Starting Block
Home atmosphere workplace
for young entrepreneurs
for young entrepreneurs
Project Objective
Location, human resources, and high-tech limit the development of workspace. Meanwhile, young entrepreneurs do not have enough knowledge or capital to pursue their dreams. Working in an office is not an ideal place for them to work in the early stages.
The main objective to combine workspace and living space together, to create efficient workspaces and opportunities for people to interact with each other while having a comfortable living atmosphere. The project started in San Francisco, California, to create a large technology office building (500+ employees) to design a future work environment. We hope that this project will help more young entrepreneurs to realize their ambitions.
CHALLENGEYoung entrepreneurs struggle to balance living expenses and work expenses at the same time on a shoestring budget.
Young entrepreneurs lack the experience to run a company and are unsure if they have chosen the right direction.
Young entrepreneurs have difficulty finding like-minded people to start a business with
Giving young entrepreneurs a home-like workplace
Starting Block is a membership-based coliving and co-working service platform that seamlessly connects users' work and living situations. We are trying to reduce the stress of living in a megalopolis to dive into their work. This is a spiritual and physical cradle program that encourages innovative and passionate entrepreneurs.
KEYFEATURE
Space where efficiency and comfort coexist
The interior design optimizes the use of limited space, increasing freedom and modularity while improving the overall efficiency of the space. Providing entrepreneurs a comfy office and living areas. Space allows users to talk and socialize openly in few locations.
One room, multiple purposes
Each Pod offers an adjustable modular furniture system that can be changed according to different scenarios. The flexibility and freedom ecosystem allows users to change between working and living seamlessly.
Multifunctional furniture system
The furniture can be adapted base on the user's scenario. The free modular design allows the user to adjust it to a private space and turn the table into a bed and take a rest
Manage workflows with ease
Users can access operations from any touchable platform and project to the OLED screen. Users can keep following the calendar and current tasks, providing an immersive working environment with enhanced interactivity and functionality.
Improving social opportunities
Users can enter their ideal date on the Starting Block platform. The system will automatically match the ideal person nearby, locate them via GPS and give each other basic information to encourage communication
Increase product exposure
Set up a billboard outside the Pod with basic information. Increasing the connection opportunity with other entrepreneurs and encourage the people to leave comments or suggestions to improve
OVERALL PROCESS
My main responsibility is to undertake user research, including interviews, collate and interpret user feedback, iterate the UX, communicate required iterations to app, TV, Kiosk build, film editing.
During these 9 weeks, I did 5 field trip, 4 primary interviews, 3 design iterations, testing with 10 users.
process
BACKGROUND RESEARCH
The United States is home to many of the world's most successful companies, among the highest valued unicorns worldwide. The statistic shows the volume of startup exit deals made worldwide from 2010 to 2018. In that period, 12,780 startups globally were acquired by U.S. companies.
However, an estimated 90% of startups fail in their first year
Meanwhile, the number of renters in the United States today is up more than 74 percent from 1960, and the renter population has continued to grow over the years to exceed 100 million people.
More than a third of Americans will be renting in 2019.
Due to the rising price of rent, most startups are now starting with co-working to begin. Not only are the expenses less, but
1. most people are more flexible and versatile during working. Not necessarily stay in the office all the time.
2. Small office spaces increase employees' inspiration and enthusiasm for their work. Meanwhile, expand the social scene.
3. According to Enlighted, a lighting control system company, over 40% of office space in the US is not in use. The market demand is much lower than the total demand
PRIMARY RESEARCH
We visited five companies on-site and conducted a competitive analysis. We found that most companies in the Bay Area have an even distribution of work and rest areas. Especially to increase natural landscaping and daylight to create a spacious and comfortable environment as a way to extend the working period
Most workplaces are divided according to a spatial hierarchy to accommodate the various types of needs in the workplace, including social communities, networking, recreational services, etc.
WeWork has a strong focus on the employee work environment, and employees can initiate events to the whole community through the app, hosting yoga, presentations, knowledge competitions, etc. Also, awards are given annually for the most creative design based on the motivation and creativity of employees.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Meanwhile, I conducted four questionnaires with entrepreneurs starting their own businesses or who have had similar experiences. They are sharing various problems encountered during the workspace and how to solve conflict points.
The main issues for the current company:
1. Limited space arrangement, not easy to make changes
2. A polarised community with easy access to services for premium members only
3. Too much conformity and a lack of individual brand identity
4. Membership fees are too high for entrepreneurs and freelancers
"
“The furniture can be easily moved or swapped out to essentially give new seating a test run in a real setting.”
"The firm implemented magnetic wall in each meeting room to increase the flexibility and enhance teamwork."
Prasert Wiwatyukhan. Senior Interior Design Professional at Gensler.
Eza Chung. Interior Architect at SOM.
Overall Floor Plan
To ensure that the interior is designed to meet the needs of all types of users, we have endeavored to meet the needs of people circulation and ergonomics on four levels.
The first level is a public open space for everyone to use.
The second level is the community level, where residents meet or collaborate and enhance staff circulation.
The third level has tons of pods with themed log cabins, laundry, games room, meditation, storage rooms, and galleries.
The fourth level has more pods, a kitchen, gym, a multimedia hall, a library, and a sunroom. A pleasant environment for users to live and work in.
Detail info about the Pod
We plan to have space for up to 5 people in each Pod so that each user has a comfortable living experience. Users can adjust the room's layout with any smart device (phone, computer, TV) to help them concentrate on their work or relax base on their needs
Billboard
Outside the Pod displays basic information about the current project and shows the progress of the user's project to the outside world. Passerby can comment on it or talking to the entrepreneur to expand their network
We deconstructed the wooden panels and acrylic plates by laser cutting to create realistic scenes for the Starting Block.
Journey Map
Persona
LOGO Design
Style Tiles
Prototype for TV
Prototype for App
Prototype for Billboard
This is the first time I have worked with interior and product designers to create a relatively complete service platform from scratch. Over the past 9 weeks, I have learned about the similarities and consistency in the mindsets of designers from different fields. However, we all have different ideas about making design. Learning about each other's areas of expertise through active communication has given me a deeper understanding of interior and industrial design.
🔑 Key takeaways
Communication. Everyone is from a different profession, and most of the vocabulary is not understood by everyone. It is important to communicate and work together from time to time to get a better understanding.
Asking questions if you don't understand. Often we can't verify our ideas by the actual target users. We contact professors and classmates if they have a potential target that we can interview with.
Confirm information constantly. It is also important to take the initiative to ask questions when the team has concerns or is unsure of each other's direction. Otherwise, even if you complete your part, it may be something the team doesn't need.
🔮 Future directions
Update the visual design. I need to update the overall visual design, including typography, style pages, mood pages, prototypes, etc.
More usability testing. It's not easy to find people with startup experience to do testing during the design process. We need to do more target audience to verify the project's ability to land.
Improve key features. Update the user experience process to go more smoothly in different contexts.
