ROLE
UX Researcher
WHAT I DID
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Market Research
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Ideation
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Sktech
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Personas
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Prototying
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Product Design
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Conduct User Testing Interviews
PROJECT
Re-design the outlook for an orginally eliminated LED germ killer product for the car.
MY CONCEPT IDEA
Adding in a taste of Chinese culture while keeping it's functionality
MARKET RESERACH (in Chinese)
Download here
GERM KILLER PRINCIPAL (in Chinese)
Download here
Summer 2013
I first set up multiple meetings with the mechanical engineers to understand the product specifics and what technical requirements I will need to watch out before going straight into design.
Below is a graph showing how the air flow and LED mechanics works:
Finally, I have pinpointed two essential product needs:
1) to be able to freely attach to a car's air conditioning exit
2) to be appealing to its targeted audience: car drivers (hence around 25+) mostly, mostly Chinese
Thus, knowing these, I then started to make sketches. I wanted to transform it completely by integrating its functions with Chinese culture. The germ-killer is a product that will be attached on to cars' air conditioning. Thus, I designed it so that it looks like ancient money. The word "turn" or "轉" in Chinese has a double meaning of "earn." Thus, when it is attached to the car and turn - it then has the positive implication of "earning money". Moreover, I chose the color gold also symbolizing money. The phrase on the product: "招財進寶" means "ushering in wealth and prosperity."
This was a redesign project when I interned as a Product Design Intern at Maxgather Power Technology Company in ShenZhen, China during summer 2014. The original product, though perfectly functional, was not popular due to its conventional outlook (below).
Thus, I took on the challenge of re-thinking its outlook.
My design inspiration came from living in China that summer and immersing myself in their culture. I realized that Chinese people are spiritual in a way that they took Feng Shui and superstitions very seriously. For instance, "4" is considered an unlucky number due to its similar pronunciation with "death" in Chinese. Thus, I designed the product in resemblance to ancient Chinese money, because the word "turn" or "轉" in Chinese has a double meaning of "earn." This way, when it is attached to the car's air-conditioner and as it turns - it will have the positive implication of "earning money." Moreover, the color gold also symbolizes money.
THE ORGINAL
THE SKETCH
MY DESIGN PROCESS
You can also view the germ-killer mechanics principal report here (in Chinese). Then, my next step was to conduct market research on the exisiting products. Along with the product manager, I looked into different possible materials and alternative power sources. The final research report can be viewd here
The CHIP
