Gaard One

Creating a Multi-touchpoint design strategy

The Challenge:

Our team was tasked with creating a design strategy for Gaard One, a local 1:1 company that conserves 1 square foot of land for every 1 dollar spent. The clients’ were having issues promoting the environmental aspect of their brand, as many customers were focused on the handyness of their products, not their conservation. The clients wanted to promote their 1:1 mission more, as they believed that it would attract more customers.

The Goals:

1. Identify what currently exists for Gaard One brand, both what works and what needs improving

2. Create a design strategy that addresses the needs of the client, and the problems that exist for users

3. Create a series of prototypes using that strategy, and present it to the clients

To begin, we had to understand what existed in the space. First the team completed a deep dive analysis on our own, looking at competitors, products, and social media. Next was to talk to the clients, to get a better idea of their goals, and what they thought their next steps should be.

With these two pieces of information, the team came together and synthesized our findings, looking for similar themes and ideas that we each discovered. Once the information was organized, we could begin to formulate a plan.

Now that we understood what the problems were, we could create a guiding strategy statement, and a touchpoint map to go with it. This two went hand in hand, and allowed us to always keep the main goals in focus, when building prototypes.

We each created a set of prototypes, and I designed a brochure and tag to go with the product. Then the group sought feedback from other UX designers, for some outside perspective. Originally we were focused on building an app for Gaard One, but after critique and discussion, the more physical parts of the business were focused.

This let me finish my prototypes, combine them with the other prototypes from the group, and the strategy map into a presentation video for the clients.

NEXT STEPS

To go with the video, I created a implementation map, to help the clients figure out the When and How of the strategy. Just having the prototypes and goals behind them was not enough, it was also important to measure these ideas, and give a time-frame as well.

Reflections and Takeaways

The biggest revelation I had for this project was its ever changing nature. Goals, prototypes, and strategies changed throughout, as more data came to light, and as outside feedback was sought and incorporated. This shows that the initial idea is not always the correct one, and that it is important to be receptive to feedback.