Nacar - HP

Interaction Design

In this case study, an interaction designer navigated the complexities of big tech to create user-centered digital solutions for HP that balanced business goals with technological feasibility.

My role

→ Interaction Designer

Internship

→ 6 months

Design Tools

→ Miro/Figma/Jira

Design Team

→ 2 IxD, 1 VD, 1 CX Lead

Overview

Having the opportunity to work as a "consultant" for a Big Tech company, navigating through its complexities and challenges while being employed as a designer within a creative studio surrounded by diverse talents, is an experience this case study aims to capture. By bringing to life the insights and advice shared by each professor during the 2023 Interaction Design master's program, the designer hopes to shed light on this journey.

Nacar Design, Palo Alto office.

Nacar Design, Palo Alto office.

Nacar's Role as a Contractor

Nacar Design, a Catalan design studio, houses a multitude of creative minds including UX/UI designers, Visual designers, 3D designers, Motion designers, Industrial designers, and more. This diversity allows them to offer multidisciplinary design services to various clients such as Roche and HP.

HP as the Client

Hewlett Packard, a prominent Big Tech enterprise offering global solutions across industries, is the focus here. Specifically, the internship took place within the Solutions division, which caters to markets like construction. One of their offerings, HP Site Print, serves architects and operators, and it's the interaction designer's role to ensure these professionals have the best experience using HP's products and services as end users. This involves creating flows, information architectures, wireframes, wireflows, behaviors, documented screens, and more.

The designer's goal was an in-depth understanding of CX Lead's requirements. This led to the creation of user-friendly digital solutions that were achievable within the development scope and aligned with HP's business model vision.

The journey so far

At HP, an Agile development model is embraced, enabling the agile and scalable implementation of digital products. This is executed through alternating two-week Sprints or Dual Tracks. The design team remains two sprints ahead of development, allowing ample time for a smooth hand-off and reducing errors.

Understand

CX Lead gathers stakeholder requirements

Specify

CX Lead distills requirements into clear guidelines

Design

IxD design generates an initial solution

Prototype

Validate that the requirements are fulfilled

Hands-off

Delivery of the screens to the Dev or VD team

The journey
so far

Understand

CX Lead gathers stakeholder requirements

Specify

CX Lead distills requirements into clear guidelines

Design

IxD design generates an initial solution

Prototype

Validate that the requirements are fulfilled

Hands-off

Delivery of the screens to the Dev or VD team

The Dream Team

The teams are structured as development cells and are formed with interdisciplinary disciplines that are tailored to the scope of each project.

CX Lead

IxD Designer

Visual Designer

Proj. Manager

Architecture Dev.

Arch. Dev.

Dev. Lead

Front-end Dev.

Back-end Dev.

Tools and Technologies

Everyone is free to use any tool they want. However, the documentation of the entire process is organized into 3 main tools:

Miro

The ideation and specification tool

Figma

The design and delivery tool

Jira

The management tool to track all work

HP Site Print
→ The Service

HP Site Print caters to the construction field, where a robot under an operator's guidance prints architectural plans on the ground, indicating element placement such as walls, doors, and windows. This service encompasses two primary interfaces:

Trimble and HP, live demo.

Trimble and HP, live demo.

Control Panel
→ Robot Controller

For the control panel, the primary interface overseeing the construction-site robot, various features were designed. These include notification systems, sensors check, and layer editor flow.

Notifying system to communicate the status of the robot and to monitor the service.

Notifying system to communicate the status of the robot and to monitor the service.

How the Notification Center behaves in the Control Panel.

Steps to check the robot's sensor navigation.

Steps to check the robot's sensor navigation.

Ability to choose between either to print, to control or to be obstacle for each layer.

Ability to choose between either to print, to control or to be obstacle for each layer.

Steps to edit the properties of the layers before print.

HP SitePrint Cloud
→ Service Platform

The Site Print Cloud, managing the entire service, involves designing features like user-specific dashboards, the Revit Plugin, and more.

Scope & Constraints

The service is currently in its initial development phase, with the first release slated for later this year. Consequently, the focus lies on developing and enhancing key functionalities to ensure the service synchronizes seamlessly with cloud platforms and the robot control panel, meeting user needs.

6

months

Internship experienced

13

sprints

Agile accomplished

+23

Features designed

+52

Requirements solved

Lessons Learned

Theory vs. Designer's Reality: While design theories offer structured processes, real-world scenarios require proactive and resourceful problem-solving to tackle unexpected situations.
Designer's Role in Big Tech: Designers in this setting spend more time communicating, selling, and negotiating ideas than actual screen design.
Significance of Soft Skills: Thriving in such environments and standing out is often linked to high-level soft skills that help navigate diverse situations.

References:

Irene Pereira (2023). Universal Principles forma UX: 100 Timeless Strategies to Create Positive Interactions between People and Technology.

Jon Kolko (2011). Thoughts on Interaction Design: a collection of reflections / written and compiled by Jon Kolko (Second ed.).