SECONDARY RESEARCH
“Confession: Decorating Makes Me Anxious”
— Clever
Young homeowners get anxiety when decorating because of the immense fear of making a mistake, especially when they are on a budget. Pulling the proverbial trigger to create your own sanctuary is important for so many reasons, including energy, mood, even the likelihood that you’ll socialize in your home.
— apartment therapy
People often wait too long to begin selecting colors or furniture making it even more difficult to start the project. The blank walls become more precious and the choices more weighted.Finally, the decorating pressure is too much to handle or you just get used to an empty space.
“What is the most stressful part of home decorating and why?”
— Quora
Budgetary
Figuring out the basic costs (paint, architecture, etc...) and then thrift shop when necessary. Difficult to find a balance between budget, taste,
and style.
Too Many Choices
There are so many alternatives to choose from
Colors
Hard to determine what colors go with each other
Time
Don’t know how long the renovation takes if you hire someone to do it. It takes time to research and order furnitures and decors.
COMPETITIVE AUDIT
Hutch
Hutch merges the worlds of rendering and shopping, virtually outfitting rooms from photos users upload and allowing them to shop the look directly.
-
You can change the layout of your room virtually by taking picture
-
Not the best execution and communication of the app’s abilities.
-
Lack of versatility
Houzz
Houzz got 16 million+ high-res images of interiors and exteriors.
-
Shop from Over 10 Million Products
-
View in My Room 3D
-
Curated furniture and home decors
-
Shows the trend interior designs and ideas
-
You can hire the local pro for your project
-
Quantity of options may overwhelm
-
High-end, targeting house holders
IKEA Place
IKEA Place app lets you see how items from this assemble-it-yourself home furnishing store look in your room.
-
Affordable furniture with easy layout
-
Shows the layout examples and organizing hacks
-
Placing objects accurately isn’t always smooth
-
Only IKEA products
Havenly
Havenly will have your interior designer with zero budget allowance for expert advice.
-
Only by chatting with a Havenly designer and get expert design advice
-
You can get a curated shopping list
-
Many troubles with the Havenly designers and customers
-
The Havenly designers suggest high-end products to achieve their best aesthetics
INTERVIEWS
Based on the problem statement, an interview guide was created that was designed to guide our interviewees through an analysis of what they need in order to solve the problem.
Research Goals:
-
Understand the future user's demographics and set the target user based on the data
-
Understand user's current issues and solutions
-
Understand user's current shopping and research patterns
I interviewed 8 people and these are the results.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Q1. How old are you
88%: 21-29 year-old
12%: 30-39 year-old
Q2. What is your gender?
25%: Male
75%: Female
EDUCATION LEVEL
Q3. What is the highest level of school has you completed?
LIVING SITUATION
Q4. What is your yearly household income?
Q5. How would you best describe your living situation?
37%: With family
63%: With roommates
Q6. How would you best describe your type of living situation?
50%: House
50%: Apartment
EXPENSE AWARENESS
Q7. How much would you spend on furniture and decors?
(Except electric products such as TV, microwave, washer, etc.)
Q8. Where do you purchase your furniture?
Amazon.com, IKEA, Craigslist(Second Hand), CB2, Macy's, thrifting store, Target, Heyneedle.com
Q9. Do you research for your interiors?
If you do, what kind of app or website do you use to research?
YES — 63%(5)
NO — 37%(3)
Pinterest, Instagram, IKEA magazine, Google or Amazon review, Youtube, ask friends
DEMAND
AWARENESS
Q10. If you were to have an app to help you to decorate your room, what would you like to see in it?
-
Virtual layout of room
-
Storage and color coordination assistant
-
Furniture store in app
-
Layout and organizing tips
-
Price search and product review system
-
Furniture/decor suggestion
INSIGHTS BASED ON INTERVIEW RESULTS
-
My interviewee are mostly 20-30s, and they don't want to spend more than $5000 on furniture and decors.
-
They mostly has roommates or family member in their house, so their living space and decor space is mostly their own room.
-
Amazon, IKEA, and Craigslist are the only stores commonly used for purchasing furniture and decors
PROBLEM STATEMENT