Role: Student UX Researcher and Physical Product Designer Team: May Phan, Krishna Suresh, Z Ren, Lauren Harrington, Isabel Raz-Guzman Project Sponsor: Procter & Gamble, Spruce line Fall 2024, 10 weeks This project is under NDA. Details have been omitted.
Designing a more low-effort, accessible way to keep the hardscapes tidy.
In a 10-week graduate studio sponsored by Procter & Gamble, our team was challenged to envision a more semi-automated, low-effort solution for outdoor weed control—one of the most disliked household chores. While the project encompassed both digital and physical product design, my primary focus was in-person user research, concept and usability testing, synthesizing insights, and contributing to branding and storytelling for the final pitch.
User Research
In-home garden visits and consumer on-site visits to understand test early ideas.
Our user research efforts included: - In-Home Interviews: Conducted 8 in-home visits within the Chicagoland area to understand current gardening habits and pain points. - User Testing: Facilitated two rounds of usability testing with 16 participants to evaluate early prototypes and gather feedback. - Synthesis: Developed user journey maps, personas, and 2x2 matrices to distill insights and guide design decisions.This research informed our understanding of user needs and shaped the direction of our design solutions.
Initial in-home visit interviews
A consumer-site visit (one of 16 to test initial concepts + usability test)
A few research deliverables
Presenting some of our research findings to P&G folks during the midterm. (Better photo coming soon!)
Product Design
Creating a futuristic solution from scratch.
Our iterative process involved: - Collaborative Brainstorming: Engaged in team workshops to generate and refine ideas based on research findings. - Design Critiques: Participated in regular critiques to assess concepts and identify areas for improvement. - Pivoting: Adjusted our approach mid-project to concentrate on a specific problem space rather than going broad, which gave us the clarity to move forward.
How might we allow for this outdoor chore to be completed with ease while minimizing mental load for a diverse set of user age groups?
For our final design, we landed on an idea that would help users complete a dreaded household chore in the garden with increased control and safety, ease of muscle pain, increased efficacy, and less product waste.
Our team synthesizing to work toward a design direction
An early prototype of the interface I created (details omitted due to NDA)
While the physical product details are under NDA, my contributions included: - Digital Prototyping: Created interface prototypes to demonstrate user interactions. - Branding: Assisted in developing a visual identity that conveyed approachability and ease of use. - Pitch Video: Co-led the creation of a compelling video narrative to present our concept to P&G stakeholders.
Learnings
Learning collaboratively on an open-ended project with a fast timeline.
As the first course in our grad program, this project was filled with firsts. I had the opportunity to learn how to better collaborate and communicate with folks from diverse backgrounds, conduct research to narrow down a wide product space to a focused solution, and pivot on-the-go while going through the product design process for a 0 to 1 design in 2.5 months. My areas of focus in the group included user research, digital prototyping, graphic/presentation design, branding, and video editing.
At our final presentation at P&G headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, we had practiced storytelling, presentation, and communication skills when making our design pitch to P&G stakeholders. This was a great wrap-up to a learning experience filled with many aha's, valuable pivots, and exciting collaboration.
Our team (front row) and a few other classmates (back row) in the presentation room at P&G headquarters!
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