47 teams, 1 week, “creating a home”
THE PROMPT
SCAD StartUp is a school wide event hosted by FLUX - the UX club.
Students are challenged to come up with a product or service concept based on a theme. Each team’s final deliverables are presented in the form of a slide deck which they present to a panel of judges that serve as mock investors.
This year’s prompt was “Creating A Home“
And we won first place!
THE TEAM
It was a team of 5 - CarrieAnna Kuldell (Advertising), Johanna Suarez (Interactive Design), Laney Roberts (Advertising), Neha Tadepalli (Design Management) and Me. We call ourselves “The Homiez“. Most participants entered the competition with friends and people they had worked with before but our team came together at the last moment and we didn’t really know each other.
RESEARCH & IDEATION
Since we only had a week, we set the first three days for research and coming up with an idea we all loved because we believed that if the team didn’t love the idea, it would show, and the investors won’t buy into it. Two days later, we have two ideas that we were equally passionate about and weren’t able to pick between them. A good night’s sleep easily solved that.
1 Million children are affected by divorce every year.
Divorce brings a lot of changes to the children’s lives which results in them losing a sense of control and safety. They could blame themselves for the situation or think that if their parents stopped loving each other, they might one day stop loving the them too.
For children, having a way to express themselves is very important; be it through drawing, painting, writing, dancing or singing. Parents sometimes forget that during the stressful situation of divorce.
Moving between houses every other week leaves children wanting a sense of space that is constant and safe, a place they can call theirs.
SOLUTION
Portable, Collapsible, Customizable and Comfortable forts.
The Comfortable is a personalized, portable fort for children of divorced parents with split custody.
The child can personalize the shape, pattern and accessories of this space, creating a sense of control and self-expression during a stressful situation.
With the ability to split the bill, Comfortable gives parents a smooth and easy way to help their child feel at home wherever they are.
Easy to use UI with ability to upload personal drawings and even draw on-screen to use a design for the fort. At the end users are offered a split-bill option as well.
There is a place in the pack for their favorite toy because we know parents don’t like going all the way back to the other house to get the toy their kid forgot under the bed.
BUSINESS
According to research it costs an an average of $3000 to furnish a kid’s room.
Two houses, two rooms - $6000 to make a child feel at home.
Production cost per unit of Comfortable - $17
Market price per unit of Comfortable - $69.99
PS. It seems only $35 when using the split feature.
