Storex Self-Storage
EQT Exeter, a leader in real estate, set out to revolutionize self-storage with a fully automated, customer-first experience. Having thrived in B2B, they saw an opportunity to expand into direct-to-consumer services with a seamless, tech-driven solution. Yet, at the project’s start, they had no land, no facilities—just a name, a logo, and architectural renderings.
This challenge was both ambitious and exciting. Every aspect had to be built from the ground up to ensure a frictionless, staff-free customer experience. It was more than creating a product—it was about shaping a brand and transforming a vision into a scalable, future-proof business.
Duration: August 2022 to June 2024
My role: Product Lead & Design Lead
Team: 1 Technical Lead & Team Lead, 1 UX/UI Designer, 1 iOS Developer, 1 Android Developer, 1 Web Developer, 2 Cloud Developers, 1 QA
Discovery phase
As construction began in London, our team in Stockholm kicked off the research phase. I led this phase by interviewing 11 self-storage users in London, alongside key stakeholders and industry specialists. To deepen our understanding, I personally visited and subscribed to four self-storage facilities in Stockholm and conducted extensive research into British self-storage solutions.
In addition to building a fully automated system for end-users, we also evaluated the feasibility of developing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool from scratch. As the Product and Design Lead, I was deeply involved in all technical discussions, ensuring we aligned user needs with system capabilities.
The more we uncovered about the industry, users, and project scope, the more it became evident that close collaboration with stakeholders was essential. To bridge any gaps, I led weekly discovery workshops, which provided valuable insights into running a self-storage business. These sessions allowed us to map out key user journeys, addressing both new and returning domestic and commercial customers.
At the same time, we began shaping a visual identity for a brand that, at that point, only had a name, logo, and color palette.
By the end of the discovery phase, both our team and external stakeholders agreed that purchasing CRM software was a more feasible option than building one from scratch. We wrapped up this phase with two key deliverables: a comprehensive brand book (which included an expanded color palette and custom icons) and a set of refined user journeys and business goals that guided the team throughout the project.
With this solid foundation, it was time to start sketching and bringing ideas to life.
First sketches
Having a strong research foundation and close communication with stakeholders made key decisions much easier. We had clear business goals: securing revenue and enabling a seamless digital store walk-around, which helped us prioritize effectively. We also knew that our primary users were men over 40 who valued convenience, and the app’s main function would be to open storage units. With these insights, we began designing the desktop and mobile web registration flow.
The registration flow was inherently complex, requiring users to make several critical decisions: choosing the size of the unit, estimating the value of their stored goods, adding payment information, and signing a contract. These were business and legal requirements we couldn’t avoid, so our goal was to make the flow as seamless as possible—ensuring clear, logical, and accessible information architecture, copy, and visual design.
Once we had several screens ready, I conducted usability tests to gather feedback. The results were shared with the team and stakeholders, allowing us to quickly adapt and make necessary changes.
Close collaboration with developers was also vital to the project’s success. I organized a weekly design sync where the team could review progress, provide feedback, and contribute ideas. Beyond these formal sessions, we fostered a collaborative culture where everyone felt comfortable questioning, suggesting and challenging ideas.
One of the first usability tests. Throughout the project, the team maintained a continuous cycle of design, testing, and iteration.
Continuous iteration
Throughout the two-year project, we worked in rapid iteration cycles, regularly launching new features and refining existing ones based on continuous feedback. Every week, we set aside time for design sprints, user testing, and collaboration with stakeholders and experts. This enabled us to keep a pulse on user feedback and business needs, ensuring we were always building in the right direction.
We started with the booking flow, as securing revenue was a primary business goal, and focused on getting this core functionality right before moving to more complex aspects. As the project evolved, we tackled different features based on priority—starting from booking, moving to payment flows, insurance selection, and eventually advanced features like eviction management.
To maintain transparency and alignment, I held weekly meetings with key stakeholders, domain specialists, and internal teams. These sessions helped us uncover edge cases, refine user journeys, and continuously iterate on design concepts to improve the overall user experience.
The weekly cycles of design, testing, and launching enabled us to make steady progress while delivering value in each sprint, ensuring that we met business objectives and addressed user needs at every stage.
Designing the app
The app's primary function at the start was to open storage unit doors. From the beginning, our goal was to create an extremely simple and intuitive interface. Through user research, we understood that many self-storage users were dealing with stress and life-changing events—such as a loved one passing away, a child moving out, or a divorce. To cater to these emotional contexts, we wanted to design an app that would minimize friction, ensuring users could easily access their storage units in a time of need.
Our initial design concept for the app was a minimalist home screen featuring a single, prominent button to open the storage unit. We believed this approach would provide a calm, simple interaction, avoiding overwhelming the user. However, as we progressed and tested this version, we encountered new insights. We found that the Bluetooth connection we planned to use for unlocking the doors wasn't as precise as we had hoped for pinpointing the user’s exact location inside a facility.
Through multiple iterations, we refined the app’s functionality, eventually landing on a design that featured a list of cards, each representing a door that the user could unlock. This approach ensured greater clarity and precision by displaying all available doors in a way that was easy to navigate and understand. Each card was designed with a clear label and an intuitive interaction model that worked within the limitations of Bluetooth technology.
Some of the multiple iterations for the Home screen until we reached the final design with all the cards visible (mockup in the center)
A complex payment flow
Building an app from scratch is never simple, but some flows are inherently more complex than others. When designing the payment flow for the Storex Self-Storage app, we faced multiple challenges, from business and legal constraints to technical limitations and edge cases. Given the high stakes of this feature, where failed payments could eventually lead to eviction and the loss of valuable personal items, it was critical to get every detail right.
Our first step was to map out the entire payment and eviction timeline, collaborating closely with stakeholders and specialists over several sprints. Together, we documented all actions from the moment a payment failed (day 0) to the auction of stored items (day 90). We ensured that every perspective—user, operations, and system behavior—was accounted for, allowing us to anticipate potential pain points before designing solutions.
Tackling challenges
One major issue was the automatic payment retry system. The platform attempted to charge users every six minutes, but when multiple invoices were unpaid, it collected the most recent payment first instead of the oldest. This meant that a user could continue to be locked out of their storage unit, despite making partial payments.
To prevent unnecessary account blocks, we modified the system logic: from day 7 to day 56, automatic retries were disabled, allowing facility managers to process payments manually. While manual intervention wasn’t ideal—since the goal was a fully automated system—we identified that this only affected a small percentage of users. This temporary approach also provided an opportunity to analyze real-world data and refine the system post-launch.
A key insight was that most users wouldn’t check the app regularly at home; they would typically discover their access was blocked upon arrival at the facility. To prevent frustration, we expanded communication beyond the app and physical letters by introducing email notifications. This ensured that users had multiple reminders before reaching the point of eviction, improving the chances of timely payments.
Results and learnings
By balancing business needs, technical feasibility, and user experience, we successfully reduced friction in the payment process while ensuring users were well-informed. The adjustments allowed us to collect crucial post-launch data, positioning Storex for further optimizations.
This feature reinforced the importance of cross-functional collaboration, strategic decision-making, and continuous iteration in designing seamless digital experiences. The payment flows were also a clear example of how we sometimes prioritized progress over perfection. Since the product had yet to launch, we embraced a mindset of allowing certain aspects to be "good enough" for an initial release, knowing that real user data would guide further refinements. This approach enabled us to move forward efficiently while remaining adaptable to future improvements based on real-world insights.
Adapting to a major rebrand
Midway through development, Storex underwent a significant rebrand—changing its name from Karbon to Storex, its logo, and its visual identity. While the original blue theme was replaced with green, the client also introduced a gold accent color that needed to be incorporated into the interface. This addition was unexpected and required adjustments to ensure a cohesive design that aligned with usability best practices. While my UI designer colleague led the creation of the new color palette, I played an active role in refining the brand application across different touchpoints, ensuring visual consistency without compromising accessibility.
Beyond the UI, the rebrand impacted all external communications, requiring updates across the website and app. Initially, an external team was expected to handle these content updates through Contentful, but as the project progressed, it became clear that they did not have the bandwidth to take it on. To keep things moving, I took the initiative to learn Contentful and personally updated the entire site’s content structure, ensuring that the rebrand was fully reflected in the product. This experience reinforced my adaptability and my ability to step beyond traditional UX responsibilities when needed to support the success of a project.
Collaboration and alignment
Bringing a product to life requires more than just great design. It demands alignment between multiple teams with different priorities. While our team at Bontouch handled the design and frontend, we also collaborated with external backend engineers, business stakeholders from EQT, self-storage specialists from Storex, and a marketing team in London running campaigns across billboards, flyers, and emails. Each group had its own objectives, and keeping everyone on the same page required continuous communication and strategic decision-making.
As one of two representatives from Bontouch responsible for bridging these teams, I worked closely with our Team Lead to ensure alignment across all fronts. We held weekly meetings with stakeholders, facilitated discussions on feature prioritization, and provided clarity on decision-making. Additionally, I worked closely with the marketing team, ensuring that all external communications adhered to the correct brand guidelines.
Collaboration played a key role in this process. I worked closely with developers, ensuring that our designs adapted to real-world technical constraints. Regular design syncs and excellent documentation were essential for keeping alignment and iterating quickly. To make these meetings more engaging and collaborative, I started each design sync with a short game; something different every week. It became a small tradition that the team really enjoyed, helping to set a positive tone for discussions and strengthening team dynamics.
To support transparency and long-term decision-making, we also maintained an Architecture Decision Record (ADR), documenting key choices, trade-offs, and justifications. This structured approach ensured that all decisions were well-documented, easily accessible, and provided valuable context when revisiting past considerations. Having this in place allowed the team to move forward efficiently while keeping long-term flexibility in mind.
Through this constant feedback loop, structured documentation, and cross-team collaboration, we successfully balanced user needs with technical constraints. We conducted continuous usability tests throughout the process, refining interactions based on real-world insights. By the time we launched, both the website and app delivered a seamless and secure experience, allowing users to access their storage units with ease—while ensuring all teams’ goals were met.
