PANASONIC WASHER DRYER UXR & ID - North American Market
Panasonic approached us to design a US market-focused Washer and Dryer. While Panasonic has an established US electronics market, this will be the first time they are entering the home appliance market and are looking to be a difference maker.
PROJECT BRIEF
COMPANY / CLIENT
Panasonic
ROLE
Lead User Researcher | Lead Industrial Designer | Client & Project Manager
Help Panasonic understand what the North American market is looking for in a Washer / Dryer and how do they differ from Panasonic’s existing market in Asia & Europe. We will investigate into the following:
PROBLEM STATEMENT
PRIMARY USERS GOUPS:
Who are they and what are their needs?
ENVIRONMENT:
What is the setting like for conducting laundry?
CONTEXT:
What is it like doing laundry in North America. Are there distinct differences between North America & the other markets?
FUNCTIONALITY:
What are the functionalities and features that will address the issues that we will unearth?
A mix-method approach is applied in order to paint a holistic picture of the North American market:
Qualitative - In depth interviews in 4 distinct U.S. regions, interviewing 6 users / region in order to cover wide range of demographics .
Quantitative - Online Survey is utilized to better understand mass market tendencies such as willingness to pay vs. household income.
Market Analysis - Assessment the competitive landscape in Retail / Web
APPROACH
These are raw inputs. Shown are findings prior to analysis or insight synthesis of the research data.
DATA FINDINGS
QUALITATIVE
Collection of interview quotes, on-site ethnographic observations, and user profile characteristics.
QUANTITATIVE
The focus here is seeing if there are patterns regarding product feature preferences & user motivation.
MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Captures what is the status quo, but also any gaps in market that aren’t being addressed, i.e. differentiators.
The quantitative & market analysis starts to inform the general specifications of the ideal washer & dryer.
DATA ANALYSIS
QUANTITATIVE & MARKET ANALYSIS
USER PERSONA / GROUP FORMULATION
Patterns were spotted by overlaying User Characteristics and behavior on top each other. This resulted in defining the major target User Persona Groups and also what the respective ideal solution concept should be like.
QUALITATIVE DATA > INSIGHTS > CONCEPTS
Below shows how Qualitative User feedback turns into Research Insights that designers can leverage to devise concept resolutions.
QUALITATIVE TRENDS
We heat-mapped direct feedback and found Disconnect as the underlying theme.
TANGIBLE vs. COGNITIVE
There were various ways that are both functional and tangible features that can help resolve the user disconnect. That said, a lot of user reflected that they ‘felt’ the machines were disconnected to their laundry process. Thus, we also tried exploring subtle ways to subliminally better connect the machine to the user on an emotional level.
After research analysis unearthed topics & problems, the research + design team started ideating some of potential conceptual solutions.
RESEARCH-BASED
DESIGN EXPLORATION
FUNCTIONAL + TANGIBLE:
Exploration of tangible features.
EMOTIONAL + PERCEPTUAL:
Exploring “User-Centered” as a perceptual theme.
A refined proposal of a design resolution reflecting the direction of research analysis.
FINAL PROPOSAL
While it was a challenge communicating with a foreign client in which there are some communication barriers, it did force me to distill the User Research to its most important core essentials. It is a skill that to this day, I still utilize the most. Going back to basics & zooming out to see the holistic picture help teammates and client better understand what are the priorities that truly matter. We can then work together to address and resolve it.