Dickson Furniture Competition
Learning college students' behaviors and student living furniture trends.
THE PROBLEM
The majority of the University of Houston's student living is furnished with outdated and bulky furniture. Students crave new, stylish furniture to go along with their college lifestyles.
THE TEAM
Amando - Documentation/PM
Roy - Product Designer
Adam - Product Designer
KEY GOAL
Design furniture sets that fall in line with the students' style and needs.
INSIGHT
Through observation, interviews, and surveys we revealed some of the gripes, wants, and needs of college students living in student housing revolving around three key topics: style, personalization, and space design.
Nearly 40% of students feel neutral about the style of their furniture, while nearly 40% dislike their furnitures' style.
There's general satisfaction with the space occupied by furniture, with 90% of students surveyed indicating they feel neutral to very satisfied.
Personalization and walking space is important to students.
Furniture tends to take a double purpose. Ex. A chair can be used to sit on and also place clothes on top of.
Cumbersome furniture and limited dorm profiles can inhibit personalization.
Flat surfaces end up cluttered with personal items.
Students care about security for their belongings when sharing a dorm.
Students often have guests in their rooms.
UNDERSTAND THE CLIENT
A tour through the company allowed us to understand the products, materials being used, the preprocess, assembly, style, upholstery, and hardware.
MOOD BOARD
IDEATION
We aimed to make an open system that would allow students to maximize their furniture. Organization and modularity were top-of-mind in our pursuit to create a collection of furniture that would interact well together. While considering open space, rethinking flat spaces, movement, and interaction we challenged the norms.
REFINEMENT
We made models from our best concepts to simulate dimensions, cohesiveness, and construction.
BUILDING
Final
The RAW Collection is furniture designed specifically with college students in mind. At the intersection of modern style and utilitarian design, we designed a collection of furniture that promotes functionality, personalization, organization, and much more.