GARDENA AUTOMATIC
IRRIGATION
In 1985 Gardena — as one of four business. :ET onan bron emaHater computors for private garden owners.era Sorte ee ad eho Tar |Te wri Soropas market An a matter ofSorin the Soar ar ta ad ard |Sear Ra PoaE TY the Boreas water
Due to a continuous loss of market share,Carciana now wanted to ro/evakiate aRomer Trigation — Waker Computers range.
The goal was to oreate a perfectly balancedBrodit range with & superior User experienceFor Garcioriors with suromats kigaton andPosty rome the parcial:
.pdf%20-%20Page%201%20of%2011%20(1)%20(1).png)
UX Challenges
DIFFERENTIATION
Is differentiation of new range {within own range, comparedto ~~:competitors) clear and does it work for DE, FR and IT equally?
USER INTERFACE
What are the preferences regarding the user-interface ;(within the range) and is the currently planned logic intuitive?
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
The success of the product largely depended on point of puchase decisions. :The product had to look price-appropriate but also look simple and easy to use with the interactionsbeing obvious from a glance.
The Research phase and approach
The largest part of my research phase for this product was to start ith the marketing team that had conducted alarge scale market survey. As designer luck goes, | was pulled into the project after some decisions were made i themarketing survey so couldn't include any questions or UX feedback related to the existing water computer range.
The market research was extensive and defintely gave us alot of insight into gardening behaviours and how peopleuse these products in different countries. They also had a large focus on the pricing and product placementandbrand perception in the 3 target markets - namely, Italy, France and Germany.
| also started looking into the competitors products and collecting inspiration for different buttons, knobs, HMIinteractions available in the market for these sort of products. My colleague was an industrial designer who tookcontrol of most of the pricing related discussions for components with the manufacturing team during the processbut | was very much involved in selecting and arguing for screen sizes and the hardware interaction elements in theproduct.
We decided to create a usability test plan to test in Germany, Italy and France after the first strong prototypingphase. We created different customer / user personas that would favour certain models due to their specific needsand we created a usability test plan with two fixed design directions for the respective product ranges.
Design Concepts — Linear and Circular Philosophy
Icreated two different design directions to base different interaction elements on. The philosophies mainly differentiatedbetween more v/s less information and linear (button based) vs circular (or dial-like) interfaces.
.pdf%20-%20Page%204%20of%2011.jpg)
Linear Concept
The linear idealogy is based on how the user receives the information iwhile interacting with the product.These products have a very traditional look and feel and guide the userthrough an obvious step by step process. ;This approach is based on the philosophy that creates comfort in the mindof the user because of the familiar form and that the user is always be awareof all the available options.
Circular Concept
The circular concept is based mainly on the form and the ease of use ;of these products.These products and their form appear naturally intuitive and only displayrelevant information in small sized pieces, so as to not overwhelm the userThese products, with their form as well as their function, followa less-is-more” philisophy.
.pdf%20-%20Page%204%20of%2011%20(1).jpg)
Linear Concept
Understanding the user case and User Personas
TIME SAVING
. Watering compubers anesaving Ime 50 CONSUMEScan do something alse intheir avaiable hme
. Saning time i animportant aspect ofcomfort for consumers
OUT OF TIME
. When besng on vacation,imigation will ba handledBy the walering computer
. This is another greataspect of Comlon because
great aspectconsumers do not have to |loak cut for friends orneighbours asking themdoing the irrigation
SPECIFIC USE CASE
. For example, an drippingSY5I6M covers the needs of consumers who want to imigate their plants on a baleony
. Covering thal kind of needprovides consumes withhigh como reganing aspecfic uss case
REPLACEMENT
Analog systems do not notpravida that much comiort,a new customizable digital |system which is easier lo |use (without the help from other)
User type 1- Model 1/2
Pierre is a busy man who run his own businessin town. He has very little experience with gar-dening and has a small new garden with a fewvegetables. He uses things that are easy to use,but also performance oriented.
“As a practical gardener, | want to configure watering |for my small garden easily, so that my vegetables andmy only flower bed to grow at a reasonable rate.”
Painpoints & Needs:
Expects Savings
Used to mechanical solution
Need to feel things in his hand
Afraid of too many choices
Non-tech savvy (digital)
Doer, not a deep thinker
User type 2 - Model 3
Olga is a flower lover, she partially own a jewel-lery shop, she lives in an apartment in the city.She waters her plants with a watering can and |spends some time checking on the flowers on |the weekdays. She likes to travel and likes prod-ucts with simplicity that she can trust.
“As a city-dweller, | like a few plants in my apartmentthat | take care of, | want to know that my differentplants needs are fulfilled even when | am travelling.”
Painpoints & Needs:
Knowing plants needs (amount of water & frequency)
Minimum but relevant information
Easy to identify the drips and controllers
Able to manually override and make adjustments
User type 3 - Model 8
Lars has always been a gardener since a young, who :learnt to nurture the flowers and grass from his pas-sion. He works mostly from home and owns a largegarden full of flower beds with his favourites flowers,and he knows exactly what they need. His garden is apart of his home.
“As a passionate gardener, | want to plan my weekly wa-tering schedule with advanced settings, so that flowers |get exactly what they need. After all, my home and mygarden is my holiday throughout the year”
Painpoints & Needs:
Knowing exactly the timing and the days to water
Keep an close eye on the flowers Has two large ares in Nis garden
Changes his settings during different seasons
Keeping overview and feel in control
First iterations
The first sketches were rough Illustration sketches made by me which covered all the essential interaction elementswith the different settings available within the range. Some of these were highly inspired by the existing range and thecompetition in the market while we went exploring a bit more with the circular concepts with our own interaction ideas.
.pdf%20-%20Page%206%20of%2012.png)
.pdf%20-%20Page%206%20of%2012%20(1).png)
.pdf%20-%20Page%206%20of%2012%20(2).png)
.pdf%20-%20Page%206%20of%2012%20(3).png)
.pdf%20-%20Page%206%20of%2012%20(4).png)
.pdf%20-%20Page%206%20of%2012%20(5).png)
Second Iterations
We broke down the different models into 3 different levels which covered most features for therange and developed the Circular and Linear concepts side by side for the first User test
.pdf%20-%20Page%207%20of%2011.jpg)
Usability test and Interviews regarding
Product pricing and perception
We interviewed user groups using prototypes for every model using the linear and circular con- |cepts. We evaluated the user flow using printed prototypes and also evaluated how they felt about ;the look and pricing of theproducts,
We also learned a lot about what people prioritise in different markets of germany, italy and france |and how they approached understanding a new product as well
The whole model range was evaluated regarding the perception in the field of tension defined byvisibility, simplicity and design.
.pdf%20-%20Page%208%20of%2012.png)
Product perceptions — Competitor analysis
.pdf%20-%20Page%208%20of%2012%20(1).png)
We also compared the products to the users existing products.The perception then was charted out using a triangular graph.
These presentations helped a lot to argue for Icertain design directions and discussions withthe RnD for components and pricing
Product perceptions — Across the range
.pdf%20-%20Page%209%20of%2012.png)
Differentiation of the new range works pretty well across all markets. Haptic properties have to beconsidered for further development.
.pdf%20-%20Page%209%20of%2012%20(1).png)
Third iteration
After alot of discussions with the RnD and Business teams,we expanded some of the
concepts nto full fledged separate products
.pdf%20-%20Page%2010%20of%2012.png)
In Conclusion
This was one of the most complex projects | have worked with and I learned a lot about the physical product creation process.travelled to Germany multiple times for this project and to Italy and France for the user studies and saw first hand how user interviewsare conducted in the three different markets. How people perceive products and how different gardening culture can be in these cultures.
The product was launched and more details can be found on this link: https://www.gardena.com/int/product
s/watering/water-controls/
1am extremely proud of the work on this project which couldn't have been done without the help of the Industrial designer and Visualgraphic designer working with me. The hard work and design decisions that go into managing a budget for product components, screensand interaction elements has instilled in me a sense of humility about physical products and also a sense of confidence for future projects.Especially when the product range you have designed is going to be manufactured in 100,000s of units for sale across Europe.
have an idea for a project? need a quote?