Designing Connected Products

Table of contents

1. Dedication
2. Praise for Designing Connected Products
3. Foreword
4. Preface
   1. From “Internet of Things” to “Connected Products”
   2. The Design Challenge
   3. Why Did I Write This Book?
   4. Why Is It About Consumers?
   5. Who Is It For?
   6. About the Authors
   7. How This Book Is Organized
   8. Acknowledgments
      1. Personal Acknowledgments
5. 1. What’s Different About User Experience Design for the Internet of Things?
   1. How Is UX for IoT Different?
      1. Functionality Can Be Distributed Across Multiple Devices with Different Capabilities
      2. The Focus of the User Experience May Be in the Service
      3. We Don’t Expect Internet-Like Glitches from the Real World
      4. IoT is Largely Asynchronous
      5. Code Can Run in Many More Places
      6. Devices are Distributed in the Real World
      7. Remote Control and Automation are Programming-Like Activities
      8. Complex Services Can Have Many Users, Multiple UIs, Many Devices, Many Rules and Applications
      9. Many Differing Technical Standards Make Interoperability Hard
      10. IoT is All About Data
   2. A Design Model for IoT
      1. UI/Visual Design
      2. Interaction Design
      3. Interusability
      4. Industrial Design
      5. Service Design
      6. Conceptual Model
      7. Productization
      8. Platform Design
   3. Summary
6. 2. Things: The Technology of Connected Devices
   1. Types of Connected Device
   2. Multipurpose Computers
      1. Embedded Devices
         1. Embedded Hardware
         2. Embedded Software
      2. Connected Sensors
      3. Passively Trackable Objects
         1. RFID and NFC
         2. Beacons
   3. Bridging Physical and Digital: Sensors and Actuators
      1. Sensors
      2. Actuators
   4. The Challenge of Powering Devices
   5. Conserving Battery Life
      1. Powering Devices Creates UX Challenges
   6. Summary
7. 3. Networks: The Technology of Connectivity
   1. Why is Networking Relevant to IoT UX?
   2. Networking Issues That Cause UX Challenges for IoT
      1. IoT Devices Often Connect Only Intermittently
      2. Latency and Responsiveness May Vary
      3. Networks Are Not 100% Reliable
      4. The Impact of Latency and Reliability on UX
      5. Other Ways Networking Can Impact UX
   3. The Architecture of the Internet of Things
      1. Dedicated Gateway
      2. Smartphone as Gateway
      3. Direct Internet Connection
      4. Device-to-Device Connections
      5. Service-to-Service Connections
      6. How System Architecture Affects UX
      7. Advantages of Gateways
         1. Edge devices can be kept simple
         2. Easier setup and maintenance
         3. The system can function when the Internet is unavailable
         4. Lower latency
         5. Enabling interoperability
      8. Disadvantages of Gateways
         1. Time consuming and costly to develop
         2. A potentially confusing point of failure
   4. Types of Network
      1. How Internet Networking Works
      2. Types of Internet Network
         1. Ethernet
         2. WiFi
         3. Cellular data
      3. Types of Local Networking
         1. Bluetooth
         2. Proprietary radio
         3. ZigBee and ZWave
         4. RFID and NFC
         5. Powerline networking
      4. IP to the Edge
   5. Network Communication Patterns
      1. Push, Pull, and Polling
      2. IoT Application Protocols
   6. Internet Service
      1. The Role of the Internet Service
      2. APIs
         1. How do web APIs work?
         2. Key design issues for APIs
            1. Granularity
            2. Structure
            3. Third-party APIs
   7. Summary
   8. Case Study 1: Proteus Digital Health: The Connected Pill
      1. The Technology
      2. Early Use Case 1: Caregiving
      3. Early Use Case 2: Informing Hypertension Treatment
      4. Discussion
8. 4. Product/Service Definition and Strategy
   1. Making Good Products
      1. What is Productization?
      2. Why is This in a UX Book?
      3. Why is This in an IoT Book?
      4. Products Can Be Services
   2. From Innovation to Mass Market
      1. Innovators Are Not Consumers
      2. What’s Different About Consumers?
      3. Value Propositions for IoT
         1. A new product in a new market
         2. A new type of product in an existing market
         3. A low-cost entrant to an existing market
         4. A niche entrant to an existing market
   3. Tools Versus Products
   4. What Makes a Good Product?
      1. The Product Solves a Real Problem (and Makes This Clear)
      2. The Product Comes at a Cost Proportional to the Perceived Value
      3. The Product is Pleasing to Use
   5. Services in IoT
      1. IoT Products Combine Devices and Services
      2. How Users Understand Devices and Services
      3. Service Ecosystems
      4. Building a Service Offering
   6. Business Models
      1. What is a Business Model?
      2. How Do Business Models Affect UX?
      3. Device and Service Models
      4. Bringing Digital Business Models to Physical Products
   7. Summary
9. 5. Understanding People and Context
   1. The Role of Research in Connected Product Design
   2. Initial Questions and Concepts
      1. Actors and Stakeholders
         1. But first, how not to define people
         2. Actors, roles, and expertise
         3. Stakeholders
         4. When needs conflict
      2. The Context of Interaction
         1. Operational context
         2. Behavioral context
            1. Sociocultural
            2. Ecological
   3. Techniques: From Asking to Watching to Making
      1. Asking: Elicitation Tools
         1. Maps
         2. Timelines
         3. Diaries and usage logs
      2. The Importance of Explanations
      3. Watching: Field Visits
      4. Making: Generative Methods
   4. Summary
10. 6. Translating Research into Product Definitions
    1. Generating the Elevator Pitch
    2. Why Does Your Product Matter?
       1. Expanding the definition of “value”
          1. Aspirations and goals
          2. Moral behavior
       2. Tools for Discovering and Communicating Value
          1. Portraits
          2. Immersion tools
             1. Customer journey maps
    3. What Is Your Product?
       1. Conceptual Models and Domain Metaphors
       2. Grounded Innovation
    4. What Does the Product Do?
       1. Design Principles
       2. Service Ecology Maps
    5. Recurring Questions for Product Strategy
       1. Persuasion and Behavior Change
       2. Data Ownership
       3. Automation
    6. Summary
    7. Case Study 2: Little Kelham: Connected Home
11. 7. Embedded Device Design
    1. An Introduction to Thinking About Physical Objects in IoT
       1. The Demise of “Form Follows Function”
       2. Another Layer of Experience
       3. Interaction and Placement: Basic Design Drivers
          1. Devices that are hidden away and only rarely interacted with beyond initial setup
          2. Devices that are interacted with occasionally, but that are more conspicuous and abundant due to what they do
          3. Devices that are interacted with frequently and that are likely to be on display to be easily accessible or visible
       4. Challenging These Characteristics
    2. Making Stuff: Differences to UX
       1. Product Design, Industrial Design, Design Engineering
       2. Mindset of Industrial Designers
       3. Design Freeze as Opposed to Continuous Iteration
    3. Essentials of the Design Process
       1. Establishing a Design Direction
          1. Mood boards and design themes
          2. CMF research
          3. The importance of sketching
          4. Formulating a design language
       2. Detailing and Developing the Design
          1. 3D modeling and rendering
          2. CAD/CAM
          3. Model making and prototyping
       3. Engineering and Production
          1. Hardware engineering, DFM, DFA
          2. Product certification
       4. Collaboration Between UX and ID
    4. Three Faces of a Physical Product
       1. Form, Function, and Usability
          1. Anthropometrics and ergonomics
          2. Affordance
          3. Practicalities
          4. Functionality and interfaces
       2. Aesthetics and Appearance
          1. Consistency and cohesion: Making connections
          2. Conveying brand image and brand promise
          3. Personality and character
          4. Multisensory: Weight, texture, temperature
       3. Materials, Manufacturing, and Maintenance
          1. Operating environment and maintenance
          2. Manufacturing constraints
          3. Sustainability and recycling
          4. BOM cost versus future-proofing
    5. Summary
12. 8. Interface and Interaction Design
    1. Types of Interaction
       1. Physical Controls
       2. Visual and Screen Interfaces
          1. Light output
          2. Visual input
          3. Screens and displays
             1. Custom segment displays
             2. Character set displays
             3. Dynamic displays
             4. Electronic ink displays
             5. Is a screen better than no screen?
       3. Audio and Voice Interfaces
          1. Audio output
          2. Voice interfaces
             1. Voice as output
             2. Voice as input
       4. Gestural Interaction
          1. Intangible interactions
       5. Tangible and Tactile Interaction
          1. Tangible user interfaces
          2. Tactile output: Vibration, force feedback, and shape shifting
       6. Context-Sensitive Interaction
       7. Computer Vision, Barcodes, and Devices “Seeing”
          1. Are QR codes good or bad?
       8. Multimodal Interaction and Interface Combinations
    2. IoT-Specific Challenges and Opportunities
       1. Deciding on the Level of Interactivity of a Connected Device
       2. Mobile and Web UIs
       3. Glanceable and Ambient Interfaces
       4. Working with Limited Input and Output Capabilities
    3. Universal Design and Accessibility
       1. Accessibility
       2. Universal Design—We’re All Disabled Sometimes
    4. Summary
    5. Case Study 3: Ford SYNC 3: Connected Car
       1. About Ford SYNC 3
       2. Designing for Connected Car Systems
       3. A Functional-Rich Small Space
       4. Like Your Tablet but Intentionally Different
       5. Demonstrating and Implementing an Iterative User-Centered Design Process
       6. From Designing Features to Designing for Experiences
       7. Mobility as an Emotional System
13. 9. Cross-Device Interactions and Interusability
    1. Cross-Platform UX and Usability
    2. What Is Interusability?
    3. Conceptual Models and Composition
       1. Conceptual Models
          1. The user model and the design model
          2. Multidevice services are conceptually more complex
       2. Composition
          1. Patterns of composition
          2. Determining the right composition
             1. What best fits the context of use?
             2. What connectivity and power issues do you need to consider?
             3. Can you work with preexisting devices?
             4. What interaction capabilities do the various devices have (or could you cost-effectively include on a custom device?)
             5. Does the system need to work if some devices are unavailable?
             6. How accurate does sensing need to be?
             7. Do users have set expectations of devices?
             8. How do you balance cost, upgradeability, and flexibility?
             9. How central to the service are the devices?
    4. Consistency
       1. Guidelines for Consistency Across Multiple Devices
          1. Use consistent terminology
          2. Follow platform conventions
          3. Aesthetic styling
          4. Interaction architecture and functionality
          5. Consider the most likely combinations of devices
    5. Continuity
       1. Data and Content Synchronization
       2. Handling Cross-Device Interactions and Task Migration
          1. Broader contexts of interusability
    6. Summary
14. 10. Interoperability
    1. The CompuServe of Things
    2. What Is Interoperability and Why Is It a Problem?
       1. Network Interoperability
       2. Interoperable Data
    3. How Can Devices Interoperate?
       1. Interoperability at Different Levels of System Architecture
          1. One edge device connects directly to another
          2. One edge device connects to another via local gateway/hub
          3. One gateway connects to another
          4. Edge devices connected via a cloud platform
          5. Service to service over Internet
          6. Products and services can interoperate on several levels
       2. Functioning Together Versus True Interoperability
    4. How Can We Improve Interoperability?
    5. The UX of Interoperability
       1. UX Issues in Interoperability
          1. Knowing which devices will talk to each other
          2. Getting devices to coordinate
          3. Generic versus specific UIs
          4. Organizing devices and accessing controls
          5. Interoperability puts users in control
    6. Summary
    7. Case Study 4: LOOP: Connected Pelvic Floor Exerciser
15. 11. Responsible IoT Design
    1. Security
       1. The UX of Security
       2. Why IoT Security is a Big Challenge
       3. Design Requirements for Usable IoT Security
          1. Limit the damage that can be caused
          2. Keep devices secure
          3. Make authentication easier
          4. Keep users in control of permissions
          5. Make the invisible visible
          6. Design security measures to suit user and domain needs
    2. Privacy
       1. Information and Privacy
          1. Handling data with tact
          2. Collecting and distributing data
          3. Aggregation
          4. Patterns of behavior
       2. Legal Issues, Consent, and Data Protection
          1. In the USA
          2. In Europe
          3. Principles of data management for privacy
          4. Privacy settings and informed consent
       3. “Privacy by Design and Privacy by Default”
    3. Social Engineering
       1. Mitigating the dangers of social engineering?
    4. Environment
       1. What’s the Environmental Impact of an IoT Product?
          1. Manufacturing
          2. Usage
          3. Maintenance and upgradeability
          4. Disposal
       2. What Can Designers Do?
    5. Summary
16. 12. Supporting Key Interactions
    1. Setup
       1. Creating Good Setup Experiences
       2. Preconfiguration Versus User Effort
       3. Flexibility and Modularity
       4. Instructions
       5. Context of Use
       6. Is Anyone Else Involved?
       7. Getting Things Connected
       8. Getting Real Benefit Out of the System
       9. Test It’s Working
    2. In-Life Housekeeping
       1. Device Management
       2. Notifications, Messages, and Alerts
       3. User Management
       4. System Maintenance
    3. Discovery
    4. Control Experiences
       1. Prioritizing Key Controls
       2. Grouping Controls
       3. Sending Commands to Other Devices
       4. Activity Feeds
    5. Platforms
       1. Common Components
          1. A common design language for UI elements
          2. Design templates and patterns
          3. Handling instructions from multiple users/devices
          4. Viewing interrelationships between devices, services, and rules
          5. Automation
    6. The Technology of Getting Things Connected
       1. Set Up Gateway or Directly Internet-Connected Device
       2. Mobile Devices
       3. Pairing Devices
          1. Bluetooth pairing options
             1. “Just works”
             2. Numeric comparison
             3. Passkey entry
             4. Out of band pairing
    7. Summary
    8. Case Study 5: BRCK: Rugged Portable WiFi Hotspot
       1. Designing the Setup of the BRCK
          1. What is BRCK?
          2. Designing for BRCK
          3. User Learning Curve
          4. The Unboxing Process
          5. What We Learned and Changed
17. 13. Designing with Data
    1. Introduction
    2. Data in IoT
       1. Flow of Data in Connected Products
       2. Data Science
       3. Types of IoT Data
          1. Static versus dynamic
          2. Direct versus inferred
          3. Big versus small, real-time versus historical
          4. Time, frequency
       4. Augmenting Your Data with Third-Party Data
    3. Types of Data-Driven Product
       1. Smart Systems
       2. Ambient Analytics
       3. Personal Assistants
       4. Quantified Self
       5. Data Above the Level of a Single Product
    4. What This Means for Design
       1. Making Meaning and Enabling Action
          1. Understand motivations and goals
          2. Provide context
          3. Actionable insights, explanations, and data
       2. Attention is a Scarce Resource
       3. Experience Over Time
       4. Inference and Interpretation
       5. Transparency and Trust
       6. Data May Not Be Objective
       7. When Behavioral Change is a Goal
       8. Visualizing Data
       9. Using Data in the Design Process
    5. Summary
18. 14. Iterative Design: Prototyping and Learning
    1. The Necessity of Working Iteratively
    2. Using Prototypes to Answer Questions
       1. What Does the World Look Like with Your Product in It?
       2. Collages
       3. Product/Service Visualizations
          1. Storyboards
          2. Media from the future
          3. Video prototyping
       4. What Does Using a Product Feel Like?
          1. Experience prototypes
          2. Wizard-of-Oz demonstrations
       5. How Does a Product Support a Service (and Vice Versa)?
       6. How Do We Prototype with Data?
          1. Canned data
          2. Faking it
       7. How Will People Interact with an Interface?
          1. Inputs and outputs: beyond the screen, keyboard, and mouse
             1. Adapt a working device
             2. Connect toolkit components
          2. New screen interaction paradigms
          3. Evaluating placement, size, and scale
    3. How Do You Decide What to Prototype?
       1. Prototype what you care about
       2. Build as little from scratch as possible
       3. Fit the medium to the purpose
    4. Evaluation: Success Demands Failure
    5. Summary
19. 15. Designing Complex, Interconnected Products and Services
    1. It’s Complicated...
    2. Scaling the UX
       1. Keeping Track of Multiple Devices
       2. Looking Beyond Devices
       3. Addressing User Needs
       4. Context
    3. Control
       1. Putting Users in Control
          1. Why is using IoT like programming?
          2. How IoT products displace actions from results
             1. Displacement in space
             2. Displacement in time
             3. Displacement in function/application
          3. Programming and notations
          4. What is programming?
          5. How can we make controlling complex systems easier?
             1. Make programming easier
             2. Is programming the right model?
       2. Giving Machines Control
          1. Make the system smarter
          2. What intelligent systems can do
          3. UX risks of autonomous systems
             1. Reduced control
             2. Reduced predictability and comprehensibility
          4. Balancing user control with system autonomy
    4. Approaches to Managing Complexity
       1. How UX in the Platform Scales Up
       2. Data Models
          1. System-generated metadata about devices
          2. Metadata about the device context
          3. Data about the system
          4. Data about the wider context
          5. Data about the user
          6. How much modeling do you need?
    5. Summary
20. A. Companies, Products, and Links
21. B. About the Authors
22. Index
23. About the Authors
24. Copyright