Smart Thermostat GUI.

Smart Thermostat GUI.

Smart Thermostat GUI.

Project

Project Stage: New Product Development
Project Type: Novel Design
Client: ABB
Role: UI and Interaction Designer
Responsibilities: User research analysis, UI design refinements, UX specifications, UI artwork for product renderings

Awards

Focus Open Silver, 2019
iF Design Award Winner, 2018
Red Dot Design Award Winner, 2018
Good Design Award Winner, 2018

Summary

Using friendly and intuitive experience design to adapt a smart thermostat from a European to an American market.

User Research

I entered the project right around the time mockups were being presented to users for A/B testing.

Research Synthesis & Insights

My role was to help synthesize the research and make sure we were designing to user needs and preferences. Research efforts were presented to client stakeholders and we managed to gain buy-in for the user-preferred design directions.

GUI Challenge Questions

  • How can we elevate an old-school segment display to look and feel more modern?

  • How can we fit all of our functionality into a small and rigid real estate?

  • What technical tradeoffs need to be made?

An Instinctual Heat Workflow

Careful attention was paid to gestural interactions, time delays, and visual information and feedback so that any user could find the use instinctual, regardless of age or abilities.

Key Screens

  • Default

  • Passive Cooling

  • Passive

  • Active Cooling

  • Settings

  • Bootup

Specifying the UX and UI

I was responsible for packaging up the experience and UI design into a tool that could be used for multiple stakeholders, from marketing to engineering. The solution was a map encompassing user flows, screen states, iconography, touch targets, and key interactions details (including gesture, spacial constraints, timing, etc), all in one.

A Smart, Modern Thermostat for any Environment

While initially planned for commercial use (such as hotel environments), the friendly look and feel of the thermostat makes it just as fitting for a home environment, opening up another market.

“Essentially, the device consists of nothing but an interface, the design of which is so crystal clear that even very young or elderly people intuitively know how to use it – thanks in no small part to the crisp icons and high contrast ratio of the capacitive display. The accompanying app is based on the same underlying idea of simplicity and directness.”


—Focus Open 2019 Jury Panel

Other Work

Surgical Robotics

Medical Dashboard

Embedded GUI

Smart Thermostat

Onboarding

Retail Security

Other Work

Surgical Robotics

Medical Dashboard

Embedded GUI

Smart Thermostat

Onboarding

Retail Security

Other Work

Surgical Robotics

Medical Dashboard

Embedded GUI

Smart Thermostat

Onboarding

Retail Security

Want to chat design? Contact me.

Want to chat design? Contact me.

Want to chat design? Contact me.

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