Interface Carpets System

While an intern at Propane Design Group in Atlanta I was part of a team of designers that was tasked with rethinking the carpet sample storage and organizational system for the all of Interface Carpets’ offerings. Sample storage systems are used by every interior design and architecture firms the world over, as a tool to help them select the best carpet for a particular use. Our team began with field research and focus groups at design and architectural firms all over the US, probing into the major problems users had with their current carpet sample storage systems. Designers, it turned out, had a hard time keeping track of which samples had been taken out of the storage systems, didn’t like the traditional carpet sample books as a means of sorting through carpets, and always wished for larger samples with more information attached to them.

We set out to design a new system that would address each of these insights. Our solution consists of color coded boxes of large samples that are easily flipped through, and that each have a fold-out information card on the back. Further, when a carpet sample is removed form a box, it’s name and a high-res image of the sample is left in its wake, making it simple to identify the missing sample and return it to its proper home. Finally, we improved the visibility of Interface Carpets’ samples on the shelf, where it could have otherwise blended in with the library of other company’s carpet sample books, by exposing the carpet samples.

After building a prototype we brought it back to the same design and architecture firms where we had done our initial research and it received rave reviews.