Be creative, Be realistic

As a layman in product design, this was my first time practicing the full process from inspiration to planning. I found that it was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It was like a paradoxical combination of needing inspiration and not relying on individual (designer) ideas – it should depend on the user’s ideas.

Initially, I targeted the group who were familiar with express consolidation and forwarding service but had recently moved and needed to change service companies. However, after completing five interviews I found that new users of the shipping company contributed the same amount of revenue as old users who needed to change services, i.e., those who were unfamiliar with the service but needed to use it were catching up with the expected primary revenue stream. During the interviews, I found that the needs of experienced but moved users were actually included in the needs of new users as new users need to be told both how to compare and what to compare. So, the ultimate target group was those new users of the shipping service.

Although my product would be a summarizer of information, interviews revealed that the process of summarizing information is annoying and time-consuming for the vast majority of aggregators. Solving this problem efficiently is why they are willing to pay for it. They believe that the most important requirements for selecting a consolidation service are price and pick-up point, as well as user perception and evaluation. Therefore, there is a strong demand for a comprehensive information platform for express consolidation and forwarding service providers and a community to share the users’ experiences.

More information about the current project can be found on my website. Let’s watch this product happen together.