Follow Up Work
PRODUCTION /
Development and execution
Proactively reviewing issues and defining criterions are critical to successfully conduct the design concept into mass production and ensuring our products could meet expectations within standards.
-
Color & texture definition
The primary step impacts the product appearance is to confirm "material color" and "finished texture" spec.
-
DFM review
DFM report review is also a important step before tooling start. Although the content is created by the engineering and supplier, it actually determines the product produced whether meet designer's expectations.
-
Lighting effects confirmation
For this project, I need to check the lighting effects for good indicator visibility. We put "light diffuser" into the light pipe resin in order to have an even effect. According to different ratio of diffuser, I have selected a right one for our product.
Dealing with click feeling issue
Because of the waterproof criterions, we chose rubber on the button based on engineer’s suggestion, but it also brought a “poor click feeling” by its uneven and excessive sinking. Users cannot easily know whether the click is valid or not.
We increased the material hardness, but it did not work. Then I suggested "double injection" to balance clicking force, but our budget could not support it. So, we bonded a thin piece of plastic on top to get the same effect.
Fixed the button design mistake while keeping the waterproof function. Here are some positive feedback from a user testing survey:
“NEW click is better, double click on edge is good compared to PAST.”
“NEW clicking is more responsive than PAST, surface is more rigid.”
“NEW click feel is better, more like click on something, not sinking.”
“NEW click is better because it can trigger when click on edge.”
OUTCOME /
How do we create brand value while provide customization ?
For the customization purpose, we offer a branding area on a deco part which is attached to the top of device as we are going to have a partnership with local telecom operators in Japan, Singapore, EU, US for network supporting. Even for end users, they also can print one with any content for personalization.
What we learned from customization
When we actually provide the custom service to our client - Soracom in Japan, it has happened a challenge to production. Due to cost and order quantity, the deco part was applied by "digital printing" instead of traditional "screen or pad printing." But the digital printing is not as good in quality. So, "how to meet the appearance standard" was my urgent task at that time.
I co-worked with the supplier to proposed 4 kinds of printing solutions and analyzed them for our client. Finally our client chose one of them and the product was successfully put into production. It gives us enough experience to face other clients in the future.
BRANDING /
Packaging presentation
The go-to-market plan still require a suitable packaging which can fit all of UnaSensors and related accessories. My proposal was to present a minimalist, modest and 100% recyclable pizza-box packaging with a customizable commercial content.
Reflection
In this project, I was not only driving the form factor of product, but also the branding materials such as logos and packaging. In addition, the ket target of the products was to achieve “modularization” and “customization” through design thinking. Although we met some issues during execution processes, we still managed to fix them successfully. I believe it is a very valuable experience by collaborating closely with cross-functional teams and vendors to focus on whole system rather than the product itself from a brand perspective.
