Gaarding Our Land

Client: Gaarde One

Methods: Deep Dive, Stakeholder Interview, Touchpoint Strategy Map

Tools: Sketch, Axure, Adobe Illustrator

Gaard One is a Minnesota based manufacturer of modern, tech forward outdoor gear that is aimed at the 21st Century outdoor enthusiast. Gaard One operates on a 1:1 business model where they give $1 for every dollar they earn to help conserve wilderness land. The stakeholders at Gaard One asked my team to suggest a plan for how they could more meaningfully, and personally, involve their customers in their mission of land conservation.

Understanding our client and their problem…

After our initial meeting, my team went to work researching ways to best help Gaard One tackle their problem. At our meeting, Gaard One’s stakeholder told us that most of the company’s current interaction with customers occurs at trade shows or via their website and social media. Our team member started tacking this problem by individually researching how other companies in the outdoor gear space touch their customers. Then, we came together as a group to discuss our findings. From our collected research, we were able to put together a plan that proposed several new touch points of customer interaction with Gaard One.

Engage the customer in a way that meets the needs of the business…

Our team was started to assemble a plan to help Gaard One with their problem. We worked together to define each potential touch point in the design system we were proposing. Then, each member of the team was assigned a different customer interaction touch point to individually further research and prototype.

Researching our design system…

My assignment was to research and prototype trade shows in the outdoor gear space. I was shocked to find how many consumer show happen in this space. There are shows of all sizes that happen frequently in Minnesota. In the month of March alone, I was able to find 11 different boating, biking, skiing, gun, hunting, fishing or outdoor living events happening in the state of Minnesota.  I also did research into larger, national trade shows that are marketed towards outdoor enthusiasts. During my research, I found some information that seemed relevant surrounded the largest outdoor trade show in the country. This show is called the Outdoor Retailer. Outdoor Retailer was held in Utah for 20 years. However, the Outdoor Retailer trade show moved to Colorado in 2017. They did this because the Utah legislature had repealed land protections in Utah in favor of land developers who wanted to develop protected land. This political move angered the outdoors community and Outdoor Retailer pulled the event out of Utah. This bit of research felt like a big finding. In my opinion, this meant that Gaard One’s 1:1 mission was an idea that would resonate with customers looking to buy outdoor gear.

Prototyping our solutions…

Each member of our team worked to prototype our piece of the design system we were proposing for Gaard One. We then came together as a team to present these prototypes, and discuss how they all work together. After our team had an understanding of how the design system would work as a whole, it was time to work on a presentation that would communicate our ideas to the stakeholders at Gaard One.

Presenting a solution to the client…

Our team put together a video presentation to communicate to our findings to the Gaard One stakeholders. This presentation detailed our ideas for how Gaard One can meaningfully and personally involves their customers in the mission of land conservation. To accompany our presentation, our team assembled our research findings and prototypes into a separate document to give to the client. To help Gaard One execute our plan, we also developed an execution timeline and suggested ways that Gaard One could evaluate our designs and prototypes once they put them in action.

Delivering a complete package…

Our findings were sent to the stakeholders at Gaard One last week. I am so proud of the work my team did on this project. Our team only had one week to turnaround a complete design strategy and a system of potential customer touch points for Gaard One. The timeline was a challenge and I would have liked to work on this project for much longer. It was fun meeting the stakeholders at Gaard One. I could tell that they care about their product and they care a great deal about preserving the outdoors for future generations to enjoy. I hope the suggestions made by my team help Gaard One to meaningfully and personally involve customers in their mission of land conservation. It was exciting to work with Gaard One on this project and I look forward to seeing their company grow into the success they deserve to be.