#MobileApp
#UXResearch
#DesignSystem
#UXDesign
#Figma
1
Americans dump 12 million tons of furniture annually.
2
Making & shipping a piece of furniture emits 90 kilograms of carbon, equal to flying a Boeing 747 for an hour.
3
Students relocating to new cities for their studies struggle to find affordable and high-quality furniture for their temporary homes.
4
Used furniture in 2017 amounted to just 2% of total furniture sales (used and new).
To solve the above listed problems we decided to include feature add-ons to the existing IKEA ecosystem to cater to shoppers occupying temporary housing (e.g. students) for a limited time period.
Within a new “Sustainability” section, not found in IKEA.com/us/en, mobile app version 3.29.0, we propose to introduce an IKEA marketplace for refurbished furniture that can address user concerns over traditionally used marketplaces (real-world and digital).
1
User Surveys
We conducted a survey to understand more about our users and their requirements by asking them questions like What type of furniture arrangement best fits your requirement? What did you do with your furniture when moved out?
2
User Interviews
To prepare for user interviews, we wrote a series of research questions investigating how people purchase furniture (new and used), thoughts on their purchases, and thoughts on furniture shopping platforms (e.g. online marketplaces, IKEA, social media, etc.).
Afterwards, the team paired research questions with written question verbatims that would be recited to interview participants.
We gathered our interview notes and verbatim from 12 participants and then used FigJam to create Work Activity Affinity Diagram (WAAD), Flow-model diagram, and User Personas.
1
User work roles
Buyer of refurbished furniture, who has to explore the available options and choose the most suitable product based on factors such as needs, quality, location, price, etc.
Seller of used IKEA furniture, who is tasked identifying the model's name, reporting current state of furniture (damages), purchase details, etc, and arrange transport to IKEA warehouse.
2
Machine work roles
IKEA app, which allows buyers to explore refurbished furniture, order and make payment, arrange transport, etc, and allows sellers to enter/upload details of used furniture, arrange pickup, receive payment/credit, etc. The platform also helps users know order/pickup status.
IKEA Warehouse app, that enables backend stakeholders such as quality inspectors, estimators, logistics, etc to report receipt and status of the furniture at each node of transfer.
Flow Models were created to illustrate the working relationship between machine (database and IKEA website) and users (IKEA buyers/ sellers, IKEA transport, and IKEA used furniture inspectors. One potential barrier to the flow model is furniture being damaged in-transit, preventing used furniture transaction from being complete.
Initially we identified personas on the based-on data we collected through user research. Mostly there are two types of university students:
1
Domestic Student
who recently got rid of his existing furniture is migrating to new city for graduation after completion of undergrad. And he is planning to buy affordable but high-quality furniture upon arriving to new city.
2
International Student
who transited to unfurnished apartment in new country. She was looking for cheap but reliable furniture.
After identifying two different personas, we merged them to one on the basis of the similarity of the user goals and came up with the primary persona.
The team then went to a whiteboard and drew two storyboards outlining needs and subtasks with (1) students exchanging used IKEA furniture back to IKEA for in-store credit, and (2) students purchasing used IKEA furniture. The first 3-4 panels highlight student needs and pain points (e.g., purchasing friction in online marketplaces, leaving furniture in the streets when abruptly moving out, students being low-income coming straight out of high school/ undergraduate school, etc.). The following whiteboard pictures illustrate the benefits of purchasing used IKEA furniture from IKEA at a discount.
Following storyboarding, the team took to the whiteboard to plan user flows, key tasks, and screen layouts.
Aligning on the overall user flow, we split the key user tasks among the team members to sketch individual flows.
Sketching paper prototypes helped us conceptualized user activities, interactions, and features to fit the needs of the user and the ecosystem.
After evaluating our flow diagrams and sketches, the team opted to narrow our scope by designing tasks that involve consumers buying/selling used IKEA furniture under a new IKEA sustainability campaign:
Customers going to the IKEA sustainability page and adding refurbished furniture to checkout
Customers logging into IKEA for students and interacting with feature (e.g. furniture bundle and checklist)
Customers selling used furniture
Customers finding used furniture based on location
The team opted to stick to flows involving customers buying/ selling used furniture under our proposed IKEA sustainability campaign. Evaluating our existing flow diagrams/ brainstorming, the team opted to not design screens that involve IKEA inspectors or other IKEA employees (which was the entire 2nd half of our hierarchical task diagram).
In order to get initial feedback from the users we conducted 5 informal user tests on our mid-fi prototype. We got insights into where our designs needed improvement. These tests were really helpful for us to get feedback from users and improve our designs at an early stage to avoid rework and saved a lot of time.
After gathering valuable user feedback and addressing identified issues, we proceeded to implement changes and ultimately crafted a comprehensive design system featuring high-fidelity screens.
1. Access Refurbised Marketplace
2. Sell used furniture & earn credit
3. Access Student Bundles
4. Make a checklist and find items
1
Introducing feature add-ons to an existing ecosystem by aligning elements to the existing hierarchy and userflow.
2
Generative research involves not making assumptions— what’s most insightful may end up surprising us.
3
Creating alignment involves listening, consistency, setting healthy boundaries, and having fun during meetings.
4
The importance of data modeling in the design process to bridge the gap between user research and ideation.
