corrale
You might have already spotted the pattern already, Dyson engineers pursue excellence by creating and introducing new ground-breaking value-added technology for novel domestic products. One of those opportunities presented itself in how to straighten hair with less heat, yet without compromising on the hair style itself. The existing challenge for all hair style professionals, is the inconvenience of a power cord. It just gets in the way, when styling the client’s hair. The Dyson solution? A hair straightener with four battery cells, to provide plenty of runtime for those users that have long, curly hair and need the freedom to style without obstacle.
The Challenge
The Corrale had many user experience challenges, but user safety was certainly one of the top priorities on the project. I supported the lead experience designer with initial concepts for the ‘Power On – Heat Up’ user journey. The Corrale had many user experience challenges, but user safety was certainly one of the top priorities on the project. I supported the lead experience designer with initial concepts for the ‘Power On – Heat Up’ user journey.
We wanted to make sure there was a safe process to initiate the ‘heat up’ sequence. Above all, it had to be super clear and obvious. We decided to opt for a sequence of steps, but we used a 128x32 OLED to provide simple instructional animations that are easy to follow. This was also the first Dyson product to use a speaker for non-visual prompts, especially if the user isn’t looking at the screen.
At the beginning, there were just two steps. Step 1: unlock the arms and step 2: hold the power button down for half a second.
However, there was a risk that the arms could be left unlocked in a bag and the power button could be accidentally held down by an external heavy object leaning on the bag, accidently switching the device on and therefore creating a fire hazard. So, we decided to have three steps and drop the hold press interaction.
[Throughout the document there are pieces of information missing. Please read this from your audience perspective and fill in the information you know in your head, but the reader has no clue of]
It was late in the design process when the ICAO [International Civil Aerospace Organization] announced regulations on hazardous cargo, and the lead experience designer had to integrate a flight safety tab/interlock on the device to allow the user to carry the device on board and/or their luggage in the hold of the aircraft. This was a real headache as this affected the whole onboarding journey, but the lead designer did an excellent job and she even designed a slipper for the tab so it would be super obvious when unboxing the device for the first time.
Turning ON steps:
· Step 1: Ensure the flight safety tag is inserted correctly
- (If the user presses any of the buttons whilst the tag is removed, the device remains disabled and the aeroplane symbol occurs on the OLED)
- (The tag was placed on a tether to avoid users losing it)
- (Due to this additional step, the number of steps on the animations were removed)
· Step 2: Slide the lock button upwards to open the arms
- (If the user presses any of the other buttons, the OLED will play a ‘please unlock’ animation)
· Step 3: Press the power button to turn the OLED display ON
- (After pressing the power button, we thought the OLED should momentarily show the battery charge just in case users want to check it before they started the heat up process)
· Step 4: Press the (+) button to initiate the heat up process
- (Asking the user to press the (-) was the next button above the power button, but it made more sense to ask the user to press the (+) button as that was the ‘increase temperature’ button)
- (If the user presses this button again, the next temperature would be selected, unless they have already selected the highest temperature in their previous session)
Once the device reached the desired temperature, the speaker played a distinctive confirmation sound and the OLED momentarily played a tick animation.
Although this felt like a lot of friction to the user, they were willing to do the steps as they understood they value of safety as was one of their biggest concerns with hair straighteners.
