Havells released their first product in their premium segment. We helped Havells shape their user experience and find their UI voice
MY ROLE
User Research, User Interviews, Journey Mapping, Sketching, Wireframing, Screen Flows, Visual Design, Interaction Design
YEAR
2021 - 2022
PLATFORM
Android, iOS
The product
The first offering from Havells Studio was the Havells Meditate Air Purifier, which uses cutting-edge space-tech air purification technology to clean the air. Designed to resemble a beautiful piece of furniture rather than a typical appliance, the air purifier features premium materials like frost-finished aluminum and wood, crafted by the GDD Industrial Design team. It can be conveniently controlled by a remote that rests on top of the purifier. Our goal was to design a seamless and intuitive user experience for this new device while maintaining the existing app framework.
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The air purifier came with its own AQI control remote, which rested on top of the device and charged wirelessly. This AQI remote had three primary functions:
It served as an AQI reader.
It allowed users to control the fan speed.
It provided an accurate dust count.
Deep Dive
We needed to deeply understand what would elevate the user experience and enhance the usability of the device. To achieve this, we conducted extensive research with high-value customers and store visitors, including user interviews at local stores. Based on these interviews and previously collected app data, we created three user personas. We broke down their attributes, pain points, motivations, and goals to guide our design process.
Based on our research, we discovered the following insights:Most users found the product onboarding process cumbersome.Users were generally unaware of air purifier technologies compared to other appliances like refrigerators or microwaves.Users preferred not to constantly adjust the air purifier settings based on AQI and pollution levels.
The Final Concept
After extensive discussions, we finalized the design with a focus on minimizing manual actions required by the user. Our approach emphasized displaying the air purifier's performance live rather than burdening users with constant control. By default, the device control screen would display key metrics such as AQI, dust levels, and filter life. The notification panel served as the primary method for suggestive actions, meaning the app would recommend actions instead of requiring users to constantly check AQI levels and manually start or stop cleaning sessions.
Deep Dive
Key Focuses Based on our insights, we defined the following key focus areas:
Easy Onboarding and Setup: How can we make the onboarding and setup process easy and effortless for users?
Smarter User Education: How can we better inform and educate users about leveraging smart features to improve indoor AQI?
Smarter Automations: How can we enable users to quickly implement smarter automations for their air purifier?
Effortless Control: How can we maximize functionality while minimizing user effort?
Ideation
We broke down the user journey into three parts:
Installation
Usage
Maintenance
We brainstormed features that would elevate the user experience, aiming to generate ideas without considering feasibility at this stage. After consulting with the Havells team, we refined these ideas into a final list of features to be released with the air purifier.
Quick Pollution scan
The AQI and dust levels are always visible. We designed a mechanism to display both AQI and dust levels seamlessly, without cluttering the UI. The filter life of the air purifier is also continuously displayed. Users can click on the icons next to these data points to access more detailed information, ensuring that the interface remains user-friendly and informative without being overwhelming.
Adjust Speed & Other Options
Users can also manually adjust the fan speed or set a timer by tapping on the respective tabs.
Timer
Users can navigate to the timer section by swiping left from the Speed tab. Users can use the slider to adjust running time.
Moving forward, we plan to expand our repository of area- and location-specific automation suggestions and triggers. We also designed a session feedback mechanism to gather insights from users about common reasons for high AQI and to enable users to rate different sessions. This feedback will help us design even more personalized automations in the future. We found that 71% of users reported that the air purifier cleaning sessions met their expectations.
The product was highly appreciated upon release, with the app experience effectively extending the premium feel of the product. Users particularly liked the simplicity of the controls and the smart automation suggestions.
In 2023, we won two prestigious awards for this project: the Red Dot Award and the IF Design Award, earning great recognition for Havells.
Conclusion
Havells requested us to Design the Product and the App
Appliances have become part of our lives. We see appliances as furniture as we put together our houses as extensions of ourselves. And hence, the Havells Meditate Air purifier was born. The first air purifier that uses aircraft technology to clean your air.
The industrial design was designed by the ID team of GDD and used Materials like Wood and Metal to keep carbon emissions low.Havells request was not only to design the product but also the Companion app made for the device.
The Challenge
The challenge was to design an enhanced experience for the new line of products within the existing Havells Sync app, which serves as Havells' 'all-in-one' platform. This app allows Havells customers to operate their smart devices from various Havells brands. Our objective was to create a premium user experience for the air purifier, distinguishing it from other product lines and positioning it as a superior offering. We needed to achieve this while respecting the existing user journeys, navigation patterns, and interaction frameworks of the app.
Iterative design process
We collaborated with the Havells Design team and identified three key factors users should always be aware of:
Is my air quality good?
Is there anything I can do to improve the air quality?
Is my air purifier functioning properly?
During our iteration process, we explored card-based designs that could scale into carousel layouts for flexibility. However, we ultimately opted for a more tailored approach, emphasising graphic elements over typographic ones.
Smart Actions
We conducted an extensive study of AQI levels, common causes of pollution, and activities that typically increase pollution levels. By analyzing past India-specific data, we identified various triggers such as increased traffic, weather conditions, construction, and festivals like Diwali and Dussehra. Based on these triggers, the app sends notifications to users with personalized automation suggestions, allowing them to take quick, informed actions to maintain better air quality.
Dust and AQI indicators.
The Levels Sections contains dust and AQi indicators.There is also a Filter life indicator that always informs the user about when its finally time for him to change the filters.Next to these indicators is a buttons that takes the user to respective pages for more information
