DYSON UK - 2021
B2C Smart-home app design
Context
As a Product Designer at Dyson for 1 year, I worked on the new-gen mobile app that would connect all Dyson home products into 1 coherent experience. The challenge of this design work was to implement all these multiple data sources (AQ level, Pollen, Dust particles quantity..) within one app.
For the sake of this portfolio, I have combined several core concepts I initiated, designed & tested during my time working there, into 1 fictional app for a made-up brand named 'Plus'. To do so I challenged myself to design the full brand-language, including the hardware product themselves.
What is it?
This mobile app is a HUB for all smart-Dyson appliance controls and data. It is unique because it provides Home-health tracking not at a machine level, but at a Room level. Doing so, it combines multiple data inputs from multiple machines to provides a better estimate of Room insights (temperature, dust level, Air Quality level, Humidity level and more).
Once the threat measured, it is then communicated to the user, and allows for a quick smart clean by triggering the right counter-measure using the available set of machines.
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How does it work?
Here's a typical user flow for this app:
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Create the main Rooms you would want your machine to track
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Add your Dyson Home machines to the app (Fan, vacuum, robot vacuum, lights)
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Assign them to specific rooms
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Get the health-room data alerts & week/month/year trends and charts
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Quick clean your room anytime needed by pressing a simple button, the app and cloud will take care of starting the right machine at the right time
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When user needs to control a machine manually, the app automatically detects the surrounding machines and provides a quick remote-control interface
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In the machine library, user can purchase new attachments or filters in one click, and access the machine state diagnostic
4
Tree testing
4+
User testings
6mth
Project
App design process
Problem
The problem was that each Dyson machine measures different data insights, that no company ever had to combine into one coherent app experience. The challenge was to find innovative ways of providing this data in a way that the user would actually care about it and feel empowered when using the machines.
Hypothesis
Providing per machine data and control isn't the optimal way of making it interesting and relevant.
User think about their home at a room-level, and want us to provide Room-level insights.
Solution
The solution is to regroup multiple machines under one room roof. This provides quick visibility on the state of each room health, and which metrics need attention.
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No machine-level data is shown anywhere in the app, and focuses the machine pages on their attachment and maintenance.
Validation
I conducted multiple tree testings & user interviews to understand how to sort these multiple features within a clear structure.
Key outcomes were that any time user think of a machine related attachment, maintenance or FAQ need, they immediately go into the machine section itself, instead of going in a 'Store' or 'Help & Support' tab.
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This allowed to remove a 'Store' and 'Help & Support' tab from the IA, and replace it with targetted content in each machine page (visible on the mockups below)
Hardware design process
Problem
User struggle to understand how to use a Dyson machine because each machine has a unique set of controls & data-set.
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User doesn't know when it should use the remote control or the app to interact with the machine.
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Doing complex tasks and viewing data on the machine itself is fiddly and harder than it should.
Hypothesis
Because all these products now interact together within one app, building a product range HMI consistency would allow users to easily recognise controls from one product to another.
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By limiting the HMI control and displayed information to a strict minimum, it will push users to use the on-product controls for quick interaction, and use the app for more complex commands.
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Solution
For the Fans
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The solution that have yet to be validated is a simpler design that put the focus on clear big HMI controls for - and + air-fan power.
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Goal is to provide controls that fit the size of these machines, and allow user to tap on the machine while being on the-go, and without having to target a small area like most competitor do.
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I've replaced the screen by a coloured LED block that simply shows the room health data the machine is in (green being 'Good' and Red being 'Bad').
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All past and present data measured is only accessible via the mobile app
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For the Vacuum cleaner
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It provides a black & white display that shows the power level, with only 2 controls for + and - air-flow level, keeping continuity with the Fans machines.
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A laser at the machine's feet highlights any dust, and the colour of it adapts to the dust particle quantity measured by the machine (green being 'good', red being 'bad').
Validation
No validation has been ran on these concepts yet. However to do so I would run a usability testing with 7/12 participants to make them use a mockup of these products, and register how & when do they interact with the HMI, and what does the light colour means to them.
