Cozy & Co
Background
Team:
Maya Nair, Alex Gherman, Allison Gibbons
Context:
One of my favorite classes I took while in undergrad was Design Methods, which focused on iterative design processes. Each year the class chooses a problem space to investigate. We then were split into teams, where we ideated on a solution, built out prototypes, and tested within our class.
Timeline & Scope
This class was held over a 10 week period of time. Because of this, we were only able to create 3 design iterations, and 3 rounds of research including contextual interviews, as well as 2 rounds of iterative testing.
Research statement and goals
In this class, the problem space we were working with focused on the mental and physical effects of work-from-home fatigue, more specifically looking into the impact of physical improvements to a workspace.
We were motivated to look into this problem space and ideate design solutions due to its relevance in the 2020 climate of remote work during a global pandemic, as well as the anticipated workplace culture shift to allow more remote work even post-pandemic.
The particular problem within our design space that we chose to tackle is the physical detriments of remote work. This includes all physical parts of an at-home office space, like desks, office chairs, monitor set-ups, and other electronics that may be involved in a remote worker’s environment and daily routines. This transformed into a central “how might we” statement that reads, “How might we help remote tech workers redesign their at-home workspaces to be more ergonomic and less physically taxing?”.
Research Methods
Contextual Interviews
First, we chose to conduct a round of contextual interviews with a target user group. In our contextual interviews, we learned about how specific remote workers have adapted and coped with remote work, sharing their struggles as well as their journeys in trying to address pain points on their own.
To do this, we conducted a set of one-on-one interviews in person, where we watched people in their work spaces.
Our interviewees ranged from college students to tech industry workers who had switched from in-office/in-classroom lifestyles, to fully virtual work and learning settings due to the pandemic.
Key Notes
Across all interviews, we gained insight into how difficult it can be to practice work-life balance in an environment where the two aren’t physically distinct in the same way that they were pre-pandemic.
Both students and remote workers discussed needing to adapt at-home work spaces significantly to facilitate more privacy from their family’s and roommates, as well as issues with being able to hold focus.
In one contextual interview, we were able to observe the interviewee, a software engineer, in his casual work-meeting space as well as his regular individual work space within his home.
When not attending meetings, all of this interviewee’s work is tied to his computer, where he stands or sits in front of for the better part of his 8 hour day, depending on if one day of the week is more focused on meetings or project presentations.
This contextual examination allowed us to see changes in body language, tone, facial expression, and interactions that occur within a worker’s at-home space. When observing the tech worker’s daily remote work routine, we noticed that he was much more relaxed, smiling and leaning back in a large cushioned rocking chair, when he was illustrating the environment of his daily coffee meetings where he got to catch up with co-workers.
Initial Findings
After the interview process, we decided on the idea of developing a prototype for a site dedicated to ergonomic and stylish pieces for at home work to help remote workers optimize their at home work experience.
This platform would showcase a multitude of curated posts by experts on ergonomic and stylish work-from-home options aimed at helping inspire at home workers to invest in their workspaces to improve not only their own set-up but also their productivity.
On our site, a user can initially land on a main page similarly styled to other photo-content based sites such as Pinterest or Amazon.
Our site's functionality will also include the ability to filter for various options based on the size of space available to be made into an office as well as the preferred price range of a given user. From this, we built out our first iteration of low fidelity prototypes.
Inital Sketches
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
A link to the full low-fidelity prototype can be found here.
Structure Overview
Wireframe Examples
Testing
For our first round of testing, we conducted focus groups within our class which consisted of low fidelity wireframes on figma
We conducted this by sitting with groups of 2-3 people, allowing them to click through the prototype. We were able to watch them navigate the site as they saw fit. We did not interject with directions, and instead allowed for them to casually discuss amongst themselves what their thought process was when looking at the site and their opinions on various features. We then recorded and analyzed their responses.
Originally, we designed it so users had to sign up for an account, then choose which filters they wanted to apply, and then they would be presented with images for products that would fit their room size and budget.
However, after hearing interviewees say they wanted more inspiration pictures without having to choose filters from the beginning, we decided to change the layout to be more similar to Pinterest. This way, the user can view the photos without logging in, but if they click on an image and want more information about the products in it, they need to sign up for an account to get those perks.
We also received feedback which indicated that we needed to be more descriptive throughout the overall site. We originally used ambiguous language on our filter options for “small”, “medium” and “large” rooms. These phrases were confusing to our first users, so we changed them to be more explicit in the final prototype.
This change helped us explain our product better to our users, so it’s more clear for people who go to use it in the future without us being there to answer questions.
Another place that needed more description on our site was the feedback form which we originally included at the bottom of each page. Many users didn’t understand if they were supposed to be reviewing the website or the individual products and many users said they wouldn’t use it in general.
This led to us getting rid of the feedback form and instead focusing more on the filtering design path in our final prototype.
Based on user feedback, we also got the idea to make bookmarks and profile pages in the high fidelity prototype. This allows users to save images or products they really enjoy, but only if they’re signed in, which would encourage more people to sign-up for accounts in order to enjoy these perks.
Feedback
High-Fidelity Wireframes
Structure Overview
Wireframe Examples
Feedback
After building our second prototype based on feedback we got on our initial wireframes, we re-tested this prototype with a new group of interviewees, once again in the form of focus groups.
This feedback was generally more positive than what we received on our low fidelity wireframes, as the website was more descriptive and visually appealing than our original designs.
Users were able to click through our website and understand what each page required from them without having to ask us clarifying questions.
Many users mentioned that they liked how straightforward our website was because the design was very simple and consistent with other websites they were familiar with. Others mentioned that they would likely use this website because of the personalization options which would make it easy to find furniture that was catered to their needs.
We also got feedback on how more filtering options would be useful, so we would look into that if we were to continue iterating on this idea. We would also like to do more user testing on this final prototype before adding on to the design, but more of these future steps are covered in the next section.
Next Steps
If given more time, we would begin by bringing our high fidelity prototype out for more user testing.
In these interviews we would further investigate the flow of the application. We feel our design changed so significantly from our initial prototype that it would be interesting to further explore what potential opportunities there could be for further refinement.
Another area we would address would be implementing more filtering options for health conditions and space privacy. These are two areas of at home work which we think would be important to include as it would further increase the accessibility for both users with disabilities and long term fatigue of any sort. It would also account for users who might not have an entire designated space of their own.