IKEA TRÅDFRI
IKEA approached frog to design both the hardware and software of their first smart lighting product range. From early strategic positioning to after-launch releases, we helped IKEA define the smart home for the many.
Team
1x Interaction Designer - myself
2x Senior UX Designer
1x Visual Designer
15+ Android engineers
15+ iOS engineers
15+ Back-end/firmware engineers
1x Product manager
IKEA business team
Time frame
Strategy, design and development
January 2015 - January 2017
Launch
April 2017
The TRADFRI range
IKEA first released TRADFRI with wireless dimmers, remote controls, motion sensors and the hub
The TRADFRI app
Completely optional, the app allows users to perform more advanced tasks such as away from home control, automation and third-party device pairing
Competing with the wall switch
I was involved in the very beginning by conducting research on how people use their lights at home and how they could benefit from a connected lighting solution. We set up several user testing sessions as well as gave families our prototypes to use at home and report back.
Light placement exercise - Where would you put your lights in your home? How many? Why?
Usage diary - We asked some families to use a working prototype of the product and keep a diary of their usage.
Mock-up kitchen - We set up a mock-up kitchen in the studio to test pairing interactions with participants
A complex ecosystem
I was part of the production design team working with our development partner located in India. Given the dependencies on both hardware and software, a very detailed documentation was needed to align all parties. I owned the interaction design of major features inside the app, being responsible for their final quality and implementation. When needed, my work shifted from producing proof-of-concept prototypes to fully documented user flows and layouts. I was also the main point of contact for client reviews, presenting the work of the team in front of IKEA stakeholders.
An example of some rapid sketching sessions involving the whole design team when kicking off a new story.
An example of some UX documentation that I put together. Here on how to connect the lights to Amazon Alexa via the app.