Week 1 (Jan 7-14, 2024): Getting Started!
Unveiling the Canvas
Welcome to the inaugural update of my AI-powered interior designer adventure! I’m excited to share the behind the scenes development of creating a revolutionary application that brings together AI and professional design. Each week I will bring you along through the highs, the lows, the triumphs and the challenges of this journey.
Goals for the Week
I was talking to one of my relatives over the Christmas holiday when they were sharing how difficult it was to use current interior design apps. They had no design knowledge, and found it difficult having to create an entire room layout, fit with furniture, all by themselves on a blank canvas. This gave me an idea; what if the you could use an interior design app that would generate room layouts completely for you?
After the holiday, I was excited to see if this idea could become a reality. There were several things I needed to research before approaching development:
Research on Competitive Landscape
First, I want to see if this had been done before. I need to research the kinds of applications that currently exist in the interior design market.
Second, I want to list the strengths and weaknesses of current design applications to see if there ways I can make my application stand out.
Formulating a Product Idea
Next, I’ll brainstorm ways my app can excel in areas that current design applications are weak in.
Creating a Development Plan
I also want to create a timeline of the general steps I need to take to create an application like this.
Brainstorming Monetization Models
Lastly, I plan to brainstorm ways I can potentially monetize this product.
Progress Report
By the end of the week, I’ve finished the necessary market research and I have confidence that there was a market for my product.
Research on Competitive Landscape
To research the types of applications that currently exist in interior design, I used search engines to social media platforms to find the popular interior design services and softwares that consumers use right now. I found 5 different types of services/applications in the design space:
Home Design Softwares
Virtual Interior Design Services
Augmented Reality Apps
Traditional Interior Design Services
Mobile App Home Designers
Next, I looked for the most popular companies/applications in each. I found the most popular products in each service were:
Autodesk Homestyler, SketchUp (Home Design Softwares)
Havenly (Virtual Interior Design Services)
IKEA Kreativ (Augmented Reality Apps)
Upwork (Traditional Interior Design Services)
Room Planner, Decor Matters (Mobile App Home Designers)
I continued by reviewing the product websites and their services to identify their strengths and weaknesses.
Home Design Softwares
Examples include Autodesk Homestyler, SketchUp, and Sweet Home 3D
Strengths: Powerful 3D modeling capabilities, extensive design customization options, suitable for users with some design knowledge
Weaknesses: Steeper learning curve for beginners, require you to have some design skills, lack tools for beginners with no experience
Virtual Interior Design Services
Examples include Havenly
Strengths: Professional design assistance, customized design plans based on user preferences
Weaknesses: Higher cost compared to DIY solutions, can be time consuming due to communication through online means,
Augmented Reality Apps
Examples include Ikea Kreativ
Strengths: Realistic visualization in users' physical spaces, direct integration with furniture retailers, enhanced user engagement through immersive experiences.
Weaknesses: Limited selection of furniture (Ikea Kreativ only allows you to try Ikea furniture), requires you to have some design skills, only designed for the user to try one or two pieces of furniture, not designed for full room layout design
Traditional Interior Design Services
Strengths: Personalized, hands-on approach, expertise in design principles, full-service design offerings.
Weaknesses: Higher cost compared to digital solutions, limited accessibility for some users due to geographical constraints and in person requirements
Mobile App Home Designers
Examples include Room Planner and Decor Matters
Strengths: 3D visualization, floor plan creation, customization and scaling
Weaknesses: Learning curve for beginners, require you to have some design knowledge, lacking tools for beginners, selection of furniture is not updated, sometimes furniture is sold out
A summary of strengths of weaknesses of the competitors in the interior design market.
Formulating a Product Idea
After reviewing the most popular applications as well as their strengths and weaknesses, I realized there were 3 areas I could reasonably target:
Beginner-friendly design application (designed for people with no interior design experience)
Cheap compared to professional design services
Provide furniture recommendations
Creating a Development Plan
Now, I want to create a general roadmap for how long each step in development will take, from training the AI, to developing the app itself. I’m estimating 3-4 months to learn how to train an AI + training, 1-2 months to set up a database full of the furniture I want to recommend to the user, 2-3 months developing the app, and then publishing to app stores.
Timeline of app development
Brainstorming Monetization Models
Finally, I brainstormed ideas for monetizing my app. I had two ideas for how to monetize my application:
Paying per use: user pays a set amount per design.
Partnering with furniture manufacturers as I add recommendations, earning commission with every purchase.
Methods of monetization
Next Steps:
Now that I have the groundworks of my app, next, I want to focus on building a database of images and furniture pieces to eventually provide to my user, and soon I will start researching into how to train an AI model to generate floorplan images.