Identify an opportunity within a problem space with a team and select an appropriate platform for which to design a solution - create a website to solve issues with household laundry. We called WeWash. Why? Because at WeWash, we wash, so you don’t have to.
Once the problem space has been identified, we need to extend the concept with a potential business partnership - Clean Rite.
By creating a platform that will allow users to easily find and send laundry to a local service to collect, clean, and return their laundry, we can improve the quality of life for individuals or families by eliminating the time spent and inconvenience associated with doing laundry.
We will know this by user participation and membership attrition of our platform over a period of one year.

“I don’t think ANYONE enjoys doing laundry, in my humble opinion.“ - Nola Undry

HOW

Step 1: Research

Pie chart titled 'The Findings' showing survey responses about laundry location with percentages: FlyCleaners 5%, In-building 80%, In-home 41.9%, Laundromat 9.7%, Drop off at laundromat, In-law's house.

Laundry Service informational poster with green and light teal background, title in bold white text, and paragraph explaining the platform's mission to simplify laundry pickup and delivery.

A bar graph showing survey responses about feelings towards doing laundry, with categories from 1-Hate to 5-Love and responses from 31 participants.

Pie chart showing responses to who washes laundry, with the largest portion indicating 'Myself' at 77.4%, and categories including 'Other family members,' 'Nanny or housekeeper,' 'FlyCleaners,' 'Sometimes I do, sometimes my maid,' 'Laundromat,' 'All contribute,' and 'Girlfriend' in a colorful chart.

Hypothesize, Synthesize

Comparison chart for WeWash, Cleanly, FlyCleaners, and PressBox by Tide laundry services, listing their specialties, delivery options, and service areas.

Comparison chart of two laundry cleaning services, FlyCleaners and Cleanly, with customer reviews and issues including missing items, lost laundry, stained clothes, ruined clothes, and bad customer service.

Infographic showing Matt's weekly journey related to laundry and leisure. It highlights his work schedule, laundry days, and personal reflections from Friday to Sunday, including a quote about his dislike for doing laundry and a note about using WeWash to avoid worries about clean clothes.

Comparison chart titled 'WeWash Competitive Analysis' with categories of visibility, match with real world, and user control, comparing WeWash, Cleanly, FlyCleaners, and PressBox by Tide.

During this phase, we conducted a few rounds of Design Studios, devised a Competitive Brand Matrix, Comparative Analysis on Features, MoSCoW Map, and Heuristic Evaluation…

After much consideration, by summarizing data from user interviews, analyzing competitions, and market needs, we decided to focus on developing a mobile app platform instead of a responsive website.

Platform Change

Step 2: Ideation

Mobile app screen titled 'WeWash' showing order history with dates Nov 27 and Dec 22, and icons at the top representing home, delivery truck, washing machine, another truck, and home again.

Screenshot of a mobile app called WeWash displaying saved addresses and a map with pickup and drop-off locations in New York City.

WeWash app screen showing pickup and drop-off schedule, with pickup on November 27 from 10:00 to 11:00 PM, and drop-off on November 28 from 7:15 to 8:15 PM.

Mobile app screen for WeWash showing three laundry orders with dates November 27, December 11, and December 22, with options to edit or delete each order.

Screenshot of the WeWash app showing laundry orders for November 27 and December 22, with icons for home, delivery, washing machine, and settings at the top.

Mobile app screen for WeWash with order review page showing date November 27 and a confirm button.

Mobile app screen titled 'WeWash' with a placeholder image, dots indicating navigation, and buttons labeled 'Create an account' and 'Login with Email'.

Mobile app screen for WeWash with options for account settings, subscription, laundry preferences, credit cards, free promo, saved addresses, locations, and about information.

Wireframes - Lo-Fi

Online form titled 'Wash So You Don't Have To' with fields for billing info, including name, address, city, ZIP code, state, phone number, card number, CVV, expiration date, and promo code, and a button stating 'You're All Set !!!'

Mobile app screen showing laundry order schedule with multiple upcoming pickup and drop-off dates, including buttons to edit or cancel each order.

Mobile app screen showing account setup form with fields for First Name, Last Name, Email, and Password, and buttons for Create Account and Login with Email.

Mobile app interface for WeWash showing account options such as My Subscription, Laundry Preferences, Credit Cards, Saved Addresses, Laundry Locations, Notifications, and About WeWash.

Mobile app screen for scheduling laundry pickup, showing plan selection, pickup date options, and laundry preference button.

Mobile app screen showing laundry pick-up and drop-off schedule. Pick-up set for Wednesday, September 7, from 5:00 to 6:00 PM, and drop-off scheduled for Thursday, September 8, from 7:15 to 8:15 PM. A 'Done' button at the bottom.

Mobile app screen showing a list of saved addresses with one marked as favorite at 44 Grand Street NY, NY, and a map with location pins for various addresses.

Wash app screen displaying order review with order number 987236, pick-up scheduled for September 7th from 5 to 6 PM, drop-off on September 8th from 7:15 to 8:15 PM at 44 Grand Street, New York. There are confirm and edit buttons at the bottom.

Schedule screen showing pick-up and drop-off dates and times for laundry services. Pick-up is scheduled for Wednesday, September 7 from 5:00 to 6:00 PM, and drop-off is scheduled for Thursday, September 8 from 7:15 to 8:15 PM.

Mobile app interface for Wash, an on-demand laundry service, featuring options to create order, view orders, and access account, with a schedule for laundry pickup and delivery.

Laundry preference form with options for detergent, fabric softener, bleach, water temperature, drying, dryer sheets, folding options, and hang options. The selected options are Gain detergent, No Softener, Clorox bleach, No Bleach, Cold water, Hot dry, No Dryer Sheets, Hang pants and skirts, Fold jeans and socks, and Permaent Press dry.

Wireframes - Hi-Fi

Step 3: Prototyping

Illustration of a smartphone screen displaying a laundry app with instructions for users including swipe navigation, creating an account, and logging in.

Mobile phone screen displaying a home page with navigation icons at the bottom, including 'Home', 'Create Order', 'My Orders', and 'My Account'. The icons are labeled with numbered callouts for explained functions.

Mobile phone app screen showing a schedule for pickup and drop off, with arrows pointing to elements and numbered explanations of app features.

A mobile app screen showing current and upcoming laundry orders with options to edit, and navigation icons at the bottom.

Mobile app screen showing order review details with confirmation and edit buttons, and instructions explaining the review process.

Smartphone screen showing a confirmation message for an order with an OK button, accompanied by instructions to display a prompt or overlay indicating completion of order, and clicking OK will return the user to the home page.

Mobile phone screen showing WeWash app's navigation menu with options: My Subscription, Laundry Preferences, Credit Cards, Saved Addresses, Laundry Locations, Notifications, About, and highlighted icon indicating user location.

Efforts were made to ensure the intuitiveness of the app as well as being accessible. Color-blind tests and usability tests were carried out simultaneously. During this phase, we also devised Site Maps, Usability Testing & Report for every stage and iteration of Wireframing, then revised and reiterated based on feedback, and created the Spec Doc, along with the Prototype.

Why Clean-Rite?

Close to 81% of our survey participants did their laundry at home and 97% of them don’t like doing them (surprise!)
Yet, less than 5% used on-demand/online laundry service due to bad experiences or lack of awareness
Clean-Rite has large, industrial facilities where laundry can be done on-premises
Laundry will be done by a facility in the vicinity of the customer’s location
Many locations in the five boroughs of NYC, especially the outer Boros
Ability to contact a specific location that handles the customer’s laundry
Bags will have a label or code for easy tracking
Subscription-based service to perceive the laundry expenses

A emoji of a hand giving a thumbs up enclosed in a circle.

Meet the Team

Surbhi

Emoji of a brown hand giving a thumbs up within a circular border.

Triceara

Thumbs-up hand emoji inside a dark blue circle.

Mark

Kevin

My Role

Design Lead, ScrumMaster, UX Researcher, UX/UI Designer, Wireframing, Prototyping, Presentation & Conflict Management.

Tools

Adobe CC, Sketch, InVision, Google Suite

Next Steps

Reach out to Clean-Rite to gauge interest in a partnership opportunity.
Consult with a developer regarding building out the WeWash app.
Conduct user research to gain insight into laundry preferences to build out the onboarding process.
Continue to develop User Interactions to improve the ease of use of our product and increase user delight while using our app, ie, building out an in-app messaging system where the users will be able to send direct messages in regards to their order as a help center and support system.

Lessons Learnt

Given the premise of this project - a 2-week sprint, a project proposal (with a chance of rejection,) seek a potential business partnership, an opportunity to work with a developer, and free rein on the type of tools we wanted to deploy in order to complete the job.

With the most diverse team members, the knowledge & experiences combined helped make the WeWash app one of the most intuitive & well-rounded designs I’ve done so far.

We declined the chance to work with a developer. Hindsight is 20/20. It would’ve been a valuable experience to work across functions.