Final Delivery

Project Description

In the summer of 2021, I joined OF Innovation Consultancy as a design intern, delivered an end-to-end product design project for Midea Group, a leading Chinese appliance manufacturer.

I collaborated with a Senior Designer to design over 5 experience flows for smart home scenarios, along with wireframes for both 4-inch and 10-inch smart home devices, which we advanced to high-fidelity prototypes using Figma. I also developed a design system to guide future product development. At the mid term of this project, we also facilitated a workshop to explore the future trend of Smart Home industry.

This project launched in late 2022 and received the iF Design Award in July 2023.

My Contribution

- Competitor Research
- Scenario Analysis
- Product Positioning

- User Interface Design
- Design System Creation
- Usability Testing

- Workshop Facilitation

- Toolkit Design
- Workshop Insight Output

Design Process

Research & Analysis

We conducted in-depth competitor research and scenario analysis to understand the questions & objectives below:

[ Competitor Research ]
1. How many different types of Smart Home control products are available in the market?
2. In what scenario are these devices used?
3. What kinds of interactions are used in each scenario?

[ Scenario Analysis ]
1. User behaviors and user needs in each scenario
2. Strengths and weakness of each device
3. Scenarios that each device works the best for
4. The space and scenarios that each device works the best for

Identify Scenarios

The client provided us with storyboards detailing various home scenarios that their products could address to create a more livable home space. We analyzed each storyboard to understand how each device and function operates. We then categorized and grouped the scenarios based on their shared attributes, ultimately identifying the key scenarios that would enhance the living experience, making it more unique and functional.

Scenario Summary

After breaking down and re-organizing all storyboards, we came up with a completed user journey of user before, during, and after coming home. This journey helped us map out key scenarios that users are going through, clarify devices function in each scenario, and find out opportunities to create new experience.

User Needs in Different Space

The various living spaces, from open space to private space, carry different life demands and needs of users. We defined and categorized them as "Outdoor Space", "Sharing Space", "Functional Space", and "Private Space". This step better helped us analyze users' need in each space and think through how could we meet those needs.

Analyzing Functions of Devices

Space & Devices

Based on the type of spatial activity, the characteristics of each scenario that devices are serving, and the features of the devices, we defined the primary service space for each control panel. This helped us match each device with different space and scenarios holistically.

Key Insights

1

The idea of Smart Home should be an operating system, rather than a combination of switches of devices

2

It is necessary to understand how multimodal interactions coordinate and serve users (including Voice Interaction, Touch Interaction, and Gesture Interaction)

3

We need to clarify how different devices should coordinate with each other in different living scenarios

Interface Design

The interface design process went thru four key phases as explained below.

Design work started with defining main functions and sketching out lo-fi wireframes.

We printed out each key interface at actual size and test its visibility and usability at different distances to make sure every page is readable, usable, and accessible.

Hi-fi prototype delivery was following the usability test, including both 10-inch and 4-inch devices.

Design system was also developed and delivered to guide the future product development and iteration.