Before designing, I had to identify who Lilypad was really for. This wasn’t just a new UI—it was a new business model. I focused the research on uncovering a core demographic that would resonate with flexible, subscription-style furniture access.

• Identified a rising group of “subscription shoppers”—customers who already embraced flexibility in other parts of their lives (streaming, clothing, transportation)

• Conducted behavioral analysis to understand their shopping habits, value triggers, and what made them hesitate at point-of-purchase

• Created a series of personas that followed users across life stages—from first apartments to family growth to downsizing—mirroring their changing needs and upgrade cycles

• Wired flows for internal review/feedback
  
  

This thinking directly informed the name Lilypad—a platform that helps users “hop” into different phases of life with furniture that adapts with them

Research findings also helped shape key features like goal-based shopping, modular subscriptions, and transparent financing.

TL; DR

I built the experience around AI-powered style discovery and life-stage personas that helped users "hop" through life transitions—first apartments, growing families, and more. The result was a flexible, human-centered UX that showed how smart design and adaptive commerce could redefine the furniture rental model.

Team

Lead UX Designer | Product Strategist

What I Discovered

My Role

Logistics
Marketing
Supply

Tools

Sketch
Adobe XD
Principle
Proto.IO

The Research

My investigation into why customers were abandoning Rent-A-Center and the issues with retaining new customers revolved around the negative connotation with the brand itself. Customers revealed to me that they didn't feel the experience was personal, welcoming and the emotional toll on attaining furniture was not resolved by the company. To boot, the demographic of shoppers were changing and even more quickly was how they were shopping. Rent-A-Center was behind the ball and trying to redefine the company was not the answer.

I realized that Rent-A-Center needed to explore what the future of furniture rental could look like—especially for a new generation of customers who value flexibility, style, and digital ease over traditional rent-to-own models.

"Why do I have to renew my agreement just to exchange?"

"My rental agreement term is too long!"

A Proof of Concept for the Future of Furniture Rental

Research behind the new audience

92%

26%

59%

Subscribed to services

Have tied the knot

Rather rent than own

What It Is

Lilypad was a forward-thinking rental subscription concept I designed to help Rent-A-Center reach a younger, subscription-savvy audience.