roles: Mobile designer - UX, interaction, visual, brand (full stack)
platforms: iOS, Android
Steelcase commissioned a global study of over 12 thousand workers in 17 major economic hubs and found that well over a third were disengaged at work. High engagement correlated with workplace satisfaction, which in turn was driven by having a wide array of working environments (a “palette of space,”) and the ability to find and reserve the right space for a given task.
Flexible options can’t improve the workplace experience unless they’re easily identified and made accessible. To address these needs and more, the Steelcase Smart + Connected group developed a product ecosystem consisting of Workplace Advisor (a sensing and analytics system) and Room Wizard (smart signage that signaled occupancy status and schedule). The final necessary component needed was a mobile touchpoint for floorplan navigation and space reservation.
A “palette of space” doesn’t serve employees any better if they struggle to find the right space for the work they need to do quickly, without distraction.
Microsoft Outlook (the default product for reservations) suffers from years of enterprise feature creep and was designed to create future meetings instead of addressing immediate needs.
Anyone who’s worked in a corporate office knows how hard it is to find appropriate space right away. When the work is urgent and short-term, the Outlook search effort is often not worth it, and workers “squat” in whatever proximal space is available to them, leading to awkward conflicts and disruption.
As the mobile designer for Smart + Connected, I designed the FIND app to address this mismatch between workspace tools and the Human needs of the work environment.
FIND was a foundational product within the Steelcase Smart + Connected ecosystem, which was retired in 2021.
