Sending Personal Flipbooks to Loved Ones
OBJECTIVE
Design a gifting solution for couples.
MOTIVATION
Gifting is a form of communication. From speaking with couples who frequently feel pressured to deliver meaningful gifts, we found that elements in a meaningful gift are 1) receivers understanding how much time and thought went into the gift 2) the gift creating a new avenue for a shared experience and 3) the gift allowing for future reflection.
ABOUT REFLIP
Reflip came out of a senior project in the Stanford University Product Design program. We launched a successful Kickstarter in May 2014, that raised almost 150% of our goal, to fund our first round of production delivering over 300 flip books to our backers by November 2014.
1 - Defining the Need
Target User Group: Couples that need to give gifts
Why? Couples are constantly put in a high-pressure situation where they feel a need to deliver an awesome, memorable, meaningful gift.
We talked with over 20 couples to gain insight into what makes a great gift and what couples need to experience a successful gift giving experiences. This is what some individuals said:
“Gifting means you’re completely exposed, you’re putting yourself in a vulnerable situation. The underlying message is much more important than the physical gift itself.” - Maxine
“The best gift is one that embodies both the giver and the recipient.” - Anne
“Having a new avenue for a shared experience is “ important for us in any gift we give each other.” - Henry
Gifting is a form of communication.
A gift is a message.
How might we help couples...
1. Communicate how much time and thought went into the gift
2. Create a new avenue for a shared experience with a gift
3. Create a gift that allows for future reflection
so that people in a relationship can show their significant other that they care.
2 - Prototyping
We prototyped many different gift ideas that created a "wow" factor in presentation or created an accessible way for givers to communicate their message, and then tested them with our users. Some examples include, streamer gift wrapping, QR code calendar, an automatic photo collage, and a personalized flip book.
3 - Refining the Product
In the gifting space, presentation and clearly communicating a message is key to a successful gift to the recipient. We explored colors, textures, and different materials for the flip books and for the packaging that they were mailed in.
Discovering Dimensions
We prototyped and tested 8 different sizes of varying size and length and width to find the "perfect" size for our flipbooks. We found that many flip book services used a standard 3.5" x 2", but we found that a longer length created a better experience because users had more space to hold the flipbook.
Deciding Color
We also polled our Kickstarter backers to see what colors we should offer for our Reflip covers. We found that Blue, Red, Purple, and Green where backers' top choices. We worked with a stationary company to design our custom Reflip covers.
Designing Assembly
We saw that a lot of flipbook companies used hardware like staples, grommets, and keychains to hold the flipbooks together however, we thought that these methods made the flipbook feel cheap and commercial instead of feeling like a nicely packaged gift. We designed our own gluing and manufacturing methods to create the refined look that we wanted.
Choosing Packaging
Not only was customizing our covers important, but we really wanted Reflip to be something special once you receive it in the mail. We chose bright colored shipping packages because we felt like even that was part of the gifting process.
4 - Building the Reflip Service
A Dynamic Message
Few gifting service help givers gift their message in a unique way. Most of what is out their is hand writing messages and photo-collages. For Reflip, givers send their message by video and a personal note. The act of taking a personal video or even choosing a video that the givers thinks that the receiver will like is special to the giver and the receiver. We worked with software developers to create an algorithm to chop up videos into frames onto paper that would be printed, cut, and assembled into flip books.
5 - Building the Website
Main Page
About Us
Buy a Reflip
6 - Final Product
We wanted to make Reflip a fun gifting brand and chose to mix bright colors and natural materials for a more refined look. We thought that the natural browns toned down the bold colors. We chose a script font to make the brand feel more personable, and included marketing stickers and postcards in our packages.
