May the F̶o̶r̶c̶e̶ Light be with you: A Design Thinking Project
Hello everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read my first-ever case study.
This is Charan, working as a software tester in Bangalore with an experience of 5 years but dissatisfied with the work I do. Then I searched for professions that resonated with my personality and came across UX design.
My journey with User Experience started with enrolling in the UX Mastery program led by Anudeep Ayyagari, where I was put in a group of eight and had to select an area of choice from 11 areas of a house. And I chose my area to be the bedroom, where I had to enhance the user experience of the bedroom.
I chose the bedroom because I already had a lot of biases and solutions that could improve the bedroom experience, but I wanted to challenge myself that “I am not the USER” and that I could put my biases aside and solve the actual problems that the user has.
So the decision is made, the bedroom it is….. and now what??? How am I going to enhance the user experience of a bedroom? This is where we get to….
The Design Thinking Process
As “Design Thinking” is the heart of our project, let's understand this term.
Design thinking is a process that helps in better understanding the user while empathizing with them, identifying the gaps in their experience, and finding the best possible solution.
in order to understand the user’s experience with their bedroom. I followed the basic stages of the design thinking process:
Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test
Empathize
“It’s not ‘us versus them’ or even ‘us on behalf of them.’ For a design thinker it has to be ‘us with them’” — Tim Brown
So to empathize with the user, I have to understand the likes, dislikes, wants, and needs of the user. To get there, I have to have a conversation with the user where they can speak freely about their feelings.
So I created a questionnaire for the user interviews, focusing on the user’s interactions with the bedroom and asking them how and why they do certain tasks in a particular way.
Below are the questions that I asked my users :
1. Hi, How are you today? How was your day till now?
2. Where are you from and what do you do?
3. Describe your house?
4. Could you take me through your typical day and what all you do?
5. As you have taken me through your routine, Could you please tell me what are all the things you do in your bedroom in each part of your day?
6. Now Close your eyes, stay calm and imagine that you are at the center of your bedroom, look around and describe to me what you can see.
7. Now think of one happy memory you had in that room, you got it? Now tell me one thing which you like/love in your bedroom and why?
8. Now think of one frustrating memory you had in that room, you got it? Now tell me one thing which you hate/dislike in your bedroom and why?
9. Given a chance, tell me one thing which you will change in your present bedroom?
10. How does your dream bedroom look like?
11. What are all things which you need in your bedroom if money isn’t a constraint?
12. What do you think an idle room looks and feels like if you want to have a good night’s sleep?
13. Which things do you think might affect your sleep?
14. How do you usually wake up?
I didn’t want the conversation between me and the user to feel like an interview, and I wanted the user’s thoughts and feelings to flow naturally.
So I used the above questionnaire as a starting point for the conversation and asked the users follow-up questions about why they liked or disliked certain things. And, based on the insights they provided, I attempted to identify any gaps or problems.
After the interviews, I mapped out the users' likes and dislikes with respect to the bedroom.
Learnings
- Make a separate note of the points on which you want to probe further.
- Change your approach/questions after 2–3 interviews to get better insights.
Now that I have noted down the insights from the users, it's time to get to the root problems that the users are experiencing. This is where we move to the next step of the design thinking process.
Define
In this stage, I reviewed the insights I gained from the Empathize stage and began identifying the user’s problems. Here I started disregarding the surface-level problems and started to look for the root problems that the user was experiencing.
Problems faced by the users:
User finds it difficult to see themselves in the mirror while dressing up because of bad lighting.
The user finds it difficult to apply makeup as their own shadow falls on their face. Also, the light coming from behind creates a silhouette of themselves on the mirror, which makes it difficult for the user to see themselves.
User finds it hard to read a book while lying on the bed as there won’t be sufficient lighting on the book.
If the user lies on his back and holds the book upward, the light coming from the top will not fall on the book. And if the user rolls over and lies on his stomach, their own shadow falls on the book, making it difficult to read.
Learnings
- Writing down the problem statement is not enough, as a Designer, it is important to know why solving a particular problem is important to the user.
- Try to go deep into each problem and get to the root of each problem.
- Avoid writing solutions in the problem statements.
Now that I have defined the problems, finally, it’s time to solve them. Thus, moving to…..
Ideate
“The best way to have the best ideas, is to have a lot of ideas.” — Linus Pauling
In this stage, I looked at the problem statements from the Define stage and started ideating the solutions for each problem. So I used the “Crazy 8” technique to come up with the ideas.
This Crazy 8 technique is designed to push your brain to come up with eight solutions to each problem in eight minutes. I had 150 solutions for the 18 problems I had defined using this technique.
The solutions I found for each problem are as follows:
The user finds it hard to read a book while lying on the bed as there won’t be sufficient lighting on the book
1. A hovering light
2. Lights at both sides of the bed on top and can be rotated all around
3. A head torch
4. A book holder with an extended cord light coming from the handle can be projected onto the book
5. A bendable and extendable stand with light that can be bent at any angle
6. Reading glasses with lights on both sides
7. A suction light that can be placed wherever needed
8. A neckband with lights on both sides
User finds it difficult to see themselves in the mirror while dressing up because of bad lighting.
1. A light with a suction back to put on the mirror
2. Have lights all around the mirror.
3. A drone light bulb
4. Attachable LED light strip
5. An extendable cord with a cloth to cover the user to stop the light from behind.
6. A black screen that can be pulled up and rolled down into a small box to be put behind the user.
7. A magnifying mirror when needed to put on makeup without getting near the mirror.
8. A light with a stand that can be bent at different angles and lengths
I thought finding solutions to all of the problems was the difficult part, but the actual difficult part is selecting the top three solutions from all of the solutions I’ve found. So the top three solutions I selected are :
1.A drone light with a gimbal system that allows the light to rotate independently of the drone’s position
Why: Reading a book in bed is itself a problem as the user must remain in a single position for too long, and it is even more difficult when there is no light falling on the book.
2.An "L"-shaped broom with a trigger system; when the user pushes the trigger to the left, the broom sweeps to the left, and vice versa.
Why: Bending to reach places beneath the bed and other objects in the bedroom is one of the most common issues that users face when cleaning the room.
3.A chair with a drawer below it
Why: There is a lot of empty space beneath the chairs that could be used. Placing a drawer beneath the chairs allows the user to store anything in it.
Learnings
- While brainstorming, don’t dismiss any solutions; instead, list down every idea that comes to mind.
- Allow the ideas to flow without thinking about the practicality or constraints.
Whenever I get stuck doing the crazy 8s and don’t get any ideas, I've figured out a three-step process that allows me to find more solutions.
- Find a jugaad for the problem. (PS: Jugaad was added to the Oxford Dictionary in 2017).
- Find a solution that will allow us to completely eliminate the product causing the problem.
For example: while sleeping, the user cannot find a place to put the water bottle. Here I will try to find a way to let the user drink water without using a water bottle. - Find a solution that automates the entire process, eliminating the need for the user to do anything.
Now that I have decided on a single solution, it's time to...
Prototype
All three of the top solutions are important and beneficial to users. I had to pick one, so I chose the first solution to prototype —
A drone light with a gimbal system that allows the light to rotate/tilt independently of the drone’s position.
as it solves two of the user’s problems —
1. The user finds it hard to read a book while lying on the bed as there won’t be sufficient lighting on the book.
2. The user finds it difficult to see themselves in the mirror while dressing up because of bad lighting.
This solution not only solves the problems of the two users, but it can also be used in a variety of other situations in which the user is unable to carry a light.
So I started working on the prototype, taking inspiration from existing drones and replacing the camera with a light.
The drone will have a gimbal-equipped light that rotates on its own axis and can be tilted and fixed at any angle required.
Now that the prototype has been completed, it is time to test it and see how much better it can become.
Test
With the prototype I had, I went to my group members and explained the problems and solutions I had come up with, as well as presenting the prototype to them.
The feedback that I received from my users is as follows:
- Bright light coming from a nearer source may hurt the eyes.
- The size of the drone might distract the user.
- The rotating fan might make a lot of noise.
- Children can get hurt by the rotors of the drone.
- While reading a book lying down, the user has to get up and turn the drone off and place it in a safe place.
- The user might read books for longer periods and the drone’s battery might get discharged by then.
- If the drone’s battery discharges it may fall down and damage the drone.
Learnings:
- It is not necessary to have an answer to the questions posed by users during testing.
- Do not try to defend your solution; it was created for the user, and if the user mentions a problem, make a note of it.
- Observe the user and make a note of every feedback.
Prototype — 2
“It’s through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good.” — Paula Scher
With the feedback from the testing stage, I began working on a new version of the prototype.
The changes I made are :
- Making the drone smaller to avoid any distractions for the user.
- Adding another light at the top to provide a wider spread of light that is safe for the user’s eyes.
- Adding small rubber edges to the rotors to protect the users from injuries.
How it works:
Turning On: To fly the drone, the user must first open the rotors and press the ON button.
Turning Off: To turn off the drone and light, the user can directly hold the drone and close the rotors.
Usage:
As shown in the image, the light has a gimbal system which allows user to tilt in any which way required.
To activate the top light, the user should press on the top, allowing the top light to pop out.
As shown in the image, the user can read books or perform other tasks by placing objects at the light focal point.
The spread out light can be used to protect users’ eyes when applying makeup or doing other tasks.
Future Scope:
Design is an iterative process, and there will always be something better than the previous iteration.
Some of the things that can be added in future iterations are:
- A button to adjust the intensity of the light.
- A wearable accessory that allows the drone to follow the user.
- A docking station where the drone can rest and recharge itself automatically.
- Improved battery life that lasts longer.
Learnings
- Don’t be afraid to make mistakes; instead, seek feedback and improve the product.
- Nothing is perfect, and everything can be improved.
- Your solution does not have to solve all of the users’ problems.
Thank you for your time! Please let me know in the comments if you enjoyed this article!
Please give your valuable feedback or suggestions that can help me in my next project, and you can email me at charan.appalabatla@gmail.com