Overview
The project focuses on enhancing the user experience at laundromats. It covers the first three phases of the Integrated Product Development process: identifying, understanding, and conceptualizing a product or service opportunity and briefly covers the fourth phase: realizing.
Duration: 5 weeks (Fall Semester 2019, CMU)
My Role: User Research, Ideation, Prototyping
Tools: Contextual Inquiry, Literature Review, Affinity Mapping, Decision Matrix, Value Opportunity Analysis, Low-Fidelity Prototyping, Photoshop
How might we provide a product/service that can improve the experience of doing laundry in shared spaces?
The solution
Focused on enhancing a sense of community, safety and privacy amongst laundromat users, the solution proposes private cabins with entertainment facilities. It allows users to engage in social interactions with family and friends and enjoy the leisurely activities while the clothes are getting washed.
The need
Washing and drying clothes at laundromats is ubiquitous in the United States with over 50% of households not owning washers/dryers in major cities. To understand the laundromat experience, we interviewed and observed users at the facility. Some of their inconvenient experiences include:
the time commitment for doing laundry
safety and privacy within laundromats
lack of sense of community
transporting clothes to and from the laundromat
not enough knowledge on how to operate the machines
Literature review
PESTLE factors are used to identify the trends and drivers in the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental spheres that relate to the problem statement and the greater context surrounding it. Some of the factors that helped in identifying Product Opportunity Gaps are:
The public nature of the laundromat means that anyone can walk in off the street and wait for the right opportunity to claim unwatched clothing.
Spin Cycle: The social realm of the laundromat (Scientific American)The number of laundry facilities in the U.S. has declined by almost 20 percent since 2005.
The Decline of an American Laundromat (The Atlantic)
In Hong Kong, Coffee & Laundry - a laundromat with a cafe shop - creates a new laundromat experience for its neighborhood. People start to hang out there, feel therapeutic and comfortable sitting there.
Around the world, laundromats are integrating cafes and bars into their businesses, altering the typical image and functionality of laundromats.
Insights
Doing laundry at a laundromat is a time commitment.
Users prefer laundromats that have other services like a grocery store to make the most of their time.
Long wait time between cycles
The wait time between the wash and dry cycles is one of the most frustrating things about the laundry process
Users have privacy concerns
With more than 60% of users frequenting the laundromat being women, privacy is a concern as the laundromat makes something public that is inherently private.
90% of the laundromat users are repeat customers
This indicates that it is important to build a sense of community and loyalty at the laundromat.
Product Opportunity Gaps
Post analyzing the PESTLE factors and deriving key insights, we could pinpoint to the product opportunity gaps. Following are the six key POGs:
Provide a product or service to reinvent the experience of doing laundry
To improve the experience by streamlining the process of doing laundry at laundromats
To provide a product or service that makes it easier for users to use the machine appropriately
To minimize the gap of social status, gender, and age of laundromat users
We evaluated the six selected POGs to decide the super POG. The decision matrix was based on the following criteria, with varying weightage: a) feasibility, b) team interest, c) market size, d) impact on customers and e) sustainability
To provide a product or service to reinvent the laundromat by augmenting the user experience through reliability, desirability, and fostering a sense of community.
Value Opportunity Analysis
Value Opportunities are a set of opportunities that contribute to the overall experience of the product and relate to the value characteristics of useful, usable, and desirable.
Following are the key values defined as per user insights and analyzed on the basis of current and desired state of the industry. These VOs were later used to create product requirements.
Emotion
Adventure: Creates excitement to visit laundromats
Security: Feeling of safety for users and their possessions
Sensuality: Provides a comfortable and pleasing experience
Ergonomics
Comfort: Not creating undue stress while planning to use laundromat
Ease of use: Physically and cognitively easy to use services
Identity
Point in time: Potential for defining a new trend
Sense of place: Fits into user’s lifestyle
Personality: Unique characteristics, setting it apart from competitors
Social: Connects people and enable social interaction
Impact
Product Requirements
Must
Protect the user’s privacy, provide a new experience and augment community experience
Should
Encourage social interactions, define a new trend in the laundry, and motivate users to use laundromats
Could
Enhance the aesthetics of the space
Ideation
For concept ideation, the team used crazy 8 method, that is, sketching out of 8 crazy ideas in one minute. Some of the initial possible augmentations include: providing multitasking opportunities and creating memorable washing experiences.
After the initial ideation, we developed the story board for our final concept, Wash House 2.0.
Wash House 2.0
Wash House 2.0, a concept to revitalize the dying laundromat industry. The target market for this innovation comprises of the high-income group in the age group of 28-45 y/o. Besides the common laundry space, this new-age service offers the following:
Private cabins with separate washing areas to cut out the sound. These rooms can be booked in advance and offer entertainment facilities like Wi-Fi, TV screens, music player, etc. to enjoy the washing experience with family and friends.
Coffee and book shop to engage users while the clothes are being washed.
Addressing the Problem: The solution addresses the issue of privacy and security. It aims to make laundromats a secure place by allowing the users to do laundry with their closed connections. It also promotes social interactions and lets the users indulge in leisurely activities.
Technology: The solution can be scaled up to introducing membership for users to gain access to private cabins without pre-booking.
Takeaways
Innovation doesn’t necessarily has to take a breakthrough approach. It could also be re-inventing the existing service by addressing the loopholes in the current system.
The solution might require a lot of initial investment and could be integrated with rather smaller cabins to save on square footage. Other activities could include gym, co-working space, book shop or grocery store.