Case 04

EssenCube

Turning household inventory from manual tracking into automatic capture in the physical environment.

Role
Product Strategy · Interaction Design · Industrial Design · Prototyping & Usability Testing
Team
Solo designer
Timeline
Apr – Sep 2023 · Iterated Feb 2025
Platform
Smart storage box (hardware concept) + Mobile App

01 Overview

A smart storage system combining AI-assisted item recognition with a companion app, helping users track the full IN → KEEP → OUT lifecycle of possessions—without adding extra organizing effort.

EssenCube — the smart storage cube beside three screens of the companion app: kitchen overview, item list and item detail

02 Reframing the Problem

A Story.

At IKEA, I wanted to buy a bowl set. My boyfriend asked, "Do we actually know what we have at home?"

That moment made me realize: the real question isn't about bowls—it's about the relationship we have with our possessions.

Managing possessions isn't a one-time decluttering problem.

Through a product audit and 4 in-depth user interviews (12 possessions), I found that existing solutions intervene at isolated moments:

01 / IN

Mindset & consumption

Product audit, IN — The Minimalists: Less Is Now (Netflix, 2021)
  • Redefine possessions' purpose
  • Reshape mindset
  • Tips to resist consumption

02 / KEEP

Inventory & organization

Product audit, KEEP — inventory apps: StoraCat, 收哪儿, 我的物品, Where My X, Tidy, A Lot Less
  • Record inventory
  • Spatial organizing tips
  • Task checklist

03 / OUT

Decluttering & resale

Product audit, OUT — My Dan-sha-ri by Hideko Yamashita (2017), and the apps 断舍离 and Get rid of it
  • Redefine possessions' purpose
  • Reshape mindset
  • Step-by-step guidance
  • Task checklist

But possessions continuously move through a connected IN → KEEP → OUT lifecycle.

Key observations from research:

  • Users rarely check what they already own before purchasing
  • Items are quickly forgotten once stored
  • Users know they should declutter, but struggle to act

↓ Distilled into a core insight ↓

  1. The real problem is not "a better inventory app"—it's that maintaining an inventory is inherently too much work.
  2. Items disappear from memory once stored, leading to duplicate purchases and accumulation.
  3. Even when users know they should declutter, they lack the motivation and a low-barrier channel to act.
IN → KEEP → OUT lifecycle map of 12 possessions from 4 participants — how each item was brought in (proactive or passive), kept, and decluttered, with interview quotes along the way
IN → KEEP → OUT lifecycle of 12 possessions · click to enlarge

03 The Product Bet & System Design

Instead of optimizing manual tracking, move capture into the physical environment.

If manual inventory tracking is too much work, why ask users to maintain another inventory app?

What if inventory could update itself?

The product strategy is not to optimize manual entry, but to shift part of inventory capture into the physical environment.

Three-layer architecture

  1. Physical layer Camera + sensors
  2. AI layer Detect + interpret + prefill
  3. Digital layer Inventory + reminders + reflection + decluttering

One system across three moments of ownership.

IN

Place itemDetectAI prefillConfirmInventory

KEEP

TrackSurface usage / spaceRemindReflect

OUT

Identify unused itemMatchTransferUpdate inventory

Design principles:

  • Do not add organizing burden
  • Querying should be faster than searching
  • Automation must be visible and correctable
EssenCube modules in a living room — modular storage cubes in teal, pink, blue, purple and yellow beside a floor lamp and a large painting
EssenCube app user flow — landing, login and cube pairing wizard, home, quick scan, cube and item screens, search, community connect, push notifications, reminders and chatbot
Final IN / KEEP / OUT experience overview · click to view the full flow

04 Design Challenge 01

Establishing the first impression of "item visibility."

Onboarding & Homepage → users start with one of the input spaces

Insight

Users don't know what they have because items "disappear" once stored.

Design implication

Move capture into the physical environment. AI handles detection, prefill, and generates a unified visual language; the digital interface only confirms and presents.

Key design decisions

  • Physical layer: Cubes are mapped to their physical shape for instant recognition; the knob indicates the cube's color and visualizes used volume.
  • AI layer: Items are automatically detected and prefilled when placed in. AI also generates a unified visual language to replace real photos—avoiding the visual noise common in most inventory apps that rely on real images.
  • Digital layer: The homepage is not a list—it's an entry point to input spaces, letting users move naturally from physical action to digital management.

Key artifacts

Onboarding flow
Homepage UI
The first-time experience connecting Physical → AI → Digital
AI-generated visual system

Onboarding flow
AI-generated item visuals — the original photo of a speckled cup, two generated illustration versions, and the version the user selected
AI-generated visuals: from item photo to the selected style

05 Design Challenge 02

Know what you have before you buy—or search it directly.

Insight

Users rarely check what they already own before purchasing; once they have many cubes, even opening them feels like too much work.

Design implication

Querying must be faster than searching—support both "quick scan" and "direct search."

Key design decisions

  • Quickly scan what you have on a shopping trip to grasp the overall situation
  • Go into individual items to understand condition and quantity
  • If there are too many cubes and opening them feels lazy, search any item directly in the system

Key artifacts

Quick scan flow
Item detail view
Search interaction

Know what you have: quick scan
Search it directly

06 Design Challenge 03

Turn your clutter into someone's treasure—and make decluttering part of daily life.

Insight

Users know they should declutter but struggle to act; decluttering is not a one-time event—it needs ongoing, low-friction motivation.

Design implication

Reframe "discard" as "match + transfer," and provide gentle, everyday encouragement.

Key design decisions

  • Based on usage frequency and expiration time, the app reminds users to take actions
  • The app facilitates decluttering by matching users with others who might be interested in having the items
  • Without imposing decluttering as an obligation, the app highlights meaningful connections based on users' inventory data, encouraging mindful letting go as part of everyday life

Key artifacts

Decluttering matching flow
Daily declutter encouragement UI

Reminders + facilitated decluttering
Daily declutter encouragement

07 Outcome & Future Steps

Validation.

5 participants tested key product scenarios.

01

Automation reduced perceived effort

02

Matching made decluttering more actionable

03

AI automation required visible manual override

Honest note: Concept design project, not developed, not launched. Testing was concept-prototype usability testing, not live product data.

Reflection.

This project strengthened my ability to translate soft-hardware systems thinking into concrete product experiences—moving between physical interaction, AI behavior, digital interfaces, and user psychology.

Designing for soft-hardware products requires finding a precise balance between automation and user control.

Future Steps.

  1. Installation Experience — Design packaging and installation manual to complete the EssenCube onboarding journey.
  2. Cube Design Optimization — Introduce a modular subdivision system, enabling users to better utilize and customize the internal volume of each cube.
  3. Enhanced AI Assistance — Continue testing and refining AI capabilities: improving accuracy in item recognition, information prefill, and the consistency of AI-generated images.
  4. Smarter Reminders — Gather insights from regular users to uncover additional reminder triggers beyond usage frequency and expiration, allowing for more personalized and flexible notifications.
  5. Smart Home Integration — Explore integrating EssenCube into broader smart home ecosystems, making it a seamless and functional part of users' everyday living environments.
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