As one of the market leaders for peripheral devices, Logitech sought to establish its new position in the market of smart home solutions. The brief we received: Explore different solution approaches to simplify the increasingly painstaking effort of managing one’s many smart-home devices. We developed several vision concepts (incl. smart app) trying to streamline a range of user needs in conjunction to device control, voice assistance and wireless charging.
Digging into concerns expressed in conjunction to smarthome products currently on the market, also further analysing routines and home environments of different user groups, it became apparent many were struggling to manage the number of different (model, brand) smartphone connected devices, also those specifically required for smart home services. Device and user interface clutter was a major concern apart from the fact that most users had to spend many hours learning the very technical ins and outs of smart home control.
A viable approach: Combining charging, smart control and voice assistant functions into one station, hence also reducing interface and cable clutter. We also observed that many users had their favourite home ‘drop spots’ – a place for keys, rings, small pocket stuff, wearables and smart phones, which were often placed on sidetables or entryway credenzas. Equipped with those observations we explored typical decorative trays and racks people would place on these sideboards, searching for a form factor that would elegantly suit environments with multiple users.