PROBLEM BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH
Past Research
When I joined Lutron, the team already had some research done such as heuristic evaluation of GUI, user interviews, Jobs To Be Done, As-is journey, object view map and etc. I started looking through all the research, understanding pain points, the target user. My role was to get familiar with past research, wireframe based on the .., conduct user testing, and iterate.
I specifically owned the “Create a Project” flow of the project where users create their first project step by step before starting designing. I was also involved in the “Add an Area” flow, which is the starting point in users’ design process.
Second Round of Usability Testing - "Add an Area"
After the first round of usability testing and iterations, we conducted a second round of usability testing for the “Add an Area” recommendation list. We tested 3 different versions of recommendations with 5 users.
Two Main Flows
For the duration of my internship, we mainly worked on two flows for the commissioning process. The first flow is "Create a Project" which refers to steps users need to complete before starting the design of the project. I was responsible for owning this flow. The second flow is "Add an Area" which refers to a process of designing and adding areas of the house that will have Lutron products. This flow was more of collaborative work between the team.
"Create a Project"
How might we optimize steps for users and make it mobile-friendly?
"Add an Area"
How might we create a streamlined way for users to add areas?
Analysis
Key Findings
After conducting interviews, we created an affinity map to analyze our findings which lead us to 3 main insights.
01.
Uncertainty
Surrounding Food
Users were uncertain about some ingredients, nutritional values, and potential consequences, regardless of their educational background.
“I don’t understand the meanings of many items in the ingredient lists"
02.
Health Choices
are Self Motivated
Users were self-motivated and motivation was influenced by genetic factors, documentaries, and the desire for an active and healthy lifestyle.
“I just want to eat healthy and not deal with health issues in the future.”
03.
Different
Definitions of Health
Users had different definitions of a healthy lifestyle. Certain products were considered unhealthy by some while others were okay with them.
“For me, cereals are unhealthy no matter what, I always prefer oats"
Final Design
The flows below are the final specs at the end of my internship term. The “Create a Project” flow was delivered to the development team for implementation while the “Add an Area” flow will go through more user testing after my internship term.
"Create a Project"
Before - Graphical User Interface (GUI)
After - Mobile App
"Add an Area"
Mobile App
4/5 interviewees preferred option number 3
Users found tags on top of the keyboard to be the most comfortable since recommendations are closer to the keyboard and the area of their focus while typing.
We also found other key insights such as when there are more areas on the screen, users tend to get lost on what to click to add areas. Additionally, all users hesitated on which to click to add primary/sub-areas between the floating button and add sub-area button.
Final Protoype
Create a Project
The final prototype for this flow includes 4 steps. Naming, selecting a location, choosing a contact, and upgrading settings.
Add an Area
This flow has 4 steps, starting an area list, adding a primary area, adding a sub-area, and saving an area list.
Low-Fidelity Usability Testing
Before moving forward to higher fidelity prototypes, we wanted to validate our design with user testing. We conducted task-based usability tests with 5 users. Based on the usability test results, we found 5 major insights.
01.
There is a lack of visual feedback.
02.
Users couldn't find the shopping list.
03.
Recipe page was overwhelming.
04.
Users liked the minimalistic design.
05.
Removing products from the list was hard.
USABILITY TESTING
First Round of Usability Testing
For the first round of user testing, we wanted to validate our design decisions and see how users react to the mobile commissioning process. We conducted user tests with 6 participants, varying from entry-level to more advanced users.
Research Questions
-
What do users think about the mobile project creation process?
-
Are saved card designs intuitive for the users?
-
Do users have enough information to complete steps without assistance?
-
Which “Add an Area” idea do users prefer?
-
Understand the process of adding area from the installers' point of view.
Problem
Young adults don't have time to research healthy recipes and ingredients.
Grocery shopping can be overwhelming for these individuals, being presented with countless options to choose from and knowing what is actually healthy versus marketed as healthy.
How might we help people determine healthy vs unhealthy foods while grocery shopping?
Solution
WellNourish helps users find healthy ingredients, understand nutrition labels and create shopping lists.
WellNourish is a solution for users who get overwhelmed by grocery shopping but are motivated to eat healthy. It is designed to ease the healthy grocery shopping experience by giving users access to simplified nutritional information.
WellNourish
Encouraging Healthy Grocery Shopping by Providing Accessible Information
Team
Sara Augioli
Bahar Shahmammadova
Timeline
8 weeks
Tools Used
Adobe XD
My Role
Project Lead
PROBLEM
There is a low adoption rate for the new Lutron system due to the barrier to entry for entry-level users.
Entry-level installers are not comfortable using complicated GUI (Graphical User Interface) and this affects the adoption of the new Lutron system. Based on the previous research, GUI can be intimidating for these users.
How might we grow the new system by decreasing the barrier to entry for less advanced installers?
SOLUTION
A mobile experience that simplifies steps of the commissioning process for entry-level installers.
Design-As-You-Go simplifies the commissioning process of the new system into a few easy steps with a mobile application, guiding users through the process to create their first commissioning experience without the need to use GUI.
Lutron
Transforming desktop experience into mobile for less advanced users
Team
2 Interaction Designers
Development Team
UX Consultant
Bahar Shahmammadova
Timeline
10 weeks
Skills
Interaction Design
UX Design
Prototyping
UX Research
My Role
UX Co-Op
PROBLEM SPACE
UX Success Metrics
After understanding the problem, past research, and the context of the project, our next step was to define UX success metrics. While we set success metrics for the project, I also set some metrics specific to the part I owned.
One of the main metrics I set was to measure the success rate of entry-level users completing the commissioning process on the mobile app without any assistance during the high-fidelity user test.
I assigned different success rates based on users’ familiarity with the system and the commissioning process. While we were not able to conduct high-fidelity user tests by the end of my internship, we kept this metric in mind during low and mid-fidelity user tests and for the future.
EXPLORATION
Paper Prototypes
I started the exploration process with paper prototypes to quickly ideate different ways to present the "Create a Project" process to the user. After deciding on the user flow and information to include in each step, I started thinking about how to present this to the user while showing them their progress. At this point, I was also ideating on the interaction of step.
INTERNSHIP OVERVIEW
I worked with UX and development team on two different flows to decrease the entry barriers to a new Lutron system for entry-level installers. I owned one of the two flows and collaborated with interaction designers on the second flow.
At the end of the summer, I delivered validated mid-fidelity screens with finalized interactions to the development team for the flow I owned and we finalized two rounds of user tests for the second flow.
Design Decisions
Before moving to user testing, we made some design decisions that were based on past research and new insights from the development team. We understood what information in the GUI is necessary and what can be eliminated for entry-level users. Two major changes to the previous flow were the Project Location and Installer Contact Information screens as well as two main ideas for streamlining the "Add an Area" process.
The previous flow required users to enter installer information for each project, we decided to streamline this process with saved installer information cards that they can quickly select to move on to the next step.
We had multiple discussions with the development team regarding the essential information we need from the installer. Our designs changed from focusing on the project’s time zone to the specific city of the project since the time of the sunset may vary depending on the city rather than the timezone.
Our first idea was to offer a jumpstart for users by showing them commonly added areas before they start creating areas within the house. They can quickly click how many of each common area users have instead of creating it from scratch.
The second idea to streamline the area-adding process was drop-down recommendations, they dynamically change based on what the user is typing in the input box. The user will also have to be presented with commonly added areas before they start typing anything.
ITERATION
Design Proposal
We iterated on both flows based on the key insights from the first round of user testing. Some insights validated our design decisions from earlier iterations while we further iterated on others. We decided to implement the dropdown recommendation list for the “Add an Area” flow since the majority of users preferred that. We have also allowed users to choose multiple contacts for installer information sharing.
"Create a Project"
01. Contact Information Cards
Allow multi-selection for contact sharing and visual improvement for contact card
02. Simplified Input Fields
Simplified contact information to: name*, email*, phone, and company to streamline the process.
03. Using Familiar Terminology
Change the unfamiliar terms such as “CCX” to “type X" which installers use during training.
"Add an Area"
01. Start with an Empty List
Give recommendations as the user starts typing in the input box instead of before the user starts.
02. Options for Recommendations
Explore the ideal way to provide recommendations while creating areas.
03. Improve Sub Area Icon
Users had a hard time understanding the sub-area icon, we decided to further explore it.
04. Expose Frequent Actions
Exposing frequent action items to let users quickly edit the area list without extra clicks.
05. Long Press to Edit Area Lis
Offer additional access to edit area interactions through long-press gestures.
ANALYSIS
Key Findings
"Create a Project"
01.
The process is clear and provides the right amount of information
02.
Installer contact information cards are useful.
03.
Sharing phone numbers is necessary for installers.
04.
Users typically share one contact but it is possible to share more than one.
05.
Some users are not familiar with certain terms used on the screen.
"Add an Area"
01.
5/6 interviewees prefer starting with an empty list with some kind of recommendations.
02.
Users don’t want to create more than 3 layers of areas.
03.
Add sub area icon is not cleat for the user.
04.
Installers name areas very differently.
05.
Jumpstart doesn’t give enough context for what is being added.
ANALYSIS
Key Findings
"Create a Project"
01.
The process is clear and provides the right amount of information
02.
Installer contact information cards are useful.
03.
Sharing phone numbers is necessary for installers.
04.
Users typically share one contact but it is possible to share more than one.
05.
Some users are not familiar with certain terms used on the screen.
"Add an Area"
01.
5/6 interviewees prefer starting with an empty list with some kind of recommendations.
02.
Users don’t want to create more than 3 layers of areas.
03.
Add sub area icon is not clear for the user.
04.
Installers name areas very differently.
05.
Jumpstart doesn’t give enough context for what is being added.
Lutron
Transforming desktop experience into mobile for less advanced users
Team
2 Interaction Designers
Development Team
A UX Consultant
My Role
UX Co-Op
Timeline
10 Weeks
Skills
Interaction Design
UX Design
UX Research
Prototyping
PROBLEM BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH
Past Research
When I joined Lutron, the team already had some research done such as heuristic evaluation of GUI, user interviews, Jobs To Be Done, As-is journey, object view map and etc. My role was to get familiar with past research, analyze user flows and wireframes based on the key findings to later conduct user testing, and iterate.
I specifically owned the “Create a Project” flow of the project where users create their first project step by step before starting designing. I was also involved in the “Add an Area” flow, which is the starting point in the design step of the commissioning process.
Wireframes
The first round of wireframes was focused on the overall process and progress bar, while we were working on wireframes, we were thinking of interactions and steps the user needs to go through before starting design.
ANALYSIS
Key Findings
"Create a Project"
01.
The process is clear and provides the right amount of information.
02.
Installer contact information cards are useful for the user.
03.
Sharing phone numbers is necessary for installers.
04.
Users typically share one contact but it is possible to share more.
05.
Some users are not familiar with certain terms used on the screen.
"Add an Area"
01.
5/6 users prefer starting with an empty list and recommendations.
02.
Users don’t want to create more than 3 layers of areas.
03.
Add sub-area icon is not clear for the user.
04.
Installers name areas very differently.
05.
Jumpstart doesn’t give enough context for what is being added.
Lutron
Transforming desktop experience into mobile for less advanced users
Team
2 Interaction Designers
Development Team
UX Consultant
Bahar Shahmammadova
My Role
UX Co-Op
Skills
Interaction Design
UX Design
UX Research
Prototyping
Timeline
10 Weeks
PROBLEM
There is a low adoption rate for the new Lutron system due to the barrier to entry for entry-level users.
Entry-level installers are not comfortable using complicated GUI (Graphical User Interface) and this affects the adoption of the new Lutron system. Based on the previous research, GUI can be intimidating for these users.
How might we grow the new system by decreasing the barrier to entry for less advanced installers?
SOLUTION
A mobile experience that simplifies steps of the commissioning process for entry-level installers.
Design-As-You-Go simplifies the commissioning process of the new system into a few easy steps with a mobile application, guiding users through the process to create their first commissioning experience without the need to use GUI.
Team
2 Interaction Designers
Development Team
UX Consultant
Bahar Shahmammadova
My Role
UX Co-Op
Timeline
10 Weeks
Skills
Interaction Design
UX Design
UX Research
Prototyping
User Flows
Before starting wireframing, I analyzed user flows that the team had before I joined for both flows. Throughout our design process, user flows changed based on new insights from development team and users.
"Create a Project"
Feautures Overview
Simple Instructions and UI
Users can create a project in 4 quick steps with simplified instructions and UI.
Saved Contact Cards
The installer's previously entered contact information is saved in contact cards for future use.
Area Recommendations
Users will get dynamic area name recommendations to streamline area tree creation.
INTERNSHIP OVERVIEW
I worked with UX and development team on two different flows to decrease the entry barriers to a new Lutron system for entry-level installers. I owned one of the two flows and collaborated with interaction designers on the second flow.
At the end of the summer, I delivered validated mid-fidelity screens with finalized interactions to the development team for the flow I owned and we finalized two rounds of user tests for the second flow.
Lutron Electronics
Lutron Electronics designs and manufactures smart-home light control systems, temperature controls, and shades for residential and commercial spaces.
