SmartStash

Smart cannabis storage & tracking system
Product Strategy
Product Design
User Interface (UI) Design
User Experience (UX) Design
Branding
Art Direction
Creative Direction
Packaging Design
Typesetting
Page Layout
Information Architecture
Sitemap
User Flows
Design Thinking
Prototyping
Data Visualization
Market Research
Front-End Web Development
HTML
CSS
SCSS
jQuery
Graphic Design
Design Systems
Copywriting
Naming
Ideation
Company Overview
SmartStash is a smart cannabis storage system concept, which includes a smart cannabis storage locking display box, specially designed glass jars, replaceable humidity disks to maintain freshness and an accompanying app that tracks and monitors usage, THC and CBD consumption and provides alerts when the SmartStash is opened or disturbed without you being present.
My Contributions
SmartStash was a hardware/software startup I was building during college. My contributions included everything from the concept to the naming, branding, app UI/UX, along with product modeling, product prototyping and packaging, among other things.
Tools
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Illustrator
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Photoshop
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Keynote
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Codepen
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Docs
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Sheets
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Gmail
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Drive
SmartStash app screens
Since the SmartStash system includes a variety of software and hardware products, all of the brand touchpoints were considered while designing the different pieces to maintain a cohesive aesthetic. The logomark features a dragon in the shape of an "S" with the addition of the Hitek Labs (parent company of SmartStash) logomark embedded in the center of it.

The hardware products include a smart locking stash box, glass storage jars and replaceable humidity disks with magnets used to attach them underneath the lids on the storage jars. The software aspect of SmartStash was the accompanying app that would interface with the smart stash box and would track various usage metrics overtime.
Timeline
2 years
SmartStash notebook of sketches
Metal SmartStash logo on wood background

Humidity Disk Boxes

The SmartStash Humidity Disks are packaged stacked in a matte black box and feature a sleek, minimal design. Product samples (out of the box) will generally be nearby at any retail point of purchase.

SmartStash humidity disk 3D model
SmartStash humidity disk 3D model

Humidity Disks

The SmartStash Humidity Disks are designed to be secured under the metal lid of the SmartStash jar using a built-in neodymium magnet. The disks are made out of two shells of injection-molded plastic, a neodymium magnet, humidity beads and a peel-off sticker. The humidity beads maintain the ideal humidity of 62% for cannabis to be stored to maintain it's peak freshness. When a customer is ready to use the product, they simply peel the sticker exposing the SmartStash logo and place it under the lid of their jar.

SmartStash iOS App

The SmartStash iOS app is a companion app for the SmartStash storage box which allows users to remotely monitor their SmartStash as well as track and manage their consumption, among other things. Below you will find various flows and key screens from the app, but it is not meant to be all-encompassing. Reach out if you have any questions or are interested to see more.

SmartStash iOS app
SmartStash iOS app Sitemap

App Sitemap

A sitemap was developed to map out the overall architecture of the app and categorize different features into different categories and make sure we had all of our bases covered. The sitemap was ultimately most helpful when mapping out the user flows and discussing product capabilities with development agencies I was going to partner with to build out the app.

SmartStash iOS app User Flows

App User Flows

Based on the desired user actions and app features, I built out user flows to map out how a user nagivates throughout the app and to pinpoint any areas where we might have dead-ends or poor user experience.

If I had more time on this project... I would like to conduct usability tests with potential user groups to identify key areas of improvement.

SmartStash color palette

Color Usage

The brand color palette for SmartStash are inherited from the parent company Hitek Labs and includes 3 primary colors that are traditional to the cannabis industry, inherited from the Rastafarian culture. The color hues selected for SmartStash are bright and vibrant and provide energetic pops of color on top of the "dark mode" style of the interface. The background and secondary colors include cooler neutral tones that make the app feel more friendly and inviting. The 3 primary colors are used in different ways throughout the interface, making different screens feel fresh and less monotonous than using one primary color throughout the entire design. Green would be deemed the primary color of the three, as it is the primary fallback.

If I had more time on this project... I would like to revisit the color values for the 3 primary colors for accessibility and scalability reasons.

SmartStash iOS app Splash flow

Splash Flow

Since the app is mostly only going to be downloaded by users that have already purchased a storage box, the Splash screens don't need to do heavy lifting. They are intended to provide supplementary information for users that are interested and potential customers that may download the app by chance without having already purchased a SmartStash.

SmartStash iOS app Onboarding flow

Onboarding Flow

Since a user going through the onboarding flow is more than likely setting up their storage box, the onboarding flow is meant to be all-emcompassing (without being overwhelming) to get them as setup as possible to make the app work to it's full capability and to make it as easy as possible to return the next time. The validation code is what links a user to a specific SmartStash storage box.

SmartStash iOS app Security flow

Security Flow

Security is a key aspect of the SmartStash system and it's why it's the primary screen for the app. From this screen users can monitor, track security events, unlock remotely, or change between their different SmartStash units. The SmartStash storage box has built in sensors to detect when somebody tries to move it or open it and will notify the owner regardless of their location. They can also set the SmartStash to be unlocked automatically when they are home (within Bluetooth range). The color ring is a consistent design element that is found both on the storage box and throughout the app. On the storage box, it is a color changing light ring prominently featured on the front of the box to indicate the locked/unlocked status of the unit.

SmartStash iOS app Menu screens

Menu

As the SmartStash iOS app was designed in 2014-2015, hamburger menus were common practice due to screen sizes at that time. App design at the time largely prioritized consistency across platforms, rather than consistency by operating system, and because of this the hamburger menu was a design pattern borrowed from web apps and Android apps. Design trends and user expectations evolve over time and the use of hamburger menus on iOS apps is much less common today than it was when the SmartStash iOS app was designed.

If I had more time on this project... I would redesign the navigational structure of the app to be more inline with current best practices.

SmartStash iOS app Stash flow

Stash Flow

The Stash section is one of the more core features for the SmartStash system. This is where a user adds new items when they bring them home and manages their existing and historical inventory. The SmartStash storage box has a built-in scale that links with the app to constantly monitor and track the amount going in and out of the jar for each session down to the tenth of a gram.

If I had more time on this project... I would like to explore how newer topical and other non-edible products that have hit the market since this was designed fit into the system. This would likely take the form of expanding and renaming the Edibles section, but more research would need to take place before making any concrete decisions. I would also like to solve for the problem where somebody shares some of their product with a friend so it doesn't count toward their usage metrics.

SmartStash iOS app High Notes flow

High Notes Flow

An aspect of narrowing down your preferences when it comes to cannabis is remembering how different strains and products made you feel. This can be difficult without something to help organize it all into one convenient place and make it easy to access. High Notes is SmartStash's answer to this problem. Users can simply add a rating out of 5 stars and some comments to any item in their Stash, active or in their history.

If I had more time on this project... I would like to add the ability to search, filter, and sort High Notes for ease of use and also add additional optional rating scales for each product for common traits users enter for many products including flavor notes, aroma, body high/head high, etc.

SmartStash iOS app Consumption flow

Consumption Flow

One aspect of the SmartStash system that makes it unique is the ability to track and monitor usage over time. "The Fitbit for cannabis". You can also view usage metrics by time of day, potency, or filter down by what kind of product (flower, concentrate or edible). Users can also swipe left/right to swipe between different People.

If I had more time on this project... I would like to add the ability to change the time range for any chart so users can get as granular as they would like.

SmartStash iOS app Settings flow

Settings Flow

Everything account-related was folded into a single Settings tab accessible from the main menu. This includes the ability to add another SmartStash unit to your account, configure account information, edit notification settings, view legal links like privacy policy and terms of use, along with the ability to contact us and logout or delete their account.

Results

4
Product prototypes
57
User surveys collected

I ultimately was not able to take SmartStash to market due to a lack of funding. The hardware/software combination is expensive and it's not the kind of company you can build efficiently on a bootstrapped budget. I was able to create and source a variety of prototypes, 3D models, and design the UI/UX prototype of the app, but eventually came to the realization that without raising millions in funding, it would take me years to try to build it myself. I also realized I was likely too early to the market with SmartStash, as at that point only a couple of states had legalized recreational cannabis and it's a slow process for that to spread across the country and achieve mass adoption to the point where "smart" devices were even in the minds of consumers.

Want to work together?

If you like what you see and want to work together, let's chat!