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ergospace
My role
This was a solo project where I designed a mobile app and was responsible for all stages of the design process.
Deliverables
Secondary Research, User Interviews, Concept Testing, Prototype, User Archetypes.
Timeline
5 weeks
In 2020 Corona Virus forced companies to accept work from home. Recent American Opportunity Survey reveals that 35% of employees worked remotely full time, and 58% work from home at least one day a week. The latest data shows that remote work is here to stay.
140%
70%
99%
The pandemic didn't allow enough time for office employees to transition properly. Many employees moved from ergonomic offices to homes where they work from a couch and other uncomfortable places. The goal of this project is to help remote employees to build an optimal work environment at home.
The concept of remote work is a relatively new subject to me, which I wasn't quite familiar with until I began working on this project. I spent a fair amount of time learning more about the problem space and eventually it led me to the science of ergonomics. I learned that bad ergonomics may lead to injuries, lost productivity and significant cost associated with absence. Uncovered data motivated me to keep asking questions.
I’ve decided to tap into my professional network to find employees who recently switched to work from home. I facilitated 5 remote interviews that helped me to learn more about their experience. Intentionally, the research plan was focused on ergonomics. As a result I was able to uncover that there is a lack of knowledge and/or support for workers who transitioned to work from home. I grouped my finding into three major groups.
Based on the findings I gained from my research, I created two user archetypes. While the goals and behaviours may differ, the essential need is to have comfortable and productive work environment. This finding was front and center in the design process. So who are we designing for?
How might we help employees to build comfortable and productive work environment at home?
Once the research part was completed, I started exploring ideas and sketching. While I considered various design directions, I made a decision in favour of a mobile app because of a number of capabilities that cellphones have such as camera and notifications. After generating a broad range of flows and screens, I decided to pursue my ideas around learning and support.
In order to test my early ideas I facilitated a remote focus group discussion. I presented low fidelity mockups and explained product functionality to identify problems and uncover opportunities in my design assumptions. Overall feedback to my ideas was positive but I collected a few valuable points that allowed me to make key improvements to the final product experience.
Ergospace is a mobile app that helps remote workers to optimize their work stations at home by learning how to build ergonomic workspace, develop healthier habits, and find professional care. The final solution also takes into account the feedback from focus group and incorporates interaction feedback mechanism and online shopping functionality.
Learning Plans are designed to help employees start their journey to healthier remote work. Every Learning Plan consists of activities that explain how to optimize workspace, improve ergonomics, and build lasting habits.
There is a team of ergonomic experts for users who seek for more personalized solutions on topics related to remote work. Qualified care givers offer support via remote assessment so users can benefit from the comfort of their homes.
Curated products and tailored recommendations to help build ergonomic home environment that suits users' unique needs and lifestyle.
The challenge of remote work, which I uncovered through this project, required me to dive deep into the science of ergonomics. Through this process, I learned the importance of the preliminary research in my process. Analyzed data allowed me to discover a design opportunity and define a problem scope.
While validating my early ideas, I learned that the most obvious solution wasn't necessarily the best one. However, my final solution is dictated by the technical capabilities of a mobile platform, which helped me to address users' needs effectively.
The more I learned about the subject, the more it became obvious that it was a lot more complex that it seemed at first glance. Ergonomics is one of many areas that affect remote workers. There are other challenges that designers can attempt to solve. Interesting area that I would like to tap into next time is a mental health aspect.
As for the future iterations, I would like to approach design from the business perspective and think how organizations can benefit from the platform like this.
