Guidelines for unique design
As part of a strategic transformation of BeDigital S.A./Esenses from being an importer and distributor of digital accessories and backpacks to the Colombian market, to becoming a company that develops specifically designed products capable of competing with international brands. The design process was the 9 products in the collection took about a year.
During the Research phase, we made a series of interviews with teenagers and young adults in Colombia and the US to obtain the characteristics that would guide the design. The discovered characteristics were cleanliness, ergonomics and security. So the design proposal was based on the internal structure of the products to accomplish, thought modularity, flexible compartments that can have multiple purposes like featuring the articles stored in the bags.
“I TRUST the materials and they need to perform well across different weather conditions, I ride in a raining day, sunny morning, windy afternoon, I ride all the time”
Benchmark:
To understand and select different brands that are currently in the market, the brands were analyzed around users, the emotional, utility and economic reasons to purchase them.
It was important to have a general overview to localize the possible position of these brands in a bigger picture. Which brands are relevant as direct competitors, what can it be learned from their business mission, understanding a broader list of companies competing in the European, USA and Latin-American market.
The main focus of the User Interviews was to understand initially the Latin consumer, but the long term conclusions of this research allowed designing an aggressive and innovative line to expand in international arenas. All users were asked to answer a basic questioner about their current bag, in order to identify purchase decisions, emotional, technical and economic reasons to buy the products, and ultimately to suggest new features that they will like to see in the upcoming products.
“Totto bags are really cute and nice, and they are strong to carry the heavy books for school.
I change the bag every year, at the beginning of school”
“I don’t like synthetic fibers, felts is perfect has a natural feel and is water resistant”
“I like the bag because doesn’t look like a computer bag, goes well during the week and for the weekends”
The discovered characteristics were cleanliness, ergonomics and security. So the design proposal was based on the internal structure of the products to accomplish, thought modularity, flexible compartments that can have multiple purposes like featuring the articles stored in the bags. One of the defining factors of this product line is the idea of a portable workstation in the Techbag.
