Design Challenge
How might we be able to improve the experience of doing laundry for those who live in San Francisco and don’t have in-unit laundry?
Secondary Research
In order to improve the experience of doing laundry for people who live in San Francisco we need to understand what currently exists.
The cost for one load of laundry in SF is 5$ and from my survey I found that most individuals wash two loads at a time (Lights and Darks)
The average cost of using a laundry app is $1.50 a pound about $24 per use.
SF renters pay a premium for in-unit laundry
Profit for laundries is decreasing
The demand for laundries remains high
Rent prices in SF continue to soar. This puts many laundries out of business or pushes them into more lucrative businesses such as housing development.
Current Laundry service infrastructure
Housing with Laundry in SF
Light green = lower concentration of in-unit laundry
Key Takeaways from Secondary Research
There is still a significant need for laundry services in San Francisco.
Some areas of SF still have a dense concentration of laundromats. Walkable access.
Renters are willing to pay a premium for in-unit laundry. Many units still don't have laundry access.
Laundry owners are likely to feel financial stress from higher rents and may need to increase their revenue.
People value their time just as much as their money?
Empathy Mapping
I generated multiple empathy maps for my targeted user (SF tenant without in-unit access to laundry). In this exercise I identified what the user might be thinking, feeling, and doing during each step of the laundromat process. I used this tool to gain a deeper understanding of my user’s challenges. Once pain points are uncovered it becomes possible to enhance the users experience.
I applied the same process to the experience of using existing laundry apps.
Takeaways from empathy mapping
The laundromat experience is very painful.
The primary pain point for existing apps is scheduling a pick up the day before.
User have to be home for both the pick up and drop off.
There is no drop off option in laundry app services.
Framing the design opportunity
The primary challenge of doing your own laundry and using apps is that there is a hidden cost of waiting/ being available. Is there a way for people to clean there clothes with no strings attached?
Brainstorming Solutions
During this stage I rapidly wrote down potential ways to approach the design challenge. With the constraint of a short time frame I converged on a concept.
The app concept attempts to leverage existing laundry infrastructure of densely populated SF neighborhoods. The app gives users the option to drop off their clothes at a nearby laundry service or have someone pick them up. The idea is that this platform could allow laundromat owners an additional stream of income.
Initial Information Architecture
I started my design process by sketching out a potential flow for the app.
Wireframes
Multiple low-fi wireframes were used to generate the structure of how a user might move through the app.
Developing a style to inform app’s look and feel
Developing mid-fi screens
This is mid process where I start applying some aspects of look and feel.
Key insights from user interviews
I interviews 6 users and the core insights are synthesized in the quotes below.
“I would rather have someone pick up my clothes without having to be there. I also don’t want to walk my clothes a few blocks to the laundromat…That experience would make me question the service every time. I want it all or nothing.”
“The whole point of the service is to not be home. I would rather not interact with people if I don’t have to.”
Takeaways
Users don’t believe the drop off option is an incentive to use the service.
Users think scheduling is a drag even if the time window is shortened.
People don’t want to be home to transfer their clothes.
Incorporating Insights
With these insights I realized that this service needed access to the users laundry even when they aren’t at home. It had suddenly become an access and trust problem. I thought of many solutions and converged to two concepts that had the most promising.
Concept 2: The lock gives access to the users house and clothes.
Concept 1: Theft-proof bad that the user leaves outside to be retrieved.
in(validating) Concepts with users
In order to develop the next step I needed to understand how users react to these two concept directions.
Against Secure bag
“I prefer not to leave my bag outside even if it is water and theft proof. This is because I potentially give access to everyone its exposed to the public and I can’t track the people around my clothes.”
“Leaving a bag outside feels like leaving it to chance.”
In Favor of Lock Box
“I would prefer to have someone be able to walk into my apartment because you know who has access and they’re accountable.”
“I feel more comfortable with someone coming into my house, there is an implied accountability. For example to the process of becoming an employee of the company.”
Conclusion
Users overwhelmingly want to let the service person enter their house to retrieve and return laundry.
Final Prototype
Onboarding
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