Tinte originated as a collaborative project within an academic course. Subsequently, I seized the opportunity to refine the project by enhancing the interface design of the printer. The redesign process involved optimizing the printing task flow and enhancing human-machine interaction, particularly tailored for home printers. This project entailed a comprehensive approach, incorporating insights from focused user interviews, extensive market research, and considerations of technical constraints of UI design.
Market research
Competitive analysis
Heuristic evaluation
User interviews
Persona
Empathy mapping
Journey mapping
Problem statement
Sketching
Task flow
Information architecture
Wireframes
Visual design
Discover
Define
Ideate
Design
Market research
By conducting online research on e-commerce websites like Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, etc, we found the most popular brands available in the market. We found the features and brands highly preferred by the customers by speaking to salesmen at retail stores like Croma and Walmart and reading comments on Amazon and eBay.
Canon Pixma
hp
Epson
Brother
Popular
printer
models
Connectivity
Preference setup and layouting
Ergonomics
Interface design
Print quality
Wireless printing
Error prevention
Comparison chart between the different features offered by Canon, Brother, Epson and Hp. The features are ranked in preference numbers based on the customer comments gathered from market research.
User research
To understand the current usage pattern of printing at home, 30 focus interviews of mixed cohorts were conducted which further helped us map product usage journey and market trends.
How are printers used?
After the survey, we observed that most of the study tables in Indian homes do not have a space designed for the printer setup; the printer is kept on any random table in the house. The user usually takes his laptop to the printer and connects it to print documents, or in some cases, users move the printer from room to room to connect it to the desktop.
Target users
Empathy map
Problem statement
How might we reduce the cognitive load associated with printers and make printing convenient for all groups without any third device linked to it?
User task flow
A simplified user task flow identifies the three main tasks of a printer and lists the activities for a user to accomplish the goal.
Scanning
Printing
Copying
Switch on the printer
Loads the document in the scanner
Give a command to scan the document
Preview the scanned document
Choose how to share/save the file
Share/save the document file
Download/ select the file to print
Loads the document in the scanner
Adjust the layout of the files to print
Select the printer properties
Give a command to print the file
Collect and check quality of printout
Switch off the printer
Ideation
Based on the previous task flow, we listed the key features required for designing the UI screens. Using this list of the key features, we ideated on how these pages can be designed very comprehensively and neatly.
User journey map
UI kit
Key takeaways
One of the key learnings during this project was to reflect on the project at regular intervals. It helped us align the project with the goals.
While testing the interface designs, we learned the importance of digital accessibility and visual design. The context of use played a very crucial role in designing the solution and allowed us to view the importance of conducting a thorough ethnographic study while gathering user data.