So what really happened to IKEA’s a.i.r ?
When one thinks of IKEA words such as innovative, Scandinavian, and minimal come to mind, after all, IKEA did innovate the DIY market. What’s even interesting is that when I was researching for “failed products/business” on the Museum of Failure website, I was not expecting to come across IKEA. It doesn’t happen normally that one would see a mammoth of an innovative company such as IKEA under that category. But I was amazed, and certainly had a chuckle when I came across the product that failed not once, but twice.
My first thought upon glancing at the product was “Oh that’s kinda cool”, but the more I started to dig around and read, I realised (and glad that IKEA did too), how non-functional was the inflatable furniture. So why did it fail? What went wrong?
Assumption #1: People want lightweight furniture.
The designers and stakeholders at IKEA assumed that people would be happy to have lightweight furniture such as sofas, beds, etc. and given that all their products are flat packs and have a DIY at home assembly, their bigger bulkier products should also have that and then IKEA can truly revolutionize the furniture market.
Assumption #2: People can fill it with air by using hairdryers.
IKEA assumed that since almost every household has a hairdryer, people will certainly use the hairdryer on a cold setting to inflate the furniture. What they didn’t account for, however, was that most people normally have and use their hairdryers at a hot setting.
Assumption #3: The furniture will stay intact and retain its shape.
The idea behind this assumption was IKEA’s confidence in their materials and the valve used to trap air in. Except, a sofa that would be nice and tufted at the beginning of the week, plopped down come weekend. Since the closure wasn’t tested properly, it resulted in the furniture losing its form and function within a few days.
Because this idea wasn’t tested and the products were created only on the assumption of the designers and the stakeholders, the product failed hilariously and miserably. Furniture that was supposed to be lightweight, started flying around in people’s houses. Although IKEA did relaunch the same idea again for kids’ furniture with what they say to be better material and R&D, the outcome did not change much from the first attempt.
Assumptions, unless tested with the user, do not always create functional products. As Don Norman would say, “We must design for the way people behave, not for how we would wish them to behave.”
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