- September 20, 2018
Mapping Out Design Strategy
“Strategic product iteration of kitchen appliances for Chinese domestic market (to be shipped within 2 years)”
To comprehend Vatti’s brand strategy and engineering competency, we organized regular meetings with the client team beforehand to find out potential design deliverable. At the same time, we also conducted home visits (Chinese home) to understand pain, desire, and other emotional factors that users might go through at the kitchen as part of our initial research. My role in this project was fairly diverging and a cross between strategy and design.
Initial Development
After a kickoff meeting, we started generating concepts without thinking too much about constraints in engineering and design as we believed that the early stage can be where creativity comes into play.
Clustering
We organized internal design meetings on a regular basis to make sure everyone is on the same page, reflecting some of the findings we collected early on from our research. After a series of iteration and communication, we were able to group themes by several design languages: foldable, monolithic, double layer, power cube/core, ultrawide screen, etc.
We started developing ideas from each cluster, inviting other designers & researchers to discussions.
Integrating digital interaction
Cross-departmental collaboration has helped us create seamless product experience. Working closely with UI/UX unit, we were able to think about how the end product can be delivered when combined with digital interaction in the way it genuinely represents the key values that we are selling.
Presentation & Client Pitch
Entering the final stage of development, we managed to produce an array of proposals to showcase (*partially confidential). The project is still ongoing and it’s now at a production (MP) phase. Below is one of the final proposals that we presented to the client.
We also iterated other appliances: oven, stove (gas-operated), etc with the same design language.
Understanding The Market
As an extension of competitive analysis, the team and I’ve been on a few trips/visits to several venues, beginning from “KBC 2018 (Kitchen & Bath China)” in Shanghai to collect information about new, advanced technologies, CMF trends, competitors, and untapped opportunities so we can translate them into our approach in design.
