In 2020 Google’s Sidewalk Labs hired Quarter (my design studio), to concept, design and build the software for a self storage service prototype and pilot. Unfortunately, Sidewalk Lab’s plans for developing in Toronto were canceled before the pilot launched, but the brand, app development and service design was completed.

Service Design

Cerca helps you organize and store the belongings you don’t always need around, so that you can free up space in your apartment.

A living archive of your things

Cerca makes knowing what you have intuitive and satisfying. Seeing your stuff like this makes it easy to decide what to store, share, sell and donate.

On-demand, in building storage

With Cerca, all your requests are fulfilled within 24 hours. Some items are even available within minutes.

Recurring pickups and deliveries

Set a schedule for items you use regularly but want out of the way. No more cramming your card table and chairs in your closet when it’s not poker night.

24 Hour Self Service

Cerca knows it’s sometimes easier to use your own two hands. Feel free to securely fetch some of your own items if that’s your thing.

App Design & Development

The Personal Archive feed shows items that you own by their status: Stored, Home, etc. The item grid is using square images without labels which creates a very ordered look that emphasizes photography over text based descriptions.

The Item Details screen feels almost like an index card of the item, an attempt to distance the design from the structure and layout found within e-commerce apps. It includes minimal copy, just what the user’s needs, emphasizing photography over too much reading.

Filters are bucketed around different associations a user might have to their things, potentially being driven by an image recognition API we use as photos enter the system. These tags can be things like rooms, categories, themes, or brands, and can be used to filter the Personal Archive feed.

Brand

My partner at Quarter, Roy Tatum explains the inspiration for Cerca’s brand…

“As we’ve been exploring the Cerca brand, we’ve been using elements of archival systems as the starting point, thinking about how they might translate into a digital space. This includes things like the visual vernacular of archival systems like index cards/forms, color coding, diversity of materials/textures, and highly ordered/organized information.”