Table Of ContentDesigning Connected Products
Networked thermostats, fitness monitors, and door “ This is more than a UX PCD Designing
locks show that the Internet of Things can (and will)
book; it covers all of
enable new ways for people to interact with the world roe
the critical design and
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technologists with a clear and practical roadmap for —David Rose c
approaching consumer product strategy and design Entrepreneur, MIT Media Lab researcher t i
in this novel market. By drawing on the best of current and author of Enchanted Objects stn Products
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design practice and academic research, Designing “ Whether you’re an IoT g
Connected Products delivers sound advice for working d
pro or just getting started
with cross-device interactions and the complex
ecosystems inherent in IoT technology.Examine an designing connected
idealized SDN framework for controllers, applications, products...this book takes
and ecosystems. a clear-eyed look at IoT UX FOR THE CONSUMER
INTERNET OF THINGS
from all angles.”
Topics Include:
—Dan Saffer
■ How the technology of IoT affects UX
author of Microinteractions
■ Product and design strategy for connected
devices “ This book pretends to be
■ Industrial design a primer on designing the
■ Interface and interaction design for Internet of Things (and
embedded devices it’s an excellent one), but
■ Cross-device interactions and interusability quickly reveals itself as
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■ Prototyping and user research methods for —Matt Jones , Lig, Go
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Creative Lab and former principal at BERG td
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La Claire Rowland,
un
UX/DESIGN Twitter: @oreillymedia i, Elizabeth Goodman,
facebook.com/oreilly
Martin Charlier,
US $49.99 CAN $57.99
Ann Light & Alfred Lui
ISBN: 978-1-449-37256-9
Foreword by Tom Igoe
Designing Connected Products
Networked thermostats, fitness monitors, and door “ This is more than a UX PCD Designing
locks show that the Internet of Things can (and will)
book; it covers all of
enable new ways for people to interact with the world roe
the critical design and
o
around them. But designing connected products
ns
technology issues around
for consumers brings new challenges beyond d
i Connected
conventional software UI and interaction design. making great connected ng
u
This book provides experienced UX designers and products.” e
c n
technologists with a clear and practical roadmap —David Rose c
for approaching consumer product strategy and Entrepreneur, MIT Media Lab researcher t i
design in this novel market. By drawing on the best and author of Enchanted Objects stn Products
e
of current design practice and academic research, “ Whether you’re an IoT g
Designing Connected Products delivers sound advice d
pro or just getting started
for working with cross-device interactions and the
complex ecosystems inherent in IoT technology. designing connected
products...this book takes
UX FOR THE CONSUMER
Topics Include: a clear-eyed look at IoT
INTERNET OF THINGS
■ How the technology of IoT affects UX from all angles.”
■ Product and design strategy for connected —Dan Saffer
devices author of Microinteractions
■ Industrial design
“ This book pretends to be
■ Interface and interaction design for
a primer on designing the
embedded devices
Internet of Things (and
■ Cross-device interactions and interusability
it’s an excellent one), but
■ Interoperability
quickly reveals itself as
■ Responsible IoT design a primer on nearly every CRo
hw
■ Designing with data a
aspect of contemporary rla
■ Prototyping and user research methods for design.” liernd
connected products —Matt Jones , L, G
igo
Interaction Design Director, Google ho
Creative Lab and former principal at BERG td
&m
La Claire Rowland,
un
UX/DESIGN Twitter: @oreillymedia i, Elizabeth Goodman,
facebook.com/oreilly
Martin Charlier,
US $49.99 CAN $57.99
Ann Light & Alfred Lui
ISBN: 978-1-449-37256-9
Foreword by Tom Igoe
Praise for Designing Connected Products
“This is more than a UX book; it covers all of the critical design and
technology issues around making great connected products.”
DAVID ROSE—ENTREPRENEUR, MIT MEDIA LAB RESEARCHER,
AND AUTHOR OF ENCHANTED OBJECTS
“Whether you’re an IoT pro or just getting started designing connected
products, this comprehensive book has something for everyone, from
examinations of different network protocols all the way up to value
propositions and considerations for hardware, software, and services. This
book takes a clear-eyed look at IoT from all angles.”
DAN SAFFER—AUTHOR OF MICROINTERACTIONS
“This book should be on the desk of anyone contemplating an IoT product.
Covering the end-to-end ecosystem of devices through to backend services,
the authors address so many aspects of the UX journey that constantly
make you think: ‘Oh, yes, really good point!’ There is comprehensive
coverage of the technology options available as building blocks and
patterns for an IoT solution. The book skillfully delivers a wealth of sound
UX wisdom, backed up by of-the-moment examples, which will resonate
with practitioners already familiar with the IoT world, and will serve as a
modern educational text for everyone.”
DR. ANDY STANFORD-CLARK—IBM DISTINGUISHED
ENGINEER FOR INTERNET OF THINGS
“The authors do a fantastic job of not only exposing the complexities of a
future pervaded by connected things, but suggesting exactly how we can
consciously go about preventing that complexity from overwhelming us.
This book will be an essential reference for designers as they come to grips
with creating these new type of things that will live throughout our lives.”
BEN FULLERTON—CREATIVE DIRECTOR, SONOS
“The explosion of possibilities with the Internet of Things will only come about if
people can understand and use it. Designing Connected Products brings much
needed clarity to the challenge and provides a toolkit to build better solutions. It
also acts as a showcase of the brightest and best Internet of Things projects and
products.”
ADRIAN MCEWEN—FOUNDER, MCQN LTD., AND
AUTHOR OF DESIGNING THE INTERNET OF THINGS
“In a field where the hype can change even faster than the technology, this book
grounds designers, entrepreneurs, and technologists in what matters—the
fundamentals of people’s behavior, networked technologies, and the context both
now find themselves in. In doing this it reaches back to a larger historical field of
research, design, and evaluation that is invaluable.
As a grizzled veteran of several campaigns within the matter-battle of the Internet
of Things, I was pleasantly surprised to find the number of times this book made
me pause, think, and rethink my own work (and that of others). A very valuable
addition to the canon of design thinking in this emerging area.
This book pretends to be a primer on designing the Internet of Things (and it’s an
excellent one) but it reveals itself quickly as really being a primer on nearly every
aspect of contemporary design—as the Internet touches nearly every aspect of it.”
MATT JONES—INTERACTION DESIGN DIRECTOR,
GOOGLE CREATIVE LAB, AND FORMER PRINCIPAL AT BERG
“Usability is THE challenge for the Internet of Things. This book is full of excellent
guidance on how to achieve that most elusive but essential quality of an IoT
product: simplicity. This book shows you how to delight your connected product
customers by treating their attention as the precious and finite resource that it is.”
PILGRIM BEART—FOUNDER, ALERTME
“In an industry that is dominated by engineering concerns, this book will
illuminate the human side of IoT. It’s a broad and deep survey with a rich set of
examples for every point.”
MATT BIDDULPH—COFOUNDER, THINGTON
Designing Connected
Products
UX for the Consumer Internet of Things
Claire Rowland, Elizabeth Goodman, Martin Charlier,
Ann Light, and Alfred Lui
Beijing · Cambridge · Farnham · Köln · Sebastopol · Tokyo
Designing Connected Products
by Claire Rowland, Elizabeth Goodman, Martin Charlier, Ann Light, and Alfred Lui
Copyright © 2015 Rowland, Goodman, Charlier, Light, Lui. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc.,
1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472.
O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales
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Editors: Mary Treseler and Angela Rufino Cover Designer: Ellie Volckhausen
Technical Editor: Ann Light Interior Designers: Ron Bilodeau and
Production Editor: Kara Ebrahim Monica Kamsvaag
Copyeditor: Jasmine Kwityn Illustrator: Rebecca Demarest
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May 2015: First Edition.
Revision History for the First Edition:
2015-05-08 First release
2015-07-10 Second release
See http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/errata.csp?isbn=0636920031109
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The O’Reilly logo is a registered trademark of O’Reilly Media,
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While the publisher and the authors have used good faith efforts to ensure
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publisher and the authors disclaim all responsibility for errors or omissions,
including without limitation responsibility for damages resulting from the
use of or reliance on this work. Use of the information and instructions
contained in this work is at your own risk. If any code samples or other
technology this work contains or describes is subject to open source licenses
or the intellectual property rights of others, it is your responsibility to
ensure that your use thereof complies with such licenses and/or rights.
ISBN: 978-1-4493-7256-9
[LSI]
For Silas, who will never know an Internet
without all the Things
[ Contents ]
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Chapter 1 What’s Different About User Experience Design
for the Internet of Things? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
by Claire Rowland
How Is UX for IoT Different? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A Design Model for IoT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 2 Things: The Technology of Connected Devices . . . . . . . . 29
by Claire Rowland
Types of Connected Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Multipurpose Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Bridging Physical and Digital:
Sensors and Actuators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
The Challenge of Powering Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Conserving Battery Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Chapter 3 Networks: The Technology of Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
by Claire Rowland
Why Is Networking Relevant to IoT UX? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Networking Issues That Cause UX Challenges
for IoT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
The Architecture of the Internet of Things . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Types of Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Network Communication Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
vii
Internet Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Case Study 1 Proteus Digital Health: The Connected Pill . . . . . . . . . . 103
by Arna Ionescu
Chapter 4 Product/Service Definition and Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
by Claire Rowland
Making Good Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
From Innovation to Mass Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Tools Versus Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
What Makes a Good Product? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Services in IoT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Business Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Chapter 5 Understanding People and Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
by Elizabeth Goodman
The Role of Research in
Connected Product Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Initial Questions and Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Techniques: from Asking to Watching to Making . . . 169
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Chapter 6 Translating Research into Product Definitions . . . . . . . 183
by Elizabeth Goodman
Generating the Elevator Pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Why Does Your Product Matter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185
What Is Your Product? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
What Does the Product Do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Recurring Questions for Product Strategy . . . . . . . . . . 207
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Case Study 2 Little Kelham: Connected Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
by Matt Edgar
viii | CONTENTS
