analysis on our client and their competitors. After review each of the concepts through these lenses, we decided to focus on concept #2 -- finding ways to help people to envision, collect and create personalized designs for their home or workspace.

User Research & Insights

Once we'd identified a concept, we moved to the next phase of research We began created a survey in which we asked a series of questions that would help us identify pain points, needs, online behavior and consumer preference as it relates to the services offered by our client. This survey included twenty-one (21) participants. Demographic information about age was collected to identify and highlight sentiment expressed by Millennials. The generational breakdown of these finding are as follows: One Baby-boomer, four Gen-Xers and ten Millennials.

Our first set of questions assessed the needs of our sample as it relates to the services offered by our client. The second set of questions were intended to identify how our survey participants find recommendations and reviews. The third set of questions were included to determine the general level of comfort they felt sharing personal information about themselves, their wants and goals online. Lastly, we asked participants to tell us what barriers prevent them from using services offered by our client or their competitors.

From this survey we collected the following information:

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76% of Millennials surveyed who said they needed the services provided by our client.
90% of Millennials do general searches online or ask friends and family for recommendations/reviews.
95% of Millennials expressed that they felt comfortable talking about sharing information about personal wants, needs, and goals on social media.
100% of Millennials reported that money was the main barrier to using our client's services or their competitors.

Overwhelmingly, our surveys showed that financial barriers were the primary reason why millennials were not using the platform. So we created several strategic design solutions aimed at removing financial barriers and creating a sustainable ecosystem for new business opportuniities.

Competitive Analysis

We then met with our client to presented our findings and our initial solutions. After walking them through our design solution, we discovered that some of the design solutions were projects that their internal design and strategy teams were exploring create financing options for customers using our client's platform. We were encouraged that our research findings lead us to solutions that our clients was already beginning to explore because it helped us better understand the kind of changes they wanted to make and the kind of experience they wanted to provide for their customers.

As we searched for design inspiration, we looked at sites like Pinterest, Houzz, Polyvore, theknot.com, and Trunk Club -- popular online brands that help people find and collect things they love and envision their own lives, tastes, and interests. Looking at the level of personalization on these sites, we began to think about ways that we could bring customization and flexibility to our client's platform.

Concepts

After reviewing the pain points and questions that arise during the process of finding and verifying the work of design professionals, we decided to create an experience that would simplify every stage of the process. For our design, we decided to do things differently. When people look for contractors they are not just looking for someone to get the job done, they are also looking for a partner that can help them conserve costs, give them tips or advice about design trends and ensure that the project is completed as soon as possible. Once we had fully fleshed out this new product concept, we met with our client to talk about the idea. We initially felt that this solution was a stark contrast from their current offerings, but the more we looked our survey and other research data, we felt that this would be a way to accomplished many goals for the organization.

Over the next week, we worked to refine our design solution. Given that we wanted to create an experience would simplify the process of envisaging, collecting and creating personalized spaces at home or workplace, our final design turned the process of looking a contractor on its head. Our design included the following aspects:

curated contractor portfolios
before and after photo archives
functionality to support virtually designing a space
in app chat with contractors
in app payment

When we presented to our clients, our design solution was well received. One of the main features of our design was particularly appealing to our client because it addressed aspects that were absent in their digital experience (app, web, mobile), and was a step beyond the features and concepts used by their competitors.