Design Process
Preliminary Research📝
How are pre-owned products marketed and sold today?
A common question among our clients is: "When buying or selling pre-owned office furniture, who do I go to?"
There are a few vendors that specialize in secondhand commercial furniture. However, these vendors and companies use archaic technology such as email, unsophisticated apps, and confusing websites.
Some vendors include: BetterSource, OfferUp, and Clear Office.
The Audience
There are two target audiences who are primary players in the commercial circular economy. They include the client (buyer) and the seller.
The Economics
To make the economics work. The broker needs the furniture to be near free or charge a fee for removal. The former owner has an obligation to dispose and a small charge is better than the full cost of removal and disposal.
The broker needs to minimize handling, freight to make the financials work. Workstation labor costs carve into the financials.
Whereas freestanding pieces (lounge and task chairs) are less costly when it comes to labor but the freight is higher due to cubic volume required to ship the product.
01
The Client (Buyer)
Either works with a broker or a mid-market dealer or rep. Dealers primarily want to sell new product.
The buyer wants assurance the product is in good shape to begin with, be cared for, and have someone manage the process. They need to have a company that ships from point A to point B.
Questions the client would have include: "Who will install the product? How do I plan with what I purchased? How do I get this to me?"
And next: the seller.
The seller is the audience who has the most risk in this transaction.
02
The Seller
The Seller wants to get rid of their furniture and out of their space with the least amount of financial impact and time.
Questions the client would have include: "Who do I go to? How do I do this seamlessly? Do I sell, donate, or recycle?"
Values
Credibility, Ease, Simplicity
Values
Peace of mind, Trust, Responsibility, Sustainability
Needs
Professionals, Transparency
Needs
Trustworthy transaction, Effortless process
Obstacles
Financial Impact, Time, Risk
Obstacles
Time, Knowledge, Resources
The Design Process
Product Design ✏️
Information Architecture
User Journey
Screens map and logic flow were laid out to help us visually see what the journey was for each audience.
User Journey of the Seller
Visual Design
Additional Designs
Additional designs for the order. The design was to easily sort and provide accessible information at a glance since furniture inventories are prone to error and jumbled organization.
Low Fidelity
Preliminary sketches and boxing allowed us to see if our design ideas and components were intuitive. Some initial design ideas were confusing or cluttered. Example, the inventory included variables and categories that were not needed.
High Fidelity
Our design system was implemented to keep our components scalable, reusable and to enable faster design iterations per each feedback cycle.
Shop
The marketplace or "Shop" was designed to feel familiar for the user, similar to an e-commerce site. The intention was to also build trust and credibility.
Low Fidelity to High Fidelity Iteration Mock-Up
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