Appliance touch screen
Product & market research
User interview
User journey mapping
Ideation & Concept
User testing
High-fidelity interactive prototype
Collaboration & interaction design leadership
Lead product designer
Adobe creative suite
Confluence
Figma
internal method and system
Jira / M project planner
Microsoft office tool
Two years
May 2021
Background
This company is a leading global appliance company that has shaped people's lives with the most effective products and has made everyday life easier for many people worldwide, with a wide range of products in the electronics industry for over 100 years.
Stack holders word
We are in a critical phase of transitioning to upgrade our products and enhance connectivity. The majority of our appliances are currently non-connected versions. As the market and our competitors strive for more advanced and easily connected products, we must meet our customers' demands for improved connectivity and accessibility.
We seek assistance in this transition to incorporate connectivity, functions, and features into our existing products, enabling upgrades to new versions as well as integration into new products. Additionally, we require collaboration with the App team to ensure well-aligned application solutions and seamless onboarding of connected products, given the numerous disparate apps we currently have that need centralisation.
My role
As the lead product designer (UX/UI), I contributed to developing numerous products across various product categories, including Taste, Food Preservation, Food Preparation, and Care, on both regional and global levels. Additionally, I collaborated and contributed within the application design team.
I was assigned the lead design role for different appliance category teams. Given that I was the sole lead designer in each product category, and other team members had diverse roles and working methods, I established an agile methodology within each team. I introduced and led this new way of working, spearheading the design activities for the digital interaction components of the products.
Throughout my daily work, I successfully applied a wide range of skills and knowledge to drive the digital design process forward.
During my time at Electrolux, I worked on various projects, each with a unique starting point. regardless of the product, I consistently began with a comprehensive discovery phase. This phase is crucial to understand what we are dealing with and what is required for a successful outcome. Conducting thorough pre-research and studies is essential for setting the foundation for design thinking and product development.
In the discovery phase, I aimed to gain a deep understanding of the requirements, the product, the team, and the working structure. This approach allowed me to identify areas for improvement and establish a robust framework for moving forward with the design work.
Without delay, I initiated an in-depth discovery and understanding phase. I analysed and evaluated the current state of various products, exploring their capabilities, limitations, and technical possibilities. To gain comprehensive insights, I conducted interviews with company stakeholders, key personnel, and team members across different departments..
Project identification & technical summary
Discovery findings (5W)
Current product states
Stakeholders interview
Target user/customer description
Product value proposition
Initial project requirements
Project risks & dependencies
Project possibilities
Initial deliverables
To move forward effectively, I prioritised identifying stakeholder and customer pain points, often collaborating with the marketing, customer service, and customer experience departments. If previous studies were available, I utilised those; otherwise, I planned and conducted new interviews and evaluation sessions with the target group. This approach helped define the product design tasks and gain insights into user needs and expectations.
Common Activities and Outcomes
The research phase activities varied depending on the project needs and product types. Often, pre-existing studies were available for use, but when they weren't, we planned for and conducted necessary research.
User interviews
Surveys
Rapid qualitative evaluations
Benchmarking
Workshops
Affinity mapping
Customer Journey mapping
Persona creation
Initial project requirements list (in collaboration with stakeholders)
Project estimation and scoping, Daily tasks and backlogs (agile methodology),
Use cases and scenarios descriptions
User/customer insights and journeys
Product's Information Architecture Hierarchy
User flow charts
Product flow site map
As previously mentioned, the type and extent of the ideation phase and concept iteration varied depending on the product, project state, and requirements. For existing products and upgrades, extensive ideation and concept iteration were often not required. However, the common activities I conducted during the early design phase included concept iteration, sketching, low-fidelity wireframes, and quick UI iterations without interactivity to finalize the concept for the design phase. Sometimes, we conducted different types of testing to confirm our design behavior and interaction approach. The most common activities conducted during all projects at different steps are as follows:
Affinity mapping based on user interviews
Creation of necessary graphical elements and company components, considering the company's established graphic design elements and design system library. It was challenging due to limited access to different design tools and transitioning from Adobe applications to Figma.
Creation of a project component library
Refinement of the final design concept, main use cases, and first-level page hierarchies
Ideation and concept design sketches
Initial co-creation concept iterations
Design concept review workshops
Concept testing and validation (Guerilla testing, A/B testing, concept testing)
Daily and weekly alignment meetings
These activities ensured that we developed well-thought-out design solutions that addressed user needs and aligned with project requirements, setting a strong foundation for the subsequent design phase.
Before starting the complete design flow of the entire product based on the final concept design, I ensured the following were ready:
Use Cases and Scenarios: Detailed descriptions of how different types of users will interact with the product.
User Flow: Clear mapping of the user journey through the product.
Product Interaction Flow: Defined how different elements of the product interact with each other.
Information and Content Hierarchy: Organized structure of information to ensure optimal user experience.
Additionally, I made sure to update and refine project tasks and documentation. The initial drafts of these materials were prepared with the understanding that they would evolve based on usability testing, design iterations, and changing project requirements. While these drafts often differed from the final versions due to evolving product needs and project requirements, they served as the foundation for the interactive product UI. Usability testing and iterative design further informed and refined these materials, ensuring that the final product design was user-centric and effective.
To ensure that our initial drafts of main use cases and functions were aligned with findings from previous studies and requirements, we prioritised early validation and testing. This process confirmed that our approach was effectively addressing end-user pain points. Depending on the project, this phase could involve testing various concept solutions, features, interactive behaviours, and scenarios. Often, the final design version underwent testing in collaboration with the application design team.
Regardless of the appliance category I worked in, collaboration and contribution to the application solution were crucial. Our design efforts were part of a global team of different designers, each assigned to specific product categories or departments. Despite being the sole lead designer for specific products, our solutions needed to be flexible and adaptable to different markets worldwide. This global collaboration ensured our designs were comprehensive and versatile.
Here are some common usability testing methods we conducted in collaboration with the research team at various stages of design iteration and final solution development:
Outcome:
Concept testing, often A/B testing or guerrilla testing
Lean usability testing
Extended lean usability testing
RITE usability testing
Here are examples of the final design solutions and interfaces delivered to the production teams. Depending on the manufacturer, material sources, and physical and technical requirements, the format of these deliveries varied. Each production team had its own processes based on the type of product and geographical location. I ensured that the final design, product interaction behaviours, assets, and documentation were provided in the following formats:
Outcome:
Final Use Case specification: comprehensive documentation of use cases & scenarios ready for handover.
Delivery and handover of all design materials.
Delivery of development material & files.
Series of Handover, Check-in, Approval & Validation Meetings & Workshops: Coordinated sessions to ensure smooth transitions and validation.
QA testing of the final product: Quality assurance testing to ensure the final product met all requirements.
Delivery & Handover documentation, online interactive prototype & recordings.
Internal SharePoint product pages with attached links & files
Within the product team, we ensured the quality testing of the final product. Each discipline within the team was responsible for testing their respective components, with initial samples often sent from the factory to our testing lab. It was crucial to examine and verify the product quality, before mass production.
June 2023
Some of MY award wining design
I have worked within various product categories, including Food Preservation, Food Preparation, Care, and Small Appliances.
The usability and design solutions for each product are manifested through various control panel design variations. These variations are carefully tailored to match the specific interaction behaviours required by the technical, mechanical, and functional characteristics of each product's control panel. Additionally, I contributed to the application design to create a smooth and easy onboarding and connectivity experience for customers.
