Week 5
10.6 (Saturday)
🔷 User Interview
To understand conflicts that are happening when two people are co-designing a house, we conducted short interviews with 4 people. Below is the question list we had.
- Who did you design the house with?
- What was your role? How involved were you?
- Were you guys together during the whole process?
- Did you use any existing tools to facilitate the process?
- Were there any decision/style conflicts? How did you solve them?
(e.g. budget, balancing styles, priorities) - What did you enjoy in the process?
- What would you wish you had known before getting started?
The recordings can be found through the following link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15X1iSZ1q1vtne6jhbnRdCltyZdjEHcSc/view?usp=sharing
🔷 Key insights from the interview
Overal the emotions that people felt were that it is a long and disorienting process, you usually already have a lot going on when moving and this is an extra layer of tension. Some people even called it frustrating and tiring. However, everybody we interviewed had there own ways of dealing with the process to create ownership and overview. We have listed these solutions below:
1. Organizing methods (google sheets)
Most people were using at least one sharing platform to organize things they already have and things to buy. Without these methods, they felt the process was scattered and intangible. Overview is crucial!
2. Mood-boarding
All the interviewees went through a procedure where they collected different reference images to envision how to decorate their new house. Pinterest and ( ) were used as a platform to do so.
3. Making a list of inventory
Most processes started with making a list of what they already have. Our interviewees describe this feeling of constantly worrying that they were forgetting something.
4. Ownership of areas and products
Even two or more people are living together, there was sometimes clear ownership of a space or product. For example, one interviewee separated the house into different rooms and each member took responsibility for decorating the house.
5. Priorities & style conflicts
Priorities were sometimes differentiated among two people. This is important as priorities are critical on how to spend the budget. Also, there were lots of style conflicts and most of the times, it ends up following one person’s ideas and styles.
🔷 Research on IKEA fights
🔷 Identifying MIKA’s extended role
- Help listing (Organizer)
- Inventory
- To-buy list
- Prioritize the list
- Divide ownership - Mediate styles between the two
- Style quiz
- Style suggestions - Visualize & Share
- Show final floor plan options with AR
- Help to make mood boards
10.7 (Sunday)
🔷 Speculative Design thinking on IKEA
Before jumping into developing the ideas we have, we took a round of thinking about the future of co-designing and IKEA. The following are the questions and answers we thought of.
- What would be the trends?
Sustainability, AI, AR, democratizing clean energy, indoor farming, living with roommates due to rising rent pricing, smart homes, subscription-based, without ownership, furniture lease, - What would be the worst future for IKEA?
- Lack of resources
- No one buys IKEA — poverty, one child restriction, people moving out of cities, capitalism is forbidden
- Development of transportation
- IKEA only accessible for a few rich people - What would be the best future for IKEA?
- Sustainable mindset — zero waste
- Self-sustaining
- Inclusive design
- Not only physical, but also emotional touch
🔷 Main takeaways from this session
- How can Mika help people to be more mindful of sustainability?
- a marketplace where people can resell their furniture
- help people DIY or hack their furniture
- Recommend the best way to replace the parts that are missing -> helping people expand the life span of a product
10.8 (Monday)
🔷 Extended Mika’s features
- Organizing/sorting list
- Style permutation
- Project management
- Visualization
- Sustainable help
🔷 Scenarios
🔷 Timeline draft for the final video
