“Sensi’s smart touchscreen thermostat is oh so easy to use.”
The Project
The Sensi Touch, the first touchscreen thermostat in Emerson’s product line, launched in June 2017. I led UX research, including three usability evaluations at critical points during the software design process. In addition, I acted as UX advisor for overall screen interaction design and information architecture.
Information Architecture
Workshop
I found that the best way to understand which screens we would need for the thermostat software and how they would flow was to get the product lead, development lead, and user experience team in a room and map everything out with sticky notes. The act of physically moving the "screens" around seems to help people envision all the pieces more easily.
Refining
After the workshop, I refined the screen map and developed our screen numbering system based on follow-up conversations with the product owner and software development team and digitized it using a diagram in Sketch.
Interaction Design
In addition to overseeing the work of a junior colleague who designed many of the thermostat screens, I created UX designs for two sets of complex interactions on the thermostat: factory reset and equipment setup.
In both situations, I had to balance ease of use with an issue that HVAC service providers had highlighted in interviews -- homeowners taking these actions by mistake on previous models of the thermostat. Making sure users have to confirm their changes was key.
Design System
My UX colleague and I developed the design system for the new thermostat interface together, taking cues from the Sensi style guide created by the Marketing and Communications team, but making adjustments to suit a touch interface such as increased color contrast, type, and touch target size. As a trained writer and editor, I also ensured UX writing consistency and Style Guide consistency (e.g. title case vs sentence case).
Design Research
I conducted initial usability evaluations with potential customers using an InVision prototype running on a landscape iPhone that was (luckily!) almost identical in size to our eventual hardware. In later sessions, I was able to facilitate sessions with a full-hardware prototype.
