UXAD Heatpump system redesign
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The course User experience and design (UXAD) is a compulsory 22 week project in the master Design for Interaction (DFI). In this course students are asked to redesign an existing product and improve the user experience. The emphasis of this course lies on thorough ​user testing and redesign of complex systems.
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In the spring of 2019 the company Inventum asked a studio of DFI students to redesign their existing heatpump system. This complex product consists of multiple subsystems, which need to be easy to understand and accessible to personalise to the user.
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The original panels were confusing to its users, overlapped in functionality and did not match Inventum's style. After the first stage of analysing the system, the product hierarchy, physical controls and digital system were redesigned.
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The end result are three new control panels that can be mixed and matched to the users preference. As more houses will be using a heat pump system in the future, the created products is optimised for the most sustainable circumstances. The system is supported by a digital app in order for users to have control over their heat settings from their smartphone..
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Project teamsize: 5 members
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Overview of the complex heatpump system
The original panels of the heatpump system.
User testing with a 'paper' house
In order to find out where and what kind of control panels users would want in their house a test was constructed in which participants were asked to create their house out of paper building blocks. Next the participants were asked to choose control panels for three different scenarios. First after explanation of the system, second and thirdly for two scenarios in which the panels had different price tags.
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More than 15 different users, ranging from 22 to 83, were tested in three sets of extensive user tests.
New app layout