User Researcher. Product Designer.
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Containable - Organize Your Life

 

The Container Store -
Personal Organization Assistant

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Overview

The Container Store Personal Organization Assistant app was the solution to a research and design sprint focused on Home Organization with The Container Store acting as our fictitious client.
Our team conducted user interviews, researched our client, then sketched, created, and tested prototype solutions that would address the needs of individuals who share a bedroom. 

Roles: User research, UX, IxD
Timeline: 5 Weeks
Team Members: Sayla Tenenbaum, Hyung Jin Yoo

 

Client Research

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The Container Store does offer some help to its customers including free in home design consulting, or costly a professional organization service called Contained Home.

Both of these solutions must be scheduled, which skews to those who feel proactive about their organizational needs. These solutions also only address the current clutter, not the underlying reasons people need organizational help.

Additionally, The Container Store offers over 7,000 products. To some this may be exciting, to many this is overwhelming and exhausting when looking for a solution.

The Container Store does not have an app available on iOS or Android.

 

User Research

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We interviewed 7 people who shared their bedroom and living spaces with another person to understand how people currently organize their spaces. The interviews were conducted in these living spaces to truly understand the environments and explore the space and decision making with the interviewees. These interviews spanned users of different age, living arrangements, and relationships to provide a snapshot of different opportunities for improvement.

We wanted to understand people’s relationship with their space, things, and each other, as well as how and what they were currently using to organize their things.

I had to give things up… because there’s no space
— Emily, engaged, studio apartment
 

Persona

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We wanted to understand what type of person could benefit the most from our help. We decided those who are already organized probably would not improve their situation enough to mark a significant change in happiness. There was also a group who had no desire to change their current organizational behavior. This led us to what we called The Free Arranger. The Free arranger is someone who:

  • Utilizes unconventional storage spaces due to lack of space

  • Organization is an outward presentation of their identity & they want to be ordered

  • Avoids purchasing more organizational tools for fear of not using them and adding to the clutter

The Free Arranger may have some sense of shame about having an unorganized room, but is willing to make changes given the right opportunity.

 

Insights

The Container Store brought up certain connotations for those who are not as proactive in their organizational habits. The Free Arranger tended to have some reservations about the store.

  1. People do not know how to approach their organizational problems.

Users repeatedly stated they wanted to make changes, or had tried to make changes in the past. They often did not know where or how to start.

I wish my shoes were more organized in the closet, but I don’t know what to do.
 

2. There is an emotional gap between the customer and the Container Store .

The Container Store’s overwhelming number of options became a deterrent to some. Viewing the options online or in store became overwhelming and unhelpful.

There’s so much and I don’t know where to start.
 

Design Direction

Make the Container Store’s resources easily accessible so that customers get quick support whenever they need it and however they want it.

The Container Store’s large product offering is overwhelming for a Free Arranger. Additionally, a Free Arranger is not likely to schedule an in home visit with a professional. This led us to the need to simplify the customer’s interaction with The Container Store to provide immediate support and simpler choices when purchasing.

 

Prototyping

To make the offerings and products of The Container Store immediately available to the users, we focused on developing an interactive app so users can take pictures of their space and get quick organizational advice and product offerings.

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We journey mapped an initial customer experience to start understanding how to improve the current experience from online shopping or visiting a store.

To provide better results, the user would provide information about their living situation such as number of roommates, type of room, type of home, age, etc. This information would be useful for determining what type of products someone would be more likely to actually use.

 

Solution

After testing paper prototypes and low fidelity digital prototypes, we moved to a fully interactive solution to test further.

CONTAINABLE

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Containable is an app to help you take control of your organizational needs. Through the on boarding process it learns about your living situation and current organizational habits to suggest more useful products to you.

The user can immediately address their organizational needs through taking a picture of their space. This picture is then analyzed and suggestions are made.

 
 

One thing users repeated was the need for more than just a shopping experience, so we added guided organizational hints, tips, and exercises to help tackle the problem before deciding to buy something new.

The app then recognizes what is in the image and suggests cleaning tips for that type of space. After the user does this quick cleaning tip, the app then provides a limited number of products that could suite their needs, reducing choice anxiety. From this smaller, more approachable list, users can select what they need, see reviews, and purchase directly from the app.

The full product offering can be viewed if the user decides to browse more options.

 

Takeaways

Containable offers:

  • Behavior Change - through encouragement, Containable changes the users feelings about organization and The Container Store

  • Easy Access - Containable reduces the energy required to address organizational needs. Users no longer have to go to the store or schedule and keep an in home appointment

  • Personalized Guidance - Since the service knows about your living situation, it is more likely to suggest tips and products that actually meet your needs

Containable changes the way the Free Arranger thinks about The Container Store and addresses the needs of other types of people as well. Cleaning and organizing your life no longer has to be a stressful and overwhelming experience. Containable gives you the place to start and keeps organizing simple to make your life simple.