The product:
Arrienco is a furniture rental company based in Quito, Ecuador, serving expats relocating temporarily, film and TV production companies, and event planners. With a three-story showroom full of curated pieces, from living room sets and dining furniture to appliances, rugs, and art, they had a strong product. What they lacked was a system to show it.
Project duration:
2021
The problem:
Arrienco had no digital catalog and no inventory database. When a client wanted to rent furniture, the process started with a vague quote, a back-and-forth WhatsApp thread, and a manager photographing individual pieces by hand to send for approval. Clients were committing to rentals without ever seeing what they were actually getting.
The goal:
To design an internal platform that gave every stakeholder a shared, visual view of Arrienco's inventory for the first time. Clients could browse real pieces with real photos. Staff could track availability, manage quotes, and communicate clearly. The showroom finally had a digital home.
My role:
I led a small design team at Arrienco, overseeing the end-to-end design of the platform from initial research through interactive prototype.
Project Overview
Understanding the User
I was already working inside Arrienco when I started this project, which honestly made the research phase feel less like research and more like finally putting words to things everyone already knew were broken.
I didn't need to recruit participants or run formal interviews. I was there. I watched the manager photograph pieces on his phone to send over WhatsApp. I saw clients trying to make decisions based on blurry photos and vague descriptions. I heard the warehouse team talk about pieces going out with no record of where they went. The problems were happening right in front of me.
What I did do was sit down with each part of the team and really listen to what their day looked like. And what came out of that was that this one platform needed to work for four very different people.
Clients wanted to see what they were actually renting before they committed. Not a category. Not a vague quote. The real piece, with real photos and a real price.
The manager and owner needed to stop being the one-man bridge between the showroom and the client. Every quote, every approval, every photo, it all went through him.
Sales and admin staff needed a way to have professional client conversations that didn't live entirely inside a personal WhatsApp chat.
Warehouse and logistics staff needed to know what was out, who had it, and when it was coming back, without having to ask someone or dig through a pile of handwritten codes.
User Research: Pain Points
Users juggled messaging apps, email, calendar, maps, and social media just to manage a single event. Nothing lived in one place.
No visual catalog
Every quote, photo, and approval lived in the manager's WhatsApp. No system, no handoff, if he was unavailable, the whole process stopped.
Everything ran through one person
No inventory database
Arrienco had a large showroom across three floors, but none of it existed digitally. Pieces had codes that matched nothing in any system — no one could check availability or condition without physically walking the floor.
Clients couldn't visualize what they were renting
Clients approved furniture from low-quality phone photos over chat. By the time pieces arrived, they sometimes weren't what was expected creating returns and lost trust.
Understanding the User
Valentina
Age: 34
Education: Bachelor's Degree in Film Production
Hometown: Quito, Ecuador
Occupation: Production Coordinator
"I need to know exactly what I'm getting and when it will be ready. I don't have time to go back and forth over WhatsApp when we're on a deadline."
Goals
Browse and confirm furniture pieces quickly without visiting the showroom
Get accurate quotes fast so she can close her production budget
Know exactly when pieces will be delivered and picked up
Have a clear record of everything rented for her production
Frustrations
Wastes hours waiting for photo responses over WhatsApp
Can't show clients or directors options without scheduling a showroom visit
Has no written confirmation of what was agreed, just chat messages
Pieces sometimes arrive different from what she approved over photos
Valentina coordinates sets for local film and TV productions in Quito. She works with tight budgets and tighter timelines, and furniture is just one of a dozen things she has to lock down before shooting starts. She has worked with Arrienco before and trusts their inventory, but the process of actually renting from them adds stress she doesn't have room for. She needs a platform that works as fast as she does.
Understanding the User
Rafael
Age: 38
Education: Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration
Hometown: São Paulo, Brazil
Occupation: Regional Manager, Coca-Cola
"My company is covering the apartment but I still have to figure out everything inside it. I don't know anyone in Quito yet and I don't have time to go shopping around."
Goals
Browse and confirm furniture pieces quickly without visiting the showroom
Get accurate quotes fast so she can close her production budget
Know exactly when pieces will be delivered and picked up
Have a clear record of everything rented for her production
Frustrations
Newly arrived in Quito with no local contacts or references
Has a strict timeline set by his employer and can't afford delays
Doesn't speak much Spanish, making back-and-forth communication harder
Has no way to browse options without physically going somewhere he doesn't know how to find
Rafael was transferred to Quito by Coca-Cola for an 18 month regional assignment. His company arranged the apartment but left the furnishing to him. He needs to set up an entire home in a city he has never lived in, on a corporate timeline, while also preparing to start a demanding new role. He found Arrienco through his company's relocation contact, but navigating the rental process over WhatsApp in a language he barely speaks added unnecessary stress to an already overwhelming transition.
Arrienco would like to keep the next steps of the website private.
Please email camilaviterimon@gmail.com for design systems and Figma Files!