How I Redesign the Sony Headphones
Documentation of my design process
Introduction
When you munch down on a hamburger at Starbucks or jot down some notes throughout the course of the day, you may even forget that you are wearing your headphones. However, listening to music is still an essential part to many people.
I am in the process of redesigning the Sony WH1000XM2 Headphones. I would like to explore an opportunity for people to be more happy with their purchases. I aim to enhance the usefulness, usability, and delightfulness of the product.
Contextual Research
Secondary Research
I did secondary research by looking through reviews for the headphones on Amazon. I took notes on what the reviewers liked about the product as well as why they gave one-star reviews.
Heuristics Evaluation
As to better understand the Headphones App, I performed Heuristics Evaluation on the app to spot potential problems. I listed out the issues.
Research Guide
A Rough Plan
With previous research, I knew the product as well as the users better. I took notes about things that I should ask about during the user interview. From the reviews, I could tell that most of the users valued comfort, sound quality, price, and appearance of the headphones. They didn’t care about the phone application and didn’t use it frequently.
With my previous research in mind, I also wrote down questions that I did not get answers from secondary research:
Does bad information architecture discourage users from using the app?
Do users care about the uniqueness of their products?
Do they have an emotional attachment to their headphones?
etc.
Before I did a throughout, in-depth interview, I first did 9 rounds of quick interviews to prepare for the in-depth interview as well as stem insights. Please visit the question set here. I applied the Master-Apprentice Model which I spent most of the time asking open, non-biased questions and listening to their responses. I also asked them to show me how they used the headphones as well as the app. I learned a lot from my users. As designers, we prone to design things based on our backgrounds and assumptions. It can be erroneous as our target users may wish something else. Therefore, I will rely on both quantitative data and qualitative data to avoid biases.
User Studies & In-Depth Interview
Here is a subset of information that I gathered from user interviews. Please visit the full version here. I notice that:
- Users valued comfort, portability, appearance, and price for headphones
- Most users found the app useless or never used it
- Users owned different headphones for different scenarios
- Users cared about the uniqueness of their headphones
- Users paid more attention to headphones that come with a meaning
- For users who owned many headphones, it can be hard to resell
- Users with many devices would have a hard time pairing & unpairing the headphones
I also asked them to show/send me pictures when they mentioned about their frustrations. I summarised some top issues from the product and the app:
After gathering all the data, I need to deal with them to generate more specified insights. It is hard to brainstorm design opportunities based on vague and board insights. I tried to start with a longer statement to find the opportunity area from those sentences. I labeled all of my observations, then group similar ones. I used the Affinity Diagram to help me with getting insights. I use Miro to get a digital version. It can be hard to document hundreds of post-its.
Design Opportunity
Data Synthesis
With all the data, I can now generate a set of insights. I can then think of potential improvements. I framed them as “How might we” questions. Still, I put those questions under the Usefulness&Usability and Delightfulness categories.
Insights
- The current product lacks comfort. People feel hot and uncomfortable in-ear when wearing the product for hours. Also, people cannot sleep with a sided position if they wear headphones. Some people think it is a discomfort to wear the headphones and the pillow together on the flight. Therefore, instead of using the noise-canceling function on the flight, some people will just take off their headphones and bear with the noise. Some people would use in-ear headphones or use Bose headphones, which are more comfortable.
- The current product is focusing on sound quality but people need durability. Most people find their headphones easy to break. The bridge is the weakest part of the headphones. For users who are not sure about how to fold the headphones correctly, they usually break their headphones with a few tries.
- People seldom build an emotional connection with their headphones. Few people treat their headphones as something to treasure. They will get new headphones if they lost the previous ones. Some people may miss their lost headphones, but they get over it in a short time. People will take more care with their headphones if that were a gift.
- People have a limited budget for headphones. While some people would like to keep up with the trend and buy all the latest headphones, they do not have enough budget for that. For people who would like to resell their headphones or trade-in for new ones, there are so many frauds on eBay. Also, there is no official trade-in event available.
- Some people find the app features do not apply to them. Most people don’t change the preset. People don’t change the mode on their app either. They would switch between ambient/noise-canceling via buttons on the headphones. Most of the users don’t know that they can modify the level of ambient sound in the app. Also, people do not calibrate their headphones for different air pressure or directions.
Some people find the wordings are hard to understand. Most of the people don’t understand the word “AC HEEX”. People just don’t use it instead of looking it up. Also, they do not know about “ATM”. The wording in the app poses pressure on them and most people would just not use the app as they can still enjoy the good sound quality as well as noise-canceling via the headphones. - People seldom use an app to improve their listening experience. Most people find no problem using headphones without the app. Some people would still download the app to update the headphones. They don’t use other functions that the app provides. People desire an estimated time for the update process as it is not quick and it requires the user to keep both the device and the headphones on and nearby.
- Some people desire the product/app to help them accomplish tasks. People would like to use the app if there is something that interests them. For example, people would use the app if it can help connect couples who are not physically together.
- Users owned different headphones for different scenarios. People wear over-the-ear headphones when they would like to stay alone. Most people wear over-the-ear headphones on public transportation. People may miss the podcast if they turn on the noise-canceling mode. However, most of them still do that. Some people state that they would like to stay alone and have no interest in interacting with strangers on the train/bus.
- People find in-ear headphones are more low-key and polite. Most people will take off their headphones for formal events like meetings. For people who are young professionals, they want to show respect to their colleagues. They only wear headphones at their desk and will take it off during lunchtime as they want to mingle with other people. For people who cannot bear talking sounds, they will still wear over-the-ear headphones, but only at their desks.
- It is common for people to use noise-canceling headphones on the plane. Some people use the noise-canceling mode to protect their ears while others rely on quiet music to fall asleep. Few people would just turn up the volume or bear with the noise if their headphones do not have a noise-canceling function.
- Users care about the uniqueness of their headphones. The current product lacks “personality”. It is hard to distinguish one’s headphones from others’. Some people put a sticker on or use a case to add uniqueness to their headphones.
- For users who owned many headphones, it can be hard to resell. The current product does not support resell. People have to find their ways to get rid of previous products. Some people feel that it is hard to sell on eBay as there are so many frauds. Also, some people don’t like second-hand headphones as they’re worn. The current product is focusing on innovation while people want to get rid of their outdated headphones.
Users with many devices would have a hard time pairing & unpairing the headphones - The current product does not support multi-device pairing/unpairing but people often have different devices that they would like to pair with. People would have to unpair a device first, then enable the pairing mode on the headphones, and finally, pair with a new device.
Define Opportunity Areas
The next step is to generate a list of How Might We’s from the previous insights.
Usability & Usefulness
HMW make the headphones more comfortable?
HMW make the hot headphones a good thing to have?
HMW make the product more durable?
HMW integrate over-the-ear headphones and in-ear headphones? — Checked
HMW make the wordings easy to understand?
HMW tailor the system for novice and expert users? — Checked
HMW make multi-device pairing more efficient?
HMW make the product that suits the working environment/studying/taking a plane? — Checked
Meaning & Delightfulness
HMW add uniqueness for the current product? — Checked
HMW support reselling for previous products? — Checked
I put checks on different areas that I would like to work on. It is important to prioritize ideas that enhance the overall usability and usefulness of the product as those are fundamental for someone to use the product. I received many complaints on the app, therefore I would like to explore the potentials to improve it. Then I focus on how might we deliver delightfulness or meaning for users.
Sketch Sketch Sketch (Divergent Phrase)
I set a timer for myself to think freely about any ideas that I can come up with. A total of 100 ideas were sketched out. I came up with incremental design ideas as well as radical ones. During the divergent step, I learned again that low-fidelity sketches are an indispensable tool for rapid exploration and quick communication.
Refine Best Designs (Converge Phrase)
I chose to work on refinement for three of my 100 design ideas. It can be hard to converge from 100 different ideas. Generally, I decided to pick one idea to improve the app experience and two ideas to add meaning and delightfulness to the product. Although I am interested in refining some of the cool ideas that I got, I abandon ideas that involved physical product design as that is not my realm. For example, it can be extremely useful to have headphones that integrate Microsoft Suite. The user would be able to control slides by swiping the touchpad. The headphones itself can also help with simultaneous translation during the meeting. While I was sketching out those ideas, Microsoft Earbuds released and they have the same function that I was thinking about. Feel free to check it out! That being said, I may just give up on a brilliant idea as I don’t have much experience in industrial design. :P
Here are the three ideas that I chose to hone:
01. Control Center
I was not able to gain enough information from my previous user interviews to make a call on what features should I include/exclude. Also, I was not able to get insights for the features that must be added. Therefore, I decided to allow the users to choose features that they would like to have. The user will be able to read about each feature as well as drag to rearrange them. In this design, the product team can always come up with new features. The user can then decide if they would like to have it. I also add a brief introduction for each feature as some of my interviewees were confused about the wordings or what could this feature do.
02. Trade-In Program
This design concept focuses on helping the users to recycle their old products. Many interviewee expressed their interest in purchasing the product. However, with a limited budget and their previous products were in good condition, they hesitated about getting new headphones. With the trade-in program, the user will be able to get credit for trading in previous headphones. If the headphones are not eligible for credit, they can still be recycled, which is good to the planet.
03. Customize Headphones
As to add uniqueness to the product, I decided to let the user choose parts that they would like to have for their headphones. Almost no interviewee complained about the sound quality that WH1000XM2 delivered. Most of them were not satisfied with the comforts and appearance. I enhance the uniqueness by adding an engravement option. This is an incremental step to see if the user is interested in customizing their headphones. If we receive positive feedback based on the data that most of the users are customizing their headphones, we can go further by allowing the user to add a print or dye their headphones.
Prototyping
Storyboards
Design is about building up work from previous steps and iterations. I am going to go through another round of concept refinement and quick prototype. As to put my designs in front of people, telling a good story is always crucial. From the previous iteration, I focused on delivering a usable and delightful app with user control to available features and customization to the physical product. However, I missed the points from the previous research that users had implied their frequent scenarios as being on a flight, working, and studying. Therefore, I refine my idea to ‘how might we adapt our features for frequent user scenarios?’ while incorporating previous design concepts. I would like to explore the underlying story of why people are not using the app.
User Flow & Site Map
By creating the storyboards, I was able to get a better sense based on their contexts. Then I transferred my findings in the storyboards into user flows to be clear about how a person would interact with the physical headphones as well as the app. I used the free Flowchart Kit by Greg Dlubacz. Thank you! :D
After compiling all the userflows, I was able to generate a siteflow for the app. It is important that I had a clear information architecture before I continuing to the next step.
Wireflow & Mockups
With the siteflow in mind, I was able to create a wireflow with more design details involved. Through the wireflow, I also made some low fidelity variations of how the user might interact with the app. It is crucial to make a little diverge step here as I didn’t want to be confined with one solid design yet. Also, I was able to leverage different designs at this step.
Refinement...Wait
Before I starting my refinement step to bring those low fidelity mockups to high fidelity ones, I always defined a design specification guide for myself to refer to even I worked on this project independently. I kept in mind that as a designer I wanted to be helpful, not only to the users but also to other designers. A design system can serve as a guide for current implementation as well as future buildups if I start to work in a team setting for this project. I would like to give a try on the trending dark theme. I chose colors that conveyed a sense of high-tech and define a typography system that would be used.
Final_Design_2.png
Here I refined my previous low-fi mockups to higher fidelity(again). I like the iteration step as I learned new things during each iteration. They seemed to be functional and that is important as I would like to roll our another round of user testing to see if the design work for the users. I want my design to be data-driven and empathy-enclosed.
01. Smart Modes
I got the ideas from my previous research that users always used headphones during work, study and on a flight. I used the research data to further refine each scenario with sub-controls. For example, in Flight Mode, the user is able to choose over a set of options that may contribute to the pleasant flight experience. I still need to find out if my design works by rolling out another round of testing. I used the illustration by Ben Holme, thank you!
02. Build Your Headphones
Most of the users complained about the limited budget for new headphones and a second-hand market that was full of fraud. Therefore, I decide to keep the trade-in program to help them with the budget and reselling issues. Also, I include a set of customizable options for the user to choose on for their headphones. The engravement part adds up the uniqueness and bridge emotional connection between the product and the user.
Detail Refinement
I did generate prototypes for overall feeling. But how about the details? What would happen if the user tapped on the Flight Mode? How would each sub-control perform? With those questions in mind, I ran another iteration of sketches to bridge any remaining gaps in my design. As to be specific in my design, I chose to elaborate on the Work Mode, which I found useful during my in-depth interview. (Be Data-Driven!)
Style Guide
I also added new definitions into my previous style guide to keep things consistent. I made a clear definition of essential typeface, colors, and buttons that I used in my design.
Interactive Prototype
I then took a step to make things interactive. With InVison, I was able to link every page together in a timely manner. I would like to use Framer or Principle to create subtle micro-interaction in the future. Check out the interactive prototype. For this iteration, I focused on the detail and interaction process. I also decided to focus on one specific feature in Work Mode, which is the voice filter feature. (I am figuring out a way to embed this prototype here. InVision just had an update and might delete that option. :P)
Documentation
Process
If you are interested in how to make your own process book, check out my post about process book inspirations! Otherwise, please visit the process book here.
Poster
A Poster is a good way for quick communication in a visually compelling way. I made two posters to facilitate my presentation of this redesign project.
Takeaways
My Reflections
Again, it is important to reflect on each project. I was able to hone my skills during this redesign project. I never imagined designing for digital ecosystem as I didn’t have much experience in industrial design. Work independently throughout the process was the most challenging thing for me. Gladly, I could always seek advice from professionals and exchange ideas with my peer designers. The hardest part was to distill one hundred ideas to only three. I learned that design was about making choices. I tossed ideas that required professional knowledge in industrial design. If I can pair up with an industrial designer, I will definitely try out some of those ideas. I built every step carefully on the previous ones to make sure that I was data-driven. I always referred back to previous work and if I noticed any problems and wasn’t flattered by another round of iteration. Thanks for reading! :)
