Designing a user-friendly smart application for Iiris Halogenerators
Team IIRIS got 3rd place in the 200 SME UX challenge.
The event: 200 SME UX Challenge- Tehnopol
Timeline: 2 days
The Team:
- Tetiana Dubovenko
- Nursultan Barun
- Derin Baykal
- Aleksei Lebed
Tetiana, Nursultan and Derin are students from the Estonian Academy of Arts, Interaction Design Master Program. Aleksei Lebed is a working UX/UI Designer.
The mentor: Fred Moritz from Reval STC
The Client: Kokkonen OÜ
- Mihkel Tedremaa
- Eva Liisa Sarin
The information about the company
Iiris is a manufacturer of halogenerators, which provide salt therapy that helps relieve allergies, asthma, respiratory concerns, skin problems etc. Halotherapy helps patients enhance stamina, immune resistance and also lung volume. The challenge is to make a smartphone app that recommends the most suitable halotherapy session mode for the user.
The company stated its expectations in the brief they sent to us. The summarized text is:
Phone app for the IIRIS Halogenerators. (IIRIS Smart)
To design a smartphone application to control IIRIS Halogenerator devices and create an extra value to the end-user, such as giving information about temperature, humidity, history, support etc.
App features:
- Innovative smart control app for different models of halogenerators;
- Simple, an app easy to use
- Add additional services, features.
- Simplify user flow
- Give flexibility to the user.
- Multi-language support
- Reduce customer calls/emails.
The Work methodology
UX Techniques: User flow, Paper prototype, High-fi prototype, Usability test
Materials: Figma, Hand-Sketching, Miro
My contribution: I took charge of the design of the mobile application with Aleksei. With Aleksei, we created the user flow and drew the sketches for the mobile app. I also did the brainstorming part with other teammates.
At our first meeting, our client asked us to design an application to control their existing halogenerators and create additional value for their smart devices. During our meeting, we discovered the client's expectations and what the needs of the user are. To ensure no such application to control halogenerators exist in the market, we did small research among competitors. Thus, we decided to implement the idea for our design from scratch. We started our process by emphasizing our users, created different scenarios, and divided possible features into compulsory and additional. Using Miro bord, we collected all information from the client, subgrouped the themes and drew the user flow considering these. After a brainstorming session and sketching, we contacted our client for demonstrating our progress. After a productive meeting with the client, we made adjustments to our user scenario according to their feedback and started to draw the screens on Figma. On the second day, our prototype was already ready to try. We started that day with test interviews that we planned for the morning by contacting our interviewers beforehand. Thus, we conducted user testing with four candidates who have different backgrounds and experience with halotherapy. Our favourite one was Kaja, 64 years old lady who works in a hospital with allergic children. For her, it was clear from the beginning what the device is for and how the app works. The application looked very simple and clear for her, and she also surprised us with understanding what is intensity level for. After each test, we constantly improved our prototype. We went beyond and implemented their comments into our high-fidelity prototype and improved the pain points.
Ideas for the solution
Firstly, we started to gather all of the HMWs we proposed after the Zoom meeting with the clients.
After the dot-voting, we eliminated the picked ones and brought them together under the keywords. Then, we drew the user flow, considering the keywords.
The most-voted HMW was:
How might we give inexperienced users more clear guidance?
This was an important touchpoint in our design which led us to focus on making it user friendly as much as possible.
The other keywords were:
Humidity & Temperature: HMW integrate temperature and humidity predictions to the mobile app?
Progress: HMW show the users the salt therapy progress?
User Types: HMW help people choose the right regime and right session length
Cleaning: HMW explain why cleaning is important?
Safety: HMW make the user well informed regarding safety concerns?
Support: HMW decrease the workload of the company for FAQ/emails via the mobile app?
HMW support the users in unexpected situations?
Alert: HMW help the users be warned by alerts less stressful?
Make it Pleasant: HMW bring a pleasant user experience?
With some sketches, each team member visualized what they have in their minds.
User-Testing
On the second day, we had the chance to conduct user testing with 4 people who belong to different age groups and have different backgrounds. Getting feedback from our testers helped us a lot to improve the confusing parts and develop the product.
Description of the chosen solution
Our solution enables the user to feel more engaged during the experience. Halotherapy is commonly used by patients who have chronic diseases, asthmas, and allergies and people who care about skincare and beauty. Therefore, our target group was extensive. We aimed to reach everyone, so we added a setting regime part that helps users find the best option or recommendation by asking a few questions. During the session, users are informed about how many minutes left.
Also, the company stated to us before that some customers sent emails to clarify their questions and concerns regarding the machine. We allow users to go to how-to-do videos, FAQ, and support parts through settings by our solution. Also, with constant feedback and notifications, the feature assures the users if they are doing correctly. This was another feature that we added to our product.
The requirements of working forward — limitations, next steps
- In the developed app, users can personalize the settings of the halogenerator.
- The questionnaire part can ask about the age range, and considering the age range, the user interface and the flow can either be simplified or detailed. For instance, while for children, the images can be more engaging and playful, for older adults, the user interface can be easier to read and follow.
- We plan to give the users tips related to their purpose of using the halogenerator (Tips about increasing their quality of life, sleep quality, skincare, preventing allergic situations, etc.)
- As a next step, we plan to show the users the salt therapies/spa centres nearby.
- Because the user is expected to have a personal halogenerator, we plan to add a shopping part for ordering salt for the halogenerator.
The learning outcomes
We created a high fidelity prototype within this UX Challenge, thereby completely fulfilling our client's needs and desires. We should add that we contacted one of our testers after completing the prototype, and he gave us useful suggestions for future development. To further develop the project, we would like to do another round of user-testings with the device and the customers who use halotherapy and who are familiar with devices. Besides, examining the products and understanding how they work physically can improve the technical part.
Link to the prototype: https://bit.ly/3eiuivU
