Client
IODOMI is a Swedish startup founded by Xiao and Sebastian, an architect and designer. They’ve noticed a problem, that all design firms exist mainly in major cities, disregarding the rest of the population. IODOMI arises to fill this gap. So they got the idea of creating a design platform that provides access to professional services from experienced designers from the comfort of your home at an affordable price
Challenges and objectives
The challenge was to create a web app to unite professional interior designers and people who need design services. Designers have a place to showcase their previous work and clients can hire them for their projects.
We had two sets of users who were at the center of the conception of the product: designers and clients. Each one had very different and unique needs.
Designers
One of the major problems for lots of interior designers is finding clients. IODOMI gives designers the ability to tell more about themselves, to show their projects and the style in which they’re specialized. This way clients will find designers themselves.
Clients
Fulfilling design dreams in your house should be possible, regardless of where you live. You shouldn’t agree to work with designers that you don’t love, just because they live in your location. Clients will come to IODOMI platform for a personalized experience: preferred style, easy communication and trust.
Clients
The route includes one entry point and covers the various steps a user needs to take to complete a specific action: buy a package. For starters, clients must sign up on the platform, fill in their personal info and answer the personal style quiz. After defining their style, clients can see the list of available designers and choose who they’d like to work with.
Then, when they’re ready to start a project, they discuss all the details together with the professional to get their dream room decoration. When the client is satisfied with the final result, he can purchase the package: which may include the shopping list, the final design and a handy floor plan.
Designers
Designers apply to the platform by answering a form. Later, IODOMI would approve them. When that happens they can log in, set up their profile: introduce themselves, upload a portfolio, mention the style they specialized in and state their availability. Clients can also see previous works made on IODOMI in the designers’ profiles, with ratings from users, so they can choose with more confidence.
IODOMI was actually the first high-fidelity wireframe we developed back in 2017. This experience of bringing the client and the team together was such an interactive experience, it was eye-opening for us. This step is a must-have for every product. It led to a high-fidelity prototype which gave us a clear overview of the end goal. Comparing wireframes and layouts for this web app will give you the same perception because they brought a lot of depth to the product.
With the wireframes, Xiao validated the product idea, doing several tests with designers and clients before starting development. This process allowed her to understand how the web app would improve the experience for both designers and clients.
Coming up with the process was time-consuming but absolutely worth it. Without this, it wouldn’t work for different services, designers and clients.
The main goal of the platform is to get clients to want to work with IODOMI professionals. To do so, the web app offers a vast list of designers specialized in different styles to meet all users' needs. To start a project the user must:
The chat was created for two goals. Firstly, so that clients could talk and do follow-ups with the designer they hired and discuss some ideas. Also, if the clients want to have design consultations, they can click on “ask for free advice” and a designer will randomly be assigned to chat with him.
By creating an account, the designer can create his profile in which he tells a little about himself and his work — mentioning the style categories in which he specializes, uploading his portfolio and adding links to his social media.
Designers can be on top of everything, looking at their “Room Requests”. They are able to search by the projects in process and see the finished ones.
The growth of the platform was one of the priorities. Of course, tech-wise, there were a million things we could do to improve the project process. Firstly the most important thing was to validate the business model, which would require clients. Making the website shareable was one of the strategies. The other was to enable users to gift rooms by purchasing a package for a friend.
Operations on point
In order to manage the entire operations: website content and the approval for the designs in the platform, we built a back office for IODOMI. It also gave them access to current and past projects and useful statistics: top designers, top-rated designers, which styles are chosen mostly, top clients, most sold products, and more… Information is king!
We know how valuable time is for startups to be the first in filling the gap of users’ needs. For that reason, we’ve successfully launched MVP in quite a short time. By putting together our business and development skills, Codepoint. helped IODOMI to mark its position in the interior design world and grow.