For this project, the process of product placement trickles down from the hardware side. iXpand Wireless charger is a local storage device that also has the ability to charge the phone. At the same time, the software would support this product's 2nd generation, which only has cloud storage capabilities.
Western Digital has new hardware with storage solutions available and wants to expand its product line through a Sandisk brand. We need to find the market fit for this product and design software around it.
The hardware is a wireless charger that backs up your content automatically to the local storage and the cloud - our software will have 2 core features: Free up and Restore. This product will be integrated with smart-home and serve as a morning and night-time trigger for these routines.
1. Primary function of the product is charging. Storage is secondary.
2. Smart home integration with other devices.
3. Expansion of the product line.
4. Free up and Restore require more hand-holding to improve user experience.
5. This product needs to have its own unique language to stand out among the rest.
Based on user research, our main target market will be Japan.
The secondary target market is Europe, followed by the US. This product doesn't have a large audience - instead, it focuses on the needs of a smaller group and optimizes their needs.
We are targeting high-end wireless chargers.
The cost of production is high, so we can't compete with $10-15 wireless chargers. This product is essential for expanding our product line.
We are going after smart home product line with this product, as data shows it will be growing fast
When connected to other smart home devices, this device can help to create and streamline routines. E.g.Picking up your phone in the morning can automatically trigger a sequence of your favorite morning rituals.
The device has to connect through Bluetooth to set up a wireless network used to back up the phone’s content which requires mandatory location permission. Therefore, it was crucial to design an experience that would make users comfortable with allowing a charger to track them. The device has its own network, as well as the ability to connect through a side link (router).
Thanks to more than 30 hours of research footage, the design was refined for accessibility and ease of use, and it was delightful to see that users understand the product and the overall vision of the product line as a whole. Here is a auto-generated text from one of the users during the User Testing usability test.
After carefully reflecting on user research and product - goals, energy, amusement, and simplicity are the guiding words I used to develop this visual system. The symbol that I wanted to build the system around was an energy sphere, and the chosen color design was purple. Close to blue, which is often used in technology but more fun, the users really enjoyed the purple hue, leading me to add more color into the app as a result of user feedback.
Onboarding is the most complex part of the app since it has to support multiple users as well as dealing with permissions and security settings. There are also many error states to consider in the setup process, primarily because it deals with hardware. I was focused on making the setup as fun and easy for our users as possible.
One of the app's main features is its ability to free up space from your phone, appearing as a CTA on the app's home screen.It is a simple task that I supplemented with a little confetti celebration and instructions on how to recover the files if the user changes their mind. Users can recover the content from the restore tab.
I went to India to meet the development team and hosted a design sprint to figure out how to create daily habits via the app's creation. With the results, we set up experiments to see if we could take this simple product further. The easiest to test was the concept of milestones- rewarding the user with badges for backing up content. It was a long shot, but I really enjoyed making the visuals and the prototype. Needless to say, it failed miserably because nobody needs a badge for backing up their photos.
