Byrne
Leading manufacturer of power solutions
https://byrne.com.mx/soluciones_byrne/
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Summary: The company wanted disruptive innovation to compete in their industry. So a number of team members, (including myself) created a digital app and a IoT multi connector technology for them.
My role was specifically making the app design, gather information, show a mid-fidelity MVP to Byrne and finally, I was in charge of the Design Sprint workshop. As a result we could validate that 90% of users finished all tasks correctly and on time, therefore, part of the conclusions were:
The app was interactive and easy to use. Additionally, 65% of users were able to save energy from the multi connector in order to obtain bonus and gifts.
UX Designer
Facilitator
Figma. Maze, Canva Miro, Lucidchart, Blender
Sep - Dec 2021
(4 months)
CONTEXT
The company wanted to be part of the technological environment so they could stop being in a "Stand-up Battle" with their competitors, they were looking to be more risky and take a next step in their company by having a "Armed neighbors" model where they could have different competitive advantages and new target.
In that scenario we offer building a desirable, feasible and viable product / service that could match what they´re looking for.
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We tried to focus our solution on a super disruptive mega-trend, in this case we consider the Calculated Carbon mega-trend, specifically about the carbon footprint calculators that let consumers assess their environmental impact.
We wanted to experiment with a young population and that could be either innovators / early adopters.
We offer making a Design Sprint . . .
As Byrne wanted to take risk by innovating disruptively in their industry, we offer making a Design Sprint, in this case we used the first Design Sprint version.
During the workshop, I took the role of facilitator and product support on DAY 4.
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During the Sprint there were challenges, the most important one was that we didn´t have a Decisor, because the directors were busy for the important decisions in the Sprint. The solution to this problem was just follow our voting system for each important step.
In summary, here are the main focus of the Sprint :
Long-term goal
In two year time . . .
Varios clientes obtendrán beneficios por ahorro de energía.
Sprint Questions
Can we make consumers aware of their consumption?
How Might We´s
(HMW)
How might we make clear the environmental issue?
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How might we give benefits by saving energy?
MAP MAIN-FOCUS
Detect the maximum charge and disconnects to the power.
Sprint Map
In the map we choose to focus on how could people get benefits from the product while it detects and disconnects from the power. Our main actor will be a new client that will interact with a digital product.
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After defining our main actor, we add an extra step to explain who really is our main target.
Who are we going to interview on DAY 5?
1 main actor in map
2 parts of the map
2 HMW´s to answer
Our persona . . .
Natalia
21 years old colleague student
Who´s Natalia?
Due to the pandemic she must take classes from home
She adapted an area on her house to take classes
She needs to plugged into an outlet to prevent her computer´s still works
Active in social media
Watch series and entertainment on her computer
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They seek to establish a one-to-one relationship with brands
Concern about environmental footprint based on the use of energy and CO2
They use devices in their daily activities
Gains
(Product)
Ergonomic design
High voltage resistance & Fast charge
Highly durable reinforced cables
Premium materials & Status
Pleasant Design
Pains
She forget to charge your phone and lives without a battery
There are no outlets everywhere
Cares about your environmental responsibility
You can not stop being connected to your social networks
Jobs to-be-done
Take classes from your university
Check and update your social networks
Watch series on your computer
Work applications from your laptop
Tasks and projects
Flow-chart (Information Architecture)
We decides to make a digital product that could help us answer our Sprint question.
I elaborated a flow-chart using Lucidchart to know how we are going to move on the app and which type of writing we´re going to use.
Here´s how the flow-chart works:
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MID-Fidelity Prototype
We agree to test a mid-prototype design so people could notice is a prototype and feel relax that we´re testing the design, not the person.
Basically what you can find in this app is a way to get benefits from energy saving by administrating timers on the outlets of the new Byrne product called "QB-ECO".
We first use a flow-chart to know how we are going to move on the app and which type of Information Architecture we´re going to use (see flow-chart after Usability test).
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Usability Test
For the test, instead of doing a moderated session we wanted to know how a user USES the product instead of what they SAY about it. We use Maze for the validation, here are the results:
First part we wanted to test:
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If the benefits process while saving energy is intuitive and simple.
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There was only a 10% churn rate, which means the majority finished the mission.
Hypothesis 1 - We believe that 50% of the interviewees will finish all the activities in less than 6 minutes.
Hypothesis 2 - We believe that at least 50% of those interviewed are interested or care about energy consumption reports.
Second part we wanted to test:​
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If timer on outlets were intuitive
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Users will understand the whole purpose of the timer
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The results were extremely positive, every single user knew how to use the timer correctly.
Third part we wanted to know:
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Which kind of graphics would users wanted to see.
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Users responded the following types of dashboards:​
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Devices connected and info.
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Daily energy savings and consumption.
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Energy consumption comparisons
100%
100%
Hypothesis 3 - We believe that at least 75% of the interviewees would recommend modifying, removing or adding something to the application.
Hypothesis 4 - We believe that more than 75% of the interviewees are interested in consuming energy to obtain rewards.
60%
100%
Outcomes
The results for this Sprint helped us guarantee the environmental issue and making possible users be interested on how to get benefits from energy saving using a mobile app.
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NEXT STEPS
Once we have realized the desirability test, we talked with Byrne´s team to present our results. As a next step we propose to them adapting these new features and mobile app into one of their existant products.
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Why we took that decision?
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We listen to every product Byrne was selling and we identify that one their products called NUUP it´s target was pretty similar to our test.
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In order to sell the new NUUP, we asked ourselves what kind of modifications does the physical product MUST contain of this new target?​
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Focus Group & Conclusions
I moderated a focus group with 7 target users to understand what features would they like to have this "new NUUP"
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In conclusion, these are the adjustments that the physical product MUST have:
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​Lots of connectors
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Different types of inputs, type C, USB
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Smart control to access the product from the cell phone
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Ease of transportation
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We made a Blender file representing all of the additional features and this is how it ends to be the final product:
