Panasonic Simpli-Fi
Panasonic Simpli-Fi is a smart home voice assistant through which a user can control thousands of compatible appliances, lights, cameras, while simultaneously getting notified on the application.
I built the information architecture, wireframes, scenarios, user experience, and interfaces of the application. I also worked closely with engineers in understanding the limitations of the hardware product as well as deliverable needs.
My Role
While working with Harman Connected Services, I got a chance to work on multifarious projects, out of which Panasonic Simpli-Fi was one of the very interesting ones. I was involved in the project from the scratch, including the sales pitch to the Panasonic stakeholders. Describing my role, I created all the scenarios, encompassing all the different use cases of an IoT product. I single-handedly created all the wireframes and mockups in an agile process. Further, I carried out UX research, which comprehensively covered multiple use cases, personas, surveys, questionnaires.
I also carried out prototyping and UI/UX design. Apart from that, I had a solid interaction with the developers through the course of the projects that give me a lucid idea of the entire design cycle. Additionally, I presented the work to the Panasonic team on site, while collecting and implementing their feedback on a regular basis.
Challenges to Success
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The primary intent is to have the house's appliances seamlessly monitored and controlled through the mobile device.
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Another salient feature is to track the vehicle's health including tyre pressure, gas status, and mileage intelligently through the device, so the users can proactively keep a check on their vehicles.
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Empowering home security feature which will send alerts to users on their mobile devices.​
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Enabling geofence feature which can send safe driving alerts to mobile devices.
Solutioning
Discovering
Comprehensive research was conducted with over one hundred users across different demographics. The participants were selected through a couple of processes. Firstly, almost 60% of the users were chosen out of a webinar conducted via LinkedIn, and the rest were random internal selections within the organization, and outside the software, domain to avoid any kind of bias. All the users were given a set of questions and the data was thoroughly dissected. This really helped useful in understanding the user requirements and gave a meaningful direction to the project. ​
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Qualitative Research
As described above, the research survey and in-person interviews were conducted to better understand the user needs. Different scenarios were put forward to the users to have an in-and-out understanding of the existing product's shortcomings and features they would love to see in the upcoming ones.
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Quantitative Research
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I learned:​
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​It was observed that 66% of working professionals dire need is to have a home automated system that can help them to do multiple actions in a smarter way.
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Studies have shown that between 30% to 75% of older people feel that they forget to do multiple activities at home before leaving home like closing the main door, lights or gas stove off.
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70% of the parents want to track their vehicle for safety purposes if it is used by their children.
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3 out of 5 users want to have a home security feature that can be monitored through the application.
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1 of 10 users feels that vehicle health tracking can help them to know when their vehicle service is due before time.
Experience Tested
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The users want to control all their appliances at home when they are at home or not.
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Users feel that driving safety alerts will help them to know if their kids are safe or not.
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Users feel that the home security option will give them a feeling of trust if they have to go step outside of their home.
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Knowing about the vehicle or appliance service due in advance will help them to not worry about many things.
"When I’m building the product, I want it to be easily controlled by the end user".
Defining
While building the UX design, along with taking references from Amazon Alexa and Google Home, I learned that​:
This is the first and foremost feature of any iOT device, for the user will want to control multiple features of his home and vehicle as seamlessly as possible. I also had to keep in mind that the audience size is going to be in multiple thousands and will span across multiple age groups.
Competitive Analysis
The competitive analysis of existing smart home products was done for understanding similar experiences.
Company
Show
Statistics
Estimated
Bill
Purchase
Appliances
Watch
Videos
Graphical UI
Automation
Trouble
Shooter
Bill
Payment
Hometech
Alexa
Smart Life
Smart Home
Syska
Wipro
Google Home
Storyboarding
Lisa comes home back and SimpliFi
welcomes her.
Her husband can turn on or off all the appliances through the application.
Lisa can control all the appliances at home which SimpliFi app.
She was in bedroom and realised that television is on in living room so she asked SimpliFi to turn it off.
It is easy to use and can be used by other family members too.
SimpliFi will notify if there is any service maintenance is due.
She is tracking her daughter's vehicle and receiving alerts if there is any emergency.
She went out with family and realised that she left her main door opened so she open her app to close the door.
When she is away from her home, then the home is locked and secured by the cameras. She will receive alert if there is any detection.
Explorations
Personas
The project involved thorough web-based research and I jotted down the different aspects on which I want the application to be focussed. Based on my exploration, I felt that the application should be vibrant, illustrative and bright so the user can spend more time on a screen. At the same time, it had to be personalized so the user feels at home, controlling all his devices.
PERSONA #2
David
Goals
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He wants to control or monitor home appliances that can be accessed even if he is not at home.
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​Wants to add routines in the app which can perform multiple actions just by saying to a virtual assistant.
Age: 64 years
Occupation: Retired
Bio
David is a 64 years retired shopkeeper who lives by himself. He has a few friends near his home so usually go out on evening walk to meet them and spend some time. He has a bit of noting down everything on a notebook as he has some memory issues.
Frustration
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Often forgets to turn off the appliances at home when he goes out.
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Not able to integrate the smart devices and is poor in knowing all the latest products.
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Misses his vehicle services which result in car internal damages which require a lot of manual effort.
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PERSONA #1
Mandy
Goals
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She is looking for a system that can help her to control all appliances and can perform multiple actions in one go.
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She is ​looking for an app in which there is a home security option that can send her an alert and warning if there is any unwanted activity detected.
Age: 32 years
Occupation: Engineer
Bio
Mandy is a 32 years old woman who works in a tech company as an Engineer. She has a really busy schedule and prefers to do everything on time. She is responsible for making major decisions in the company so has a lot of pressure in mind. She likes to travel and read books whenever she gets some free time.
Frustration
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Often feels frustrated in controlling all appliances and looking out for an alternative.
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Feels annoyed when misses vehicle due to services.
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She wants to automate the security system so that she can go out without worrying about anything.
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Personas
Information Architecture
I divided the user needs into chunks and prioritized them. I delineated different flows and created their information architecture, such as user registration & setup flow, and add devices flow.
Wireframes
After finalizing information architecture, I created low fidelity wireframes which was comprehensively discussed internally among the design team and the developers. Based on their feedback, I put together high fidelity wireframes which laid the foundation principles of the final UI design.
Analysing the Problem
Our app is rendered to,
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People who want to keep a track of their vehicle.
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People who want to have an app that can send alerts if there are any security warnings.
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People who want to control or monitor home appliances.
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For those who want to play media through the voice assistant.
Integration and Result
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We make the task simple using the app. All you need to do is register your device, add spaces, set routines which is done in a seamless manner. Hence Affordance is assured.
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The Aesthetic-Usability of the app entices the user and grants them a joy to handle it higher and often.
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The icons are positioned based on Fitts’s law. With each prospect categorized in segments. This makes the user feel light.
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Color pierces the pit of the heart. I have preferred a white framework and a few colors and images to give it a feel like home.
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Since there are multiple actions that can be performed via the app, I planned to divide each into sections, Chunking the alike groups together, which makes the process easy.
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Legibility- The details selected already and that to be selected are given clearly on each screen. Hence the summary of the process is in one clear view.
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Once you click the desired choice, it is possible to change it as simple as before. Forgiveness is proffered. The user can also go back to the screens and reelect. The back button appears at the top of the screen which makes users less click and stays for longer on the current screen. This was done so that users can adopt the app easily as I have reduced the Performance Load.
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Satisficing: All the options selected by the user are given on a single screen, which is a landing screen where the user can track all activities. They can view spaces, upcoming routines, play media and check security-related content.
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Usability Testing
In usability testing, I presented the final UI infront of the users and asked them multiple questions.
Findings
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The user was facing difficulty in understanding the media. There was no clarity if it was audio or video. The expected this to be self-explanatory on the prime screen.
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The client felt that the UI lacked consistency in terms of font-weight which was imperative for any product. It is imperative to have coherence and symmetry across the product. Also, there should be a 'Media you may like' category in the media detail screen too.
Updates based on User Testing
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Based on the usability testing, I changed the 'Media' text to 'Media you may like' to make it look more personalized.
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Further, I replaced the 'Recently added' and 'Playlist' font-weight to maintain consistency across all screens. Also, I added the 'Media you may like' category in the media screen which was missing in the current design.
On re-testing the updated designs, it resulted in ~10% increase in the product user base.
Estimated Deployment Time
Architecture & Planning - 3.5-4 weeks
Design Phase - 3.5 weeks
Development Phase - 5-7 weeks
Testing Phase - 10 days
Deployment Phase - 10-12 days
Concluding Thoughts
From this project, I learned that the app interaction with IoT devices should be user
friendly. A good way to show the routines and smart things like appliances within the app.