1. THE PROBLEM

I was just doing the math, and, in 10 years, my family moved 16 times. That’s an average of more than one time per year!

So, when I was approached about this project, I knew I could put some of that experience to use, and, I did!

Main problem:

What do you do if you want to actually use things you have stored? Do you have to go through every box and see if you can find it? Do you keep an inventory so you know what you have and don’t have?

Some people do, but some people use a product like Smart Boxes.

2. THE STUDY

We interviewed about 10 individuals from the local community, and based on their personas, we came out with 3 main ones:

The consumer who may be looking for their holiday decorations, for example
The small biz owner who may not have enough room in their shop for inventory
The storage unit company that may want to sell a similar product as an added-value to their clients

In addition to this, we also concluded the following:

Small competition = Large opportunities
Would require a physical product + packaging

3. THE APPROACH

We did several white boarding sessions with the stakeholders to refine the user flow
We performed some market research which concluded that we would approach storage unit owners first
Explored several mood boards, ranging from “modern - minimalist” to “is this a rave?” - opted for something in between
Researched in order to conclude that we needed stickers, packaging, manufacturing and suppliers
Researched several suppliers, and used negotiating skills to find the best option at the best cost. We also concluded that for the MVP we would start with in-house printing (which would require some testing and hiring and a set of other steps that we won’t explore in depth here because we all have lives)
I used the skills I gathered on a previous buying job to search for the best material product to use lead times, equipment needed, etc.

4. The Branding

For data-visualization, this project had the possibility of doing something very unique and fun for the end-user. This was a big drive, and, I’d even say is what in the end ruled the branding.

I will post some rejects below because they were too good to not share, enjoy!

5. THE APP

The app caters 2 of the 3 end-users, which are the same personas I mentioned above:

General user - would be anyone who stores anything and has access to a smartphone with wifi
Small biz owner - would be someone who is solving an inventory problem
Storage unit owner - would be someone who is selling the product as well to enhance his offerings to the public

With this in mind, we worked through user flows, including teaming up with the development team to align the user flows with any tech requirements