Sabrina Yi-San Liu
LeanBasket
Creative Laundry Mobile Application
Creative Laundry Mobile Application
A team of three entrepreneurs -
Ellise Ruiz
Laryssa Costa de Souza
Sabrina Yi-San Liu
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My role - UX Researcher & Designer
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Laundry - just another tedious chore on the TODO list of apartment tenants and renters. One of the things that would not be done until it must be done.
How could we make doing laundry a more enjoyable task?
Problem
Doing laundry at shared spaces can be quite challenging. Field research and observation shows us that:
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There is currently no efficient way to track machines' availability in order to save more time in the process
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has been going through a coin shortage
Doing laundry can include many independently challenging steps, becoming overwhelming
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We empathized with the users of shared laundry spaces and asked ourselves how might we design a better approach to doing laundry?
Research
With a broad understanding of how apartment-owned laundry services and local laundromats in the metro Boston area bring a degree of inconvenience their users and the extent of a nationwide coin shortage, due in part to the coronavirus pandemic and a coin supply chain blockage which started in the summer of 2020, we speculated there being a worsening user experience in coin operated laundry services.
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Through user interviews, it became evident that there were massive pain points in the current coin operated laundry services in the metro Boston area.
Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, there is a shortage of coins in the United States, which makes it harder for users to find quarters to pay for coin-op laundry services.
Users tend not to have a satisfactory experience when doing their laundry due to poor maintenance of the machines by landlords/building management.
Laundry service users often need to bring a number of items to the laundry room and may have to run back to the apartment to get items that are forgotten.
Most users just accept that the process is inefficient because they understand that doing their laundry is a need and there are no other options available to change that unless you are willing to pay more.
Machines are not always available to users and sometimes they need to make one extra trip to check if the machines are not already in use.
Exploration and Design Concepts
Ideating with LoFi Wireframes
Looking at each pain point that surfaced from the user research, sketches and low fidelity wireframes helped initiate the exploration of design solutions. As the design was further polished, the design concepts were translated into higher fidelity visual prototypes.
Preview Machine Availability & Wash Control
Machine availability is important to users, and knowing when the machines are available makes doing laundry a better experience. I designed a feature that tracks machine availability 24/7. Users will no longer need to make extra trips to the basement or across the street just to check if there is an available machine.
Customizable Checklist Reminders
One of the research findings is that users may have difficulty remembering to bring all necessary items for doing laundry, causing them to make extra trips. When ideating solutions to support users in remembering items to bring on their laundry journey, a reminders feature was designed. Users can receive reminders as a checklist of things they need to bring. The list can be customized, allowing users to fit it to their habits and needs.
Payment Methods
To address the issue of coin shortage, the app would have an online payment feature, eliminating the need for users to bring coins. The research identified that bringing a smartphone is something users usually do, and this feature would eliminate the hassle of looking for coins during this coin shortage and having to remember an additional item.
Maintenance User Feedback
Poorly maintained washing and drying machines are one of the key pain points. Providing a convenient way for users to report a problem and submit a feedback on the overall service can help to notify laundry management whenever there is a need for machine or laundry room maintenance.
Interested in learning more about how I think and approach problems? Let's chat!
1127 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02134
617-784-8928
