Creating a service for internet connected dishwashers
A study about how new technology can improve user experience
Skapandet av en tjänst för diskmaskiner med internetuppkoppling En studie om hur ny teknik kan förbättra användarupplevelsen
Faculty of Health, Science and Technology
Subject: Degree Project for Degree of Bachelor of Science in Innovation and Design Engineering 22,5 credits
Supervisor: Monica Jakobsson Examiner: Leo De Vin
Date: 2020-06-14
Mathias Bood
Sammanfattning
Denna rapport behandlar ett tjänstedesignprojekt om hur modern teknik kan appliceras på en diskmaskin för att skapa mervärde för slutanvändaren. Den moderna tekniken innebär att diskmaskinen kopplas upp till internet och därmed agerar som en dator, med att den kan skicka och lagra information.
För att ta reda på vad en sådan diskmaskin skulle kunna ge för mervärde för slutanvändare så samlades data in på hur användare förhåller sig till sin diskmaskin. Detta gjordes med
tjänstedesignsmetodik med olika intervjuer och observationer som mynnade ut i tre persona, namngivna som Lisa, Tomas och Daniel. Dessa placerades i olika Custom journeys vilket bidrog till en större förståelse för hur de upplever olika situationer kopplat till dess
diskmaskin.
Efter en utförd användarstudie konstateras det att en smart diskmaskin kan förenkla vardagen på lite olika sätt beroende på användare. Detta resulterade i en app som ska fungera som ett medium mellan diskmaskinen och användaren. Konceptet har utvecklats med användare för att lösningen ska kunna tillgodose deras olika behov.
Projektet utfördes tillsammans med Asko Appliances AB med Andreas Holmèn som handledare. Asko Appliances AB är beläget i Lidköping, där dom bland annat utvecklar diskmaskiner för hushållsbruk. Arbetet har gjorts i kursen Examensarbete för
högskoleingenjörsexamen i Innovationsteknik och design på Karlstad universitet. Projektets handledare har varit Monica Jakobsson och Leo de Vin har varit examinator.
Abstract
This essay treats a service design project and is about how new technology in dishwasher could create value for the end user. This new technology enables dishwasher for having an internet connection and making them act as computers, being that they can send and receive information.
To evaluate the possible values that a connected dishwasher could contribute to users, information was collected in how users relates to their dishwashers. This was accomplished with the use of service design methodology and the use of tools such as interviews and observations. This resulted in the development of three persona named Lisa, Tomas and Daniel. Those personas were placed in different custom journeys, which contributed to a deeper understanding of what they are experiences when using a dishwasher in different context.
After a completed user study, it was found that a smart dishwasher could make it easier for users but in different ways. This resulted in a prototype in form of an app which works as a medium between the dishwasher and the user. The concept has been co-created with users so that it is well grounded in user needs.
The project was in collaboration with Asko Appliances AB, there Andreas Holmèn was the supervisor. Asko Appliances AB are located in Lidköping, where they are developing domestic dishwashers. This project was the degree project of the Bachelor of Science in Innovation and Design engineering at Karlstad University. The supervising teacher was Monica Jakobsson and examiner of the course was Professor Leo de Vin.
Table of Content
1. Introduction ... 6
1.1. Background ... 6
1.2. Problem description ... 7
1.3. Purpose ... 7
1.4. Objective ... 7
1.5. Limitations... 7
2. The Internet of things ... 8
2.1. What is the Internet of Things? ... 8
2.2. IoT and enterprises ... 9
2.3. The building blocks of Internet of Things ... 10
2.4. Cellular Internet of Things ... 11
3. Method... 12
3.1. Literature research ... 12
3.2. Project planning ... 12
3.3. A Service design approach ... 13
3.4. Discover... 15
3.4.1. Contextual Interviews ... 16
3.4.2. Autoethnography ... 17
3.4.3. Semi-structured interviews ... 17
3.4.4. User diary ... 18
3.4.5. Observations ... 19
3.5. Define ... 19
3.5.1. Research wall ... 19
3.5.2. User personas ... 20
3.5.3. Journey mapping ... 20
3.5.4. User Stories ... 20
3.6. Develop ... 20
3.6.1. “How might we?” ... 21
3.6.2. Paper prototyping ... 21
3.7. Deliver ... 21
4. Result ... 22
4.1. Discover... 22
4.2. Define ... 22
4.2.1. Information wall ... 22
4.2.2. Personas ... 24
4.2.3. Journey mapping ... 28
4.2.4. User stories ... 31
4.3. Develop ... 32
4.3.1. “how might we?” ... 32
4.3.2. Paper prototype ... 34
4.4. Deliver ... 35
5. Discussion ... 39
6. Conclusion ... 41
7. Acknowledgement ... 42
References ... 43
Appendix ... 46
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1. Introduction
This project is the degree project of the Bachelor of Science in Innovation and Design
engineering at Karlstad University. The supervisor of the project is Monica Jakobsson and the examiner of the course is Leo De Vin. The project covers 22,5 ECTS credits and extends from January to June 2020, with a time frame of 600 hours.
1.1. Background
The project is done in co-operation with Asko Appliances AB, which develops domestics dishwashers. The company has their development department in Lidköping, and the focus is to develop high-quality domestic dishwashers. The key values for the company are
sustainability, safety, elegance, good performance and user friendly.
More and more electrical objects get connected to the internet. This phenomenon is called Internet of things (IoT). The IoT enables new opportunities for companies and for end-users.
Many of the appliances in one’s home gets connected to the internet, so called Smart homes, and Asko Appliances predicts that their dishwasher soon will adapt this new technology. The reason why companies invest in IoT and connectivity, is because of the long-term values which involves getting to know customers. Companies can provide users with new digital services and experiences to delight them (Burkitt 2014).
The design and development of a cognitive object is fundamentally different from a traditional product. It is an interdisciplinary task which includes mechanical engineering, coding, encryption, networking and communications (Morkos 2018).
But the key for companies when starting an IoT project is to put people (users) in the center.
Many enterprises focus on the technical challenges that comes with IoT, hence they put people second. When starting to put people first, the priority shifts to a human/user-centered design and could be a setup for developing services that maximize user value. In an IoT project, the success for enterprises lays in how well their designing for people and the people’s needs (Schmittler 2019).
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1.2. Problem description
The problem description is more of a question about opportunities enabled by new technology.
Problem description: In what way could the company increase user value when dishwashers are being connected to the internet?
1.3. Purpose
The purpose with the project is to investigate what increases user value connected to dishwashers. Also, to identify user needs and connect those to a smart dishwasher.
The purpose for the author is to apply service design methodology and to carry out the project independently.
1.4. Objective
The objective for the project is to develop a new service for a dishwasher connected to internet. This new service should make it easy for the user to communicate with the
dishwasher and with the company. The objective for the student is to apply the design process and its methodology, also to use service design to fully understand the user and their habits.
The result on how the concept could look like will be presented with a prototype.
The project will present the result as following:
• Digital mid-project presentation 19th of Mars 2020 at Karlstad University.
• Digital final presentation 27th of May 2020 at Karlstad University.
• Digital exhibition 3rd of May 2020.
• Digital final presentation for Asko in June 2020.
1.5. Limitations
Cognitive machines and IoT is a rather complex subject, with a lot of references to the world of data. This project will take no consideration to programming and other data related matters.
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2. The Internet of things
This chapter introduces the reader onto the concept Internet of Things. It will describe why enterprises are willing to invest in this technology and further into the chapter introduce the concept cellular IoT.
2.1. What is the Internet of Things?
The concept Internet of Things was presented in 1999 by Kevin Ashton (Woodford 2019).
Initially, IoT were limited to radio-frequency identification (RFID), with the main purpose of discovering and identifying a tagged object. Nowadays, the IoT platform are being used in all kinds of industry sectors, such as manufacturing, household appliances, and services (Morkos et al. 2018). The term IoT is in other words relatively new, and its potential has just begun to show. IoT could be defined as a set of virtual and physical objects which are connected via a network, allowing them to communicate, sense or interact with external and internal
environment (Abdel-Basset et al. 2018). The IoT enables these objects to act as an
information source (Dohler 2016). These objects could be white goods, vehicles, cell phones, clothes, and almost anything else one can think of. If the objects have integrated sensors, processors, or computers, they could all be connected to the internet (Sakernas internet n.d.).
The sensors are a big part of IoT and senses real-time environments. Sensors could be motion sensors, air quality sensors, light sensors, temperature sensors, for mention a few. Sensors along with an internet connection automatically collects information from the environment, which enables more intelligent decisions (Leverage 2018).
Things that is connected to the internet can send information or receive information, or both.
It is this ability that makes things “smart”. This big amount of data is not stored in the thing itself, hence it would make it more expensive and much more complex (Leverage 2018). The IoT data could preferably be stored in public cloud infrastructure, thus, cloud-based storage is a low-costing storage system, with no charge for data input (Lucas 2019).
The most common ways for white goods manufacture to build connectivity into their products is thru a built-in Wi-Fi. This kind of connectivity allows manufacturers to monitor how their products are being used, implement value-added services to the customer, and improve repair services (GSMA 2019).
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The development in electronics and communication technologies goes in a rapid speed. This in combination with decreasing prices has driven whitegoods manufactures into adapting IoT capability into their products, offering a range of internet-based services. For instance,
customer service could be integrated in mobile apps, making them a service delivery platform (Medina-Gracia et al. 2019).
Broadband Internet is become more widely available, the cost of connecting is
decreasing, more devices are being created with Wi-Fi capabilities and sensors built into them, technology costs are going down, and smartphone penetration is skyrocketing. All of these things are creating a "perfect storm" for the IoT. (Morgan 2014)
2.2. IoT and enterprises
Enterprises are highly motivated to invest in IoT because of its many advantages. The key values for enterprises are when connected objects are able to communicate with each other and integrate with customer support systems, business intelligence
applications, vendor-managed inventory system, and business analytics. The IoT will transform enterprises and their processes, due to that IoT enables presenting real-time and accurate data, which will generate improvements in tracking of materials and minimize of distribution costs (Lee 2015).
Many companies strive to minimize cost and to satisfy customer needs and an activity to do so is supply chain management (SCM). SCM have the objective to reduce cost of the total supply chain, from raw materials to product manufacturing, transport and
shipment, and sales. The transport costs in the supply chain can stand for around half of the entire distribution cost under the SCM environment. A reduction of transport cost leads to decrease in the operating cost of the supply chain, which includes transport and logistics firms, suppliers, and consumers.
The term fleet management which typically reflects vehicles, is crucial for cost reduction in the supply chain. It includes information management and processes for fleet maintenance and to discover routing problems. A new concept is the IoT-based fleet maintenance management system (FMMS) which applies the soft system
methodology (SSM). This concept removes unnecessary maintenance tasks by working with predictive maintenance and increases a more efficient maintenance planning trough real-time monitoring (Kim et al. 2017).
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2.3. The building blocks of Internet of Things
Connected and “smart” products are the products that learn, make decisions, and
communicate, within the IoT platform. These products are the building blocks of IoT and consists of three main elements:
• Physical components, such as electrical/mechanical parts.
• Smart components like sensors, data processors, microprocessor, motherboard.
• Connectivity components which consists of ports, protocols, networks, antennae (Morkos et al. 2018).
The physical components are in the IoT referred to as devices. These devices can
communicate in a network and are equipped with smart components. Lastly, the connectivity components enable an internet connection.
The building blocks mention above allows an interaction between the physical world and the virtual world. The virtual world could be cloud services, platforms and applications. The interaction of the two worlds are possible because of a communication network, which
enabling exchange and sharing of information with each other (Priya 2018). This is illustrated in figure 1.
Figure 1. Illustration of the IoT. Developed by the author.
Inspirations from: IOT Building Blocks and Architecture: IOT Part 2.
https://www.engineersgarage.com/tutorials/iot-building-blocks-and- architecture-iot-part-2/
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2.4. Cellular Internet of Things
Cellular IoT (CIoT) is, unlike traditionally IoT networks, connected to the internet via a telecommunication network. This can serve many benefits for both consumer and for
manufacturers. The end-user does not have to go through multiple steps to register and use the product, such as connecting it to Wi-Fi. Within the area of white goods and home automation products, there has been a low adoption rate attempting to exploit Wi-Fi (GSMA 2019).
CIoT is a way to get around those touchpoints mentioned above, but cellular technology is an always-on architecture, which could drain batteries at an impractical rate, causing problems for IoT deployments. Also, another issue regarding cellular technology is the high cost of hardware and connectivity. Today, those problems can be removed with Low-power cellular IoT protocols: LTM-E, also known as LTE CAT MI, and Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT). Their battery lifetime is up to ten years and comes with a beneficial cost structure, idealistic for IoT deployments (Stergiou 2019). Both LTM-E and NB-IoT are optimized for lower power consumption and complexity, higher device density, and high coverage, and could also coexist with other LTE services. This is a set up for the arising 5G network, which is a low power network that will enable more and new opportunities for the present LTE network (Benhiba et al. 2018).
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3. Method
This chapter describes the methods being used in this project. The objective with this chapter is to give the reader an insight in why and how the project was performed.
3.1. Literature research
To get an understanding about IoT, searches were made via Karlstad university`s library- database. Commonly used Keywords were IoT, appliances, Communication, user, service, value, automobile. These searches were filtered with conditions; latest publication was set to 2010, technology as subject, and sources of interest were academic papers, reports and conference materials. The result of these searches is found in chapter two.
Searches about IoT and connected dishwasher were also made in google, with purpose to get a perception on how the todays market look likes regarding dishwashers connected to internet.
Research about service design was also made in the University`s library-database. The interest was in finding physical books, which lead to the finding of a book called This is service design doing. The book is written by service designers and is complemented with a lot`s of inputs from experts in the field, from all over the world. Many of the methods and tools that are being used in this project are inspired from this book.
Searches were also made in google, which directed the author to a website called SVID.se, proven to be a solid website with a lot of materials of service design and how ones could use the methods.
3.2. Project planning
The planning phase aims to create an understanding of what should be done and how to do it.
To start the planning, a document called project plan was written. The purpose with a project plan is to define time frames, tasks that should be solved and to identify resources. It is also a kind of contract, between the project manager and the supervisor from Asko. The project plan consists of material such as background, objective which includes purpose and limitations, organization, risk analysis, project model and time planning. The time planning is visualized by a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Gantt chart, pert chart, and milestone chart.
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To gain an understanding of what should be done before the project can be finished, a WBS is being made. It is a systematic way to break down the project into smaller tasks. The result is represented in a tree diagram and presents a detailed picture of the entire task. The purpose of the breakdown effort is to identify the tasks (Lilliesköld & Eriksson 2010).
When the tasks are identified it is time to make a timeline of the project. A pert chart contains such information and provides a graphical representation of a project`s timeline. A pert chart gives an overview of the time and resources necessary to manage a project (Investopedia 2019). Another method that shows the time frame but in an easier way, compared to pert chart, is gannt chart. The gannt chart was designed to, in a quick way, establish the time frame for the entire project and the main activities with end and start nodes.
3.3. A Service design approach
The digital revolution has changed the way customers behave and act. The demanding of good experiences combined with the many channels of information, sets new requirements on organisations. Thus, customer experiences become more important to companies. One
negative experience could lead to a negative review, which could be read by thousands of people, making them reject that company. A research about customer experience were made 2009, showing that negative customer experience was equal to a loss of 83 billion dollars, in the US alone (Stickdorn 2018).
Innovations is important and Vink et al. (2019) explains that service design is highly connected with innovation. The objective in innovation is often to satisfy the customer because new features are not new for long. Therefore, organisations try to find ways to understand their customer and their needs, to get key insights. To get those insight Stickdorn (2018) points out that quantity data will not be enough. Such information only tells how big of a problem there is, but not how to solve it. Service design is a methodology that goes beyond measurements.
Wetter-Edman (2014) describes service design as a combination of service innovation and service logics, were service innovation focuses on how and where customers could be integrated onto a service-development-process. The service logics main point is in how and were co-created value appears when being realized. Further on, she describes the designer as an intermediary relative to user and organisations.
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The idea with a service design approach is to let designers understand experiences and
contexts themselves, which could be a lever for organizations to shift from an inside-out to an outside-in approach. The center of service design practice is to get a contextual understanding of different users’ experiences, because it is the experience that shapes the way people
perceive situations. In many cases the development of products and services is about projections of any future situations, but it also could be that innovations lays in existing situations (Wetter-Edman 2014).
The service design process
Service design adapts the same processes as any other design disciplines. The process is non- linear, meaning that it is explorative and iterative. What separates service design from other design disciplines are the methods and tools being used (Stickdorn et al. 2018).
A process model that is often used within service design is the double diamond. It consists of four phases with two phases in each diamond (Design Council n.d.). Figure 2 presents how the double diamond is being used in this project.
Figure 2. How the double diamond is used in this project. Inspirations from the Design Council.
(2018). The Design Process: What is the Double Diamond?
https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/what-framework-innovation-design-councils- evolved-double-diamond
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• Discover. The first quarter of the double diamond model is about looking into the world with new eyes, trying to seeking inspirations and noticing new things. The objective in this phase is to gather insights, which can be accomplished by stepping into the shoes of a user and developing new ideas based on what the user sees.
• Define. If discover phase is about exploring and go wide, the define phase is to narrow down the gathered information into actionable tasks. More often than less, designers see the challenge they thought having at the beginning in a different way.
• Develop. The second diamond starts with the developing phase, which has the objective to develop a service or a product for implementation. By involving users in testing concepts or prototypes, and working iteratively, the service gets more robust and ready for implementation, thus it is already verified by the users.
• Deliver. The final concept is being improved and taken to last testing. With approval, the service is ready for launch (Design council n.d.).
3.4. Discover
The purpose with the discovery phase is to interact with users and “walk in their shoes” and gain as much relevant information as possible. This will lead to insights and other valuable information and will form the base for the further work (Design Council n.d.). The objective in this phase is to gain perceptions on how users experiences dishwasher related matters.
That will be the ground for upcoming work. It will also be clear to the reader the amounts of participants that were taken part in this study, and in what method they participated in, which is presented in table 1.
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3.4.1. Contextual Interviews
Contextual interviews are an ethnographic technique, which are conducted in the context which the service occurs. The interviewer uses a combination of observations and questions to get desired insights. Contextual interviews provide a more holistic understanding than is possible in traditional interviewing techniques. Because of that the interviewing is taken place in a familiar environment for the user, it makes people feel more relaxed. People tend to speak more freely about their thoughts and behaviour when discussing these (Stickdorn and
Schneider 2010).
These contextual interviews were taken place in users` home environment, where the author could ask questions that were task related. This technique enabled follow-up questions such as
“can you show me?” and “what do you think and feel when performing this task?”.
Method Number of
participants
Employment Age
average
Location
Contextual interviews
12 3 students
9 fulltime workers
33 Users home environment Semi-structured
interviews
6 1 student
5 fulltime workers
41 Elon, Karlstad.
4 phone interviews.
1 email interview
Diary 2 2 fulltime workers 39 Author was not
present
Autoethnography 2 2 fulltime workers Elgiganten, Karlstad Elon, Karlstad
Observations Elgiganten, Karlstad.
Users home environment.
Table 1. Overview of participants and methods. Developed by the author.
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3.4.2. Autoethnography
This method is based on that the researcher explore experiences themselves, in a real situation context, and document this by using videos, photos, audio recordings and field notes. This research method could be covert or overt. Covert autoethnography is when the researcher does not reveal him or herself as a researcher, with the purpose of not influence the people being talked to. Overt autoethnography is about letting people know that you are a researcher.
By taking an overt approach, research participants could change their answers and behaviour, so called “observer effect” (Stickdorn et al. 2018).
The author decided to take a covert approach, with the purpose of experience “real” context.
Mystery shopper is one method to do so, were researchers act as they were customers and follow a specific customer experience (Stickdorn and Schneider 2010). The author used this method twice and were acted out at Elgiganten and Elon (both media-market-stores`). The author acted as he was interested in buying a dishwasher. The main goal was to ask questions about dishwasher to the salesman, but also make him/her explain about qualities and
functions. By letting the salesman talk, there could be revealed what kind of questions customers usually ask, which could be viewed at as customer needs.
3.4.3. Semi-structured interviews
In-depth interview could be conducted with relevant stakeholders such as employees and customers, or with external experts to get an understanding of a specific subject from different perspectives. These interviews could give valuable information to the researcher, as they get to know the interviewee in a more personal level. A relaxed atmosphere in combination with open, non-leading questions, is a setup for gaining the information wanted (Stickdorn and Schneider 2010). In-depth interview could be structured, semi-structured or unstructured. The author selected to do interviews in a semi-structured manner, due to its flexibility.
In order to understand the IoT system and architecture, interviews were conducted with IoT developers from three different organisations. The interviews were made via Skype and by telephone. The objective with these interviews where to complement the literature, thus the literature can be difficult to understand without any knowledge in data language.
One interview was held with a salesman from Elon, Karlstad. The purpose with this interview were two-part; one to gain an understanding what customers ask for when buying a
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dishwasher, and to compare the answers to the answers given from mystery shopper. The second purpose was to hear what a salesman thinks of IoT solutions for home appliances.
Two semi-structured interviews were held with end user having a dishwasher. The location for the interviews were made in user context, that is in their homes. The objective was to get a deeper understanding of users’ everyday life, what they prioritize and what their aspirations are.
3.4.4. User diary
User diaries are a method for gathering qualitative information from users, without the researcher being present. It allows people to document their own lives, experiences, just like an “ordinary” diary. The way of realising user diaries is many, but they often consist of some personal background and a format that allows capturing information over time. The objective with this method is to gather information about user needs, and to get an understanding of people`s experiences (Design Council n.d.).
Two users` from different household kept a diary for two weeks. The reason for this was to document their routines regarding dishwasher-use. Figure 3 shows a template for the diary used for the project.
Figure 3. Showing of the diary template used in the project. Developed by the author.
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3.4.5. Observations
Similar to autoethnographic, there are two kinds of observation approaches that one could take- overt or a covert approach. The author used both of these approaches, but did not interact with the research subject, which is called a non-participant observation (Stickdorn et al. 2018). The covert approach was used in a dishwasher forum on a social media platform.
The author acted as he was going to buy a dishwasher and wanted to get some tips on what the community thought was a good dishwasher.
The overt approach was used at users’ homes, such as the authors friends and family. By doing a non-participant observation in an overt approach there could be more opportunities afterwards, like debriefing about what just happened.
3.5. Define
In this phase, the collected data from the discovery phase are being compiled. The key in this phase is to visualize the insights, which were made with several methods being described in this section.
3.5.1. Research wall
Research wall is being used to organize and break down the massive amount of data, gathered from the methods used in section 3.4. Patterns can be visualized within the data and the data is preferably placed in clusters to specific categories. The identified patterns could be considered as research outcomes, which should be further explored or visualized with tools as personas, journey maps, key insights, or user stories (Stickdorn et al. 2018). Figure 4 is showing the projects research wall.
Figure 4. An overview of the research wall. Developed by the author.
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3.5.2. User personas
Personas are characters that make the user research come to life, in a form that is
understandable and easily identifiable. Similar people in the user research are bunt into one persona, with a lot of information as a base. It is useful to use this method when trying to determine users’ aspirations, goals and needs. Thus, the main focus should be at the need of users. The characters could also be used later into the process, by testing ideas and service concepts against the identified needs. Persona is describing a user`s characteristics that could be complemented by an image and an age. (Design Council n.d.).
3.5.3. Journey mapping
The purpose is to identify the total experience and the experience in every touchpoint that user have using a product or a service. Also, to focus of developing these touchpoints to get a good holistic experience. This method can be used several times during the project. At the projects beginning, it can be used to understand user and experience. It could also serve its purpose at the ending phase, thru validation of prototypes that has been developed (Wikberg et al. 2015).
3.5.4. User Stories
User stories is to correspond with a typical product-based requirement document but defines requirements from a user or a customer perspective. The purpose with user stories is to connect research data with inputs for IT development. The insights given from the discovery phase can be formulated as user stories such as “As a (type of user), I want (action), so that (outcome)” (Stickdorn et al. 2018).
A couple of user stories could be combined into one, which describes a story in a bigger picture. Over time, epics are often being broken down into several user stories. This usually occurs when prototyping, where the user gives feedback.
3.6. Develop
Develop is the third phase, were the focus will be at developing a concept based on the key insights given from previous phase. Those insights will be the ground for idea generation.
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3.6.1. “How might we?”
“How might we?” is a systematic method to generate and develop ideas around the gathered insights or user stories. The method consists of three phases:
This should be repeated until you have enough ideas (Stickdorn et al. 2018).
The session took place at the authors home, using the method “How might we?”. The first phase consisted in finding trigger questions to the different needs of the personas and was performed by the author. The second phase was executed with four people, consisting of two students, one working in the healthcare system, and one who works at Sunne Kommun. The same participants were also involved in the third phase, brainstorming about the prioritized trigger questions.
3.6.2. Paper prototyping
Paper prototyping is a method to quickly make hand-sketched interfaces and is presented to a user. Paper prototyping has been used as a tool for prototyping software and interfaces since early 1990s. Using this method, the interfaces is in a way co-created. The user comes with valuable inputs and suggestions which the developer easily could adjust with fast sketches (Stickdorn et al. 2018).
3.7. Deliver
Deliver phase will consist of final touch of the prototype and future scenarios that will aim to create an understanding of the concept to stakeholders and readers of this report. The final prototype was made in a program called Adobe XD. This program allows users to see how the app is planned to work and was shown in the author`s phone.
In service design, design scenarios could be used as tool to describe future scenarios and is often used as communication tools to emphasize storytelling and narrative. Stakeholders and other involved gets an idea on how the concept influencing people (Design Council n.d.).
1. Develop trigger questions from user stories or insights. By doing so, the stories or insights transforms into design challenges.
2. Step two is to prioritize the trigger questions developed in phase one.
3. Generate ideas and answers to the prioritized trigger questions.
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4. Result
This chapter will present the result of the methods which were described in the previous chapter. The result of the project plan can be found in appendix A.
4.1. Discover
The data collected from users` is presented in section 4.2. with the methods described in chapter 3. This section will present a summary of an interview session with a service man from Asko`s authorized workshop. This interview was conducted to take another perspective than a user.
Summary of interview with service worker
Regarding “smart” dishwashers, the communication should be centralized, meaning that the data of the enterprise should have the same server. That enables fast communications within an enterprise. There is almost easier to repair ordinary dishwashers than a smart dishwasher.
The workshop handles dishwasher not only for Asko, but for up to 30 different brands, where approximately 10 is from “bigger” companies. Common problems of dishwashers that they repair are sometimes caused by the end user. “Sometimes I think that the user sees the
dishwasher as a waste station, finding anything from broken glass to big pieces of food”. The amount of dishwasher would definitely decrease in the workshop if people started taking care of its dishwasher.
4.2. Define
In this section, the insights given from interviews, observations, and diary, will be presented with visualization tools. First, the personas Daniel, Lisa and Tomas are being introduced.
The personas are to be considered for the rest of the process.
4.2.1. Information wall
The information wall consists of quotes and materials from interviews, own perceptions based of observations, self-experiences from autoethnographies, and content from user diaries. The
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information was clustered into four categories: control, safety, autoethnography, and routines.
The text below involves quotes from each category.
Control- The user wants to feel that they understand the dishwasher so that they can control problems that may occurs.
“om min diskmaskin skulle gå sönder så köper jag nog en ny”
”jag har ingen aning om vad jag skulle göra om disken inte blir ren eller torr, är det mitt eller diskmaskinens fel?”
”jag vill veta när disken är klar och hur lång tid det är kvar, eftersom jag har ett hektiskt schema. Vardagspusslet måste gå ihop”
”det hade varit bra att se tiden på något sätt”
Safety- The user wants to feel safe in running the dishwasher when not at home and when running a cycle at night.
”att maskinen varnar för läckage och överhettning hade känts tryggt”
”jag vågar inte köra diskmaskinen under natten”
”är det fullt i maskinen på kvällen så sätter jag hellre igång diskmaskinen dagen efter.
Inte alltid att man hinner eller kommer ihåg att starta maskinen på morgonen innan man ska iväg till jobbet; då får jag starta den när jag kommer hem. Det kan alltså nästan gå ett dygn till det att jag sätter igång maskinen”
”jag ringer inte till kundtjänst eller till andra okända personer eftersom jag har telefonskräck. Att mejla kundservice får mig att känna mig lite bortprioriterad, det känns som de prioriterar kunder som ringer mer än de som skriver”
Routines- The users` routine with dishes tends to be the same. You choose the program that you are familiar with.
”diskar alltid med samma program, jag vet hur lång tid det tar och det blir oftast rent.
Jag skulle ha kört Eco-program mer om det programmet inte tog så lång tid”
” jag kör oftast ett och samma program, jag vet på en ungefär hur lång tid det tar och disken brukar bli ren. Jag har faktiskt knappt tänkt på att välja ett annat program, ändå har jag sex program att välja på”
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Autoethnography- This is a summary of mystery shopping, there notes were taken directly after visiting media department stores.
Customer tends to care much more of a dishwasher’s performance than in its appearance and design. Those which sells the most is the ones that gives dry and clean dishes, thus satisfies a dishwasher’s main purpose. According to the salesmen, the rules about environment demands are being tightening, meaning that dishwashers must fulfil new demands with consideration to the environment. Both of the salesmen recommended Bosch dishwasher, more specifically Bosch Series 8 SBA88TD26E, when the author asked which one to buy.
The trend is that more dishwasher is being installed with in-built Wi-Fi, but that the customers does not yet have adapted the concept. In the future, the salesmen predict that all kitchen appliances are going to be connected to the internet, so called smart homes. This means that the appliances are communicating with each other, which probably will play an important roll from an environmental point of view. The aim with smart appliances is to simplify our
ordinary lives but also to minimize energy consumption.
4.2.2. Personas
Interviews and observation also enabled the development of three personas with different needs and lifestyles. One with love for new technologies and who has high standards
regardless situation. The other is a person who enjoys life and has a big amount of curiosity.
The third persona want things to be simple and has a tight schedule, which means that he has little room for interruptions in his everyday life.
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Lisa
Lisa is 28 years old and is that friendly person with good social skill and is often to be recognise with a smile on her face. She is a caring mother to her two-year-old daughter, and after work she loves spending time with her family. Lisa works as an architect where she sees herself as the “spider in the web”; making wishes and demands from customer come to life through her sketches, and then passing on those sketches to builders. One thing that Lisa loves about her profession is the relationship between her and the customers. A typical quote from Lisa is “to see the satisfaction from customer when a project is done makes me truly happy”.
Lisa tends to get stressed when something does not goes as planned. If she does not know how to do something, she wants an answer as quick as possible. If no answers are to be find fast or nearby, she likes to try fixing the problem herself. For an example, Lisa and her partner recently bought the house that they are now living in, and the old owners left behind home appliances like fridge and dishwasher. They did not know anything about this new dishwasher and how it worked. She felt that looking for information online about the product was too much work. Even until this day, four months later, they do not know what the programs on the machine stands for. In this case, Lisa has gone from a curious person to a person who settles for less.
Coming home from work, either Lisa or her partner takes care of prepping dinner;
someone must look after their child. Their love for home-made food generates in a lot of dishes that must be taking care of every day. Lisa finds the best time to start the dishwasher is in the evenings, when the dishwasher is totally full of dishware.
Needs
• To run the dishwasher at night and feel safe about that.
• Understand the programs so she can make the right choice depending on the situation.
• A reliable dishwasher that produces clean and dry dishes in an eco-friendly way.
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Daniel
Daniel works as a consult within the industry sector and has been so for the last five years. He likes his job because of the variation, every day is different from the other.
He is very dedicated on his career, hoping to get that promotion he thinks he
deserves. He is 36 years old and lives together with his partner in an apartment, just outside the city.
Daniel has an interest in new technology and whenever there is a launch for a new product, he feels a feeling of exhilaration. He recently both a new car which he is very happy about. This car was expensive, but he thinks that higher prices is equal to better quality, “you pay what you get”. He also thinks that more expensive products last longer in contrary to cheaper products. One thing Daniel does not like is when something does not live up to his expectations. One major reason why Daniel buys premium products is as much as the service it provides. To get in contact with customer service should be easy and is something that he expects. He also wants to feel trust in relation to the companies behind the product. According to Daniel, this trust is built thru good relationships.
Well at home, he likes having his house in a nice appear. Nothing beats the feeling of a clean house. He is also that kind of person who likes things to be organized and does not hesitate to re-organize dishware when opening a dishwasher door.
Needs
• A convenient and more customized service.
• Knowledge about the status of his dishwasher.
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Tomas
Tomas is a 53-year-old person who loves to engage himself into his youngest sons`
activities. As a coach for his son`s hockey team he spends lots of hours in the ice rink. Tomas works as a car salesman, and some days are stressful, especially at the weekends. The ice rink has become a place where he can gain new energy and let go of hard days at work.
Tomas vision is to retire in a couple of years, allowing him to spend more time with his children and his grandchildren. His grandchildren live in the nearby and Tomas and his wife loves having dinners for the family, which results having a big
dependency for the dishwasher.
Tomas relationship with his dishwasher is rather simple. He just wants his dishware to be clean and dry, “so long as it maintains in a working condition, I am happy”.
Tomas and his family use the dishwasher approximately 7 times a week.
Needs
• An interface that is perspicuous.
• Few options in program range.
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4.2.3. Journey mapping
Each persona`s has a customer journey that illustrates a personas journey in different
situations. Lisa`s journey was co-created with users and inputs were given from workers from Elon. Daniel`s and Tomas journey was created from interview materials.
Lisa`s journey
Lisa discovers that her dishware is neither dry nor clean after an ended cycle. She decides to start a cycle again, with the hope that it just was a one-time-event. After the second cycle, the dishware is still not clean, and she thinks that the machine must be broken. It is late in the evening and she is tired, thinking that she takes care of it tomorrow. Two days after the error, she finally decides to take care of the problem. She has no idea what could be wrong, so she reaches out for help. Searching online for nearest service workshop, she eventually finds a telephone number and starts dialling. The workshop explains that they will show up in
approximately three days. That response gave Lisa a feeling of relief, thus she is already tired washing by hands. Three days goes by and the workshop man arrives and starts diagnosing the dishwasher. This resulted in ordering of spare parts, which will take five days to be delivered. After a total of 10 days, she is finally having a dishwasher in working condition.
Figure 5 visualizes the journey and includes an emotional journey.
Figure 5. Lisa`s journey. Developed by the author.
29 Insights
This persona has a need to monitor available options when the dishwasher not functioning as it should. 10 days is way to long for Lisa, being that it made her feel more stressed in her everyday life. Coming home from work, the problems with her dishwasher made her mood go down, which affected her family.
Daniel`s journey
Daniel is cleaning his house and decides that also to do maintenance on the dishwasher. He starts by filling up rinse aid but has no idea how much to fill and when to stop filling. That makes him feel uncertain, he would like it to be more obvious. When he thinks that the rinse aid is fully tanked, he moves onto towards cleaning the nozzles. He has a vague memory from the manual to clean those once a while. The manual could be anywhere, so he does not bother to look for it. The bottom nozzle is easy to remove, and he wash it under the sink. Trying to remove the top nozzle turns out to be more difficult. He cannot solve the problem on how to remove it; hence, he leaves it alone. He also takes care of the filters, washing them under the sink and removes bigger pieces of food from the coarse filter. See figure 6 for more details.
Figure 6. Daniels journey. Developed by the author.
30 Insights
The dishwasher is a part of the Daniels everyday routine, resulting in a big dependency for it to function. He is taking care of his products, including his dishwasher. The struggle for Daniel is to letting go of things that he cannot control. He gets calm knowing that everything is okay. In his journey, it is obvious that he wants to have control over the status of the dishwasher. Searching online about how to maintain a dishwasher is even for Daniel, just not worth it.
Tomas journey
Tomas is feeling tired and is picking up dishware from an ended program. It is usually Tomas that do this household chore and he just wants to do it as fast as possible so he then can relax.
He notices that drinking glasses and lunchboxes are not clean. He has to dry it himself and being that this is something that he expects the dishwasher should do for him, his mood goes down and he gets stressed. When putting the drinking glasses into the cabinet he notices that the surface is blurry. That is when he realizes that it could be that the level of rinse aid is low, so that is another thing he need to fix before he can relax in the couch. His journey is shown below in figure 7.
Figure 7. Tomas journey. Developed by the author.
31 Insights
Tomas think that the dishwasher should work as an access and resource to him. He
understands that the dishwasher sometimes needs reloading of rinse aid or detergent, but it should provide with clear and short instructions, that in good time warns him when something needs to be rectified. This allows Tomas to fix problems when having energy, and not when it is a must and is tired after a long day at work. In about an hour he will take off to the ice rink, and he just want to cool down between job and practice.
4.2.4. User stories
The different needs of each persona resulted in epics, which were sliced down to get further dimensions, see table 2.
Lisa Daniel Tomas
Epics
As a user, I want to know what to do when my dishwasher is not functioning, so that my everyday routine can continue as normal.As a user, I want to know the status of my dishwasher, so that I know that it is functioning the way it is supposed to.
As a user, I want the procedure (loading dish soap and press start) to be as fast as possible, so that I can spend time with my family.
Story #1
As a user, I want recommendations based on theproblem, so that I do not need to look it up in a journal.
As a user, I want to have an option to monitor the
dishwasher status, so that I can still my mind when in doubt.
As a user, I want to have limited amount of program options, so that I do not get overwhelmed with information.
Story #2
As a user, I want it to be easy to reach out to service centre, so that time could be saved.As a user, I want to run my dishwasher in low energy, so that I can save money on my electrical bill.
As a user, I want to know the status on rinse aid, so that I have clean and dry dishware.
Table 2. User stories. Developed by the author.
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4.3. Develop
To determine how a “smart” dishwasher could improve user’s everyday life, with the insights and information defined in the previous section, there were held an ideation workshop. This ideation will also attend to give answers of the key insight from mystery shopper. The visits to media department stores gave the author a perception that customers in physical stores listens to the salesman and almost make the salesman make the decision for them. The ideation workshop used the method “how might we?”, were the literature suggests that it should be around 10-20 participants, but the author executed this method with three participants. The reason for that are being discussed in a discussion chapter.
4.3.1. “how might we?”
The creative session begins with the author as the only participant, trying to develop questions to the user stories and insights gathered in section 4.2
Phase one
The development of questions resulted in 11 trigger questions, where the group discussed which of the questions to prioritize in phase two.
Phase two
The decision making of which questions to prioritize, is grounded by the information given in define phase. The author did a resume to the group about the findings in user research and showed materials such as the information wall, the personas and the customer journeys. Each persona got a prioritized question, and one prioritized question was developed regarding letting people not getting too influenced by salesmen and with that, letting users make own decisions in physical stores.
The result of prioritized trigger questions is listed below.
• How might we help Lisa to get quick and clear instructions?
• How might we give Daniel a premium experience?
• How might we help Tomas to make his life easier regarding his dish procedure?
• How might we give customers a feeling of making their own choices in physical stores?
33 Phase three
The group used brainstorming to come up with ideas, trying to give answers to the question in phase two, see figure 8. Many ideas were generated and lead to the development of an app and a context for the app, shown in figure 9.
One idea that was generated was to take advantage of IoT in the physical store. When customers wander around and thinking about which dishwasher to buy, instead of taking contact with a salesman, they get encourage to download an app where all the information about the dishwasher can be found. With cellular IoT, the dishwasher has built-in connectivity with a SIM card from manufacturing. This allow people to see a dishwasher’s entire lifecycle and due to this transparency from the company, people may feel that the company is more trustworthy.
The best solution according to the group, on how to help Lisa, Daniel and Tomas, seemed to be an app that you can download on your mobile phone. At the end of the idea workshop, the group started sketching different app appearances and these was later used as first drafts paper prototypes.
Figure 8. A glimpse into the idea session. Developed by the author.
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4.3.2. Paper prototype
The sketches from the idea workshop was shown to different users and was iterated until the participants were satisfied. The pain points of the first protype were that it was too many options and buttons on the apps first screen. It was easier to understand the app if it was less buttons, but they simultaneously wanted the buttons to include more functions. The error codes should be shown with little amounts of text, and all of the respondents thought that a notification of major faults should be included in the app. The guaranty should be built into the app and also, there should be a function that encourages the user to use eco programs.
Figure 9. Sketches on the concept. Developed by the author.
Figure 10. Paper prototypes. Developed by the author.
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4.4. Deliver
The author developed different interfaces and by letting users test and comment on the design, a final concept was chosen. Figure 11 shows how the app developed and figure 12 shows the final concept. It also resulted in a concept that starts in the media department store and is described by scenarios.
The first digital prototype was developed from the final paper prototype. It was clearer to the respondents to visualize the app in a digital appearance, and 3/5 people thought that they did not understand the button “miljöläge”, so that had to be removed. The theme of the interface had to much bright colours, and 4/5 said that they wanted a more elegant and exclusive theme of the app. Also, they wanted a button for contact information to both the company and to nearest service center. That function will be removed from “övrig information” and will be shown in a button.
This leaded to the development of a second digital prototype. This time with a black theme and with a big start button. The button “energiförbrukning” was put in to encourage users to use the dishwasher in a more energy efficient way. Some of the participants felt that button to be stressful and did not want to see energy loss.
The third digital prototype was approved by all five of the participants. The function
“energimätare” was specially appreciated, which is a meter that moves towards a green zone when users run the dishwasher with full loads and with low energy programs.
Figure 10. How the prototypes were developed. The image to the left shows first prototype and the image to the right shows final concept. Developed by the author.
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Being that 5/5 participants were happy about the design and functions of the third digital protype, the final concept was chosen. The user can get error codes in clear text messages by pressing a red blinking “status” button. The next page shows the nearest located service center and give you information such as phone number, a chat function, and most importantly lets you know what the problem is about. When the same button turns into yellow, the dishwasher is communicating about minor faults and it is not something that the user must take care of immediately. A yellow “status” button could be that rinse aid level is low, or that is time to maintain and clean the dishwasher. How to maintain the dishwasher could either be read or you can watch an instructional film. The app interfaces can be seen in figure 11.
Figure 11. The final concept and its interfaces. Developed by the author.
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Other operations that the app could do is shown in table 3.
Category Checkpoint Description
Notification
Cycle complete Notifies when a cycle is completed.
Maintenance Notifies you once a month to clean filters.
Notifies you one time per every half year to clean the nozzles. Or choose to insert it in the phones calendar.
Service Notifies you about major
break downs, what to do and how to contact service centre.
Detergent Notifies you when you need
to fill rinse aid.
Notifies when you have a remaining of 10 detergent tablets.
Control
Delay start Schedule a time for the cycle to start.
Start Start a cycle at home or
elsewhere Monitoring
Energy use See the energy use in
frontpage. When energy saving programs are used, the parameter moves towards a green zone.
Detergent See the number of detergent tablets that you have left.
Table 3. Operations
38 Scenario in store without the projects concept
Tomas is gently passing by the options of dishwashers in the store. He tries to understand what the text on the signs means but thinks that they are all saying the same thing, and with no sense of meaning to him. He reaches out to a salesman and asking for advice. The
salesman starts to demonstrating the value of a specific dishwasher, of what Tomas can see is the most expensive one, with a language that he understands but does not really saying him very much. Tomas asks about other dishwashers and what the salesman thinks of those. He explains the qualities of the asked dishwasher but immediately starts to referring to the one the salesman think is the best. Tomas gets influenced by the salesman and decides to buy the one that the salesman recommended.
Scenario in store with project concept
Tomas walks into the store, looking for a new dishwasher. He goes to the dishwasher section in the store and starts to investigate. He notices that one brand got a special sign in front of the dishwasher and decides to read what it says. The text is describing that the machine is
connected to the internet, and if downloading an app, you can see how and where the dishwasher has been made and get valuable information. He gets curious and instead of asking a salesman, he downloads this app. The app is explaining technical qualities in a way that Tomas understand, and he thinks that is good that you can see the dishwasher’s lifecycle, from manufacturing to the place where it stands right now. He gets thrilled by the interface of the app and even as much by the feeling that no salesman has influenced him. He decides to buy this dishwasher and then reach out to the salesman. The guaranty is built-in to the app so all he has to do is to scan the dishwashers barcode in the app, and the guaranty starts to apply.
When the dishwasher has been installed in Tomas` apartment, he connects his dishwasher by his phone. He thinks that is great that the dishwasher is already connected to the internet by an integrated SIM card so that he does not have to bother looking for Wi-Fi pin code.
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5. Discussion
The aim of this thesis was to study the possible opportunities for end-users that comes with a
“smart” dishwasher. To reach this aim a project plan was created which included time schedules such as WBS and Gannt chart. The time schedule did not hold up due to that the discovery phase was overdue. It was a challenge to determine how long the user research should be and when to start defining the insights. The author had a more linear mindset and waited until all the data were collected, before starting defining insights and problems. The double diamond model suggests a more iterative process and that could had gained this project.
In the projects early stage more discussions about limitations, in consultation with Asko, could had been more preferable. If the project had been more limited, it could had been provided with more time on detailed research. But this is contrary to what Dorst and Cross (2001) says about service design and its limitations. They are explaining that the problem evolves with time and cannot be determent in early stage. Thus, it has been a struggle through the project to co-ordinate between the area of limitations and exploring the solution area.
The literature study about IoT took a lot of the authors effort and time and therefore, it may interfere the process. IoT is as complex as it is interesting and it was sometimes hard to stop reading about it. The authors` vision was to back up the final concept (the app) by a full IoT solution. This was not the task and shows how easily it is to disregard the limitations.
The projects main subject, dishwashers with connectivity, is a phenomenon that is rather unexplored. The salesmen in media department stores knows about smart dishwashers, but the customers are a bit skeptical and rarely knows that dishwashers could be smart before
entering the stores. This unawareness was also shown to the author in user research, there many of the subjects had neither thought nor heard of a smart dishwasher, it was something abstract to them.
In chapter three, the author referred to a study about dissatisfied customers which lead to a loss of income for companies. The projects concept aims to help improve customer
experience by letting them make own decisions in the physical stores and in combination with the app, fulfilling user needs. Burkitt (2014) points out that you need strong capabilities in experience-design for creating value in the IoT. Another designer with more routine and knowledge about user experience had most certainly attacked this project in a different way than the author did.
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The selection of tools which was adopted in this project gave many insights to the author, but that does not mean that they were used in a suitable way. The author had never used service design methodology and its tools before. The knowledge has come from reading literatures where it is described in how to use the tools, but not in the context of situations. Therefore, this work has been both a challenge as well as a developing journey for the author.
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6. Conclusion
This project used a service design approach and its methodology to explore user needs of today, for developing a dishwasher of tomorrow. The objective of the project was to apply service designs methods to answer the question “In what way could a dishwasher that is connected to internet increase user value?”
The result is a service solution in form of an app, which exchange information in a way that users understand and can act on. This has been created by the presented insights, persona, and journey mapping. The final solution is:
• An app were the users can:
o Monitor the status of the dishwasher o Get error codes in clear text messages
o Be encouraged and rewarded for using eco-programs o Get notifications when rinse aid level is low
o Automatically reorder detergent
o Have four programs to choose from, and can download more programs in the app
o Be informed about nearest located service center
This app is promoted in the physical store, were customers can choose to download the app in the store before having purchased. The app is showing the lifecycle, from manufacturing to being installed in the store. It is also describing information about the product in a way that user can understand and is given them a tour in the app appearance.
The proposed technology is cellular IoT so that the users do not have to connect the dishwasher to their home Wi-Fi.
Since the project did not reach a completed solution on how the app should look like, IT developers should work further with the concept and create an appropriate design that is easy to understand. The company should also work on attracting users onto the concept IoT and marketing dishwashers with connectivity in such way so that the user understands the values of a “smart” dishwasher. Further work would also include to investigate if the IoT technology could enable communication between dishwasher and service center.
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7. Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Andreas Holmèn and Mikael Johansson from Asko Appliances AB, for given me this opportunity. A special thanks to my supervisor Andreas Holmèn, for your support, but also for your patience and understanding of my process.
I want to give a warm and genuine thanks to Monica Jakobsson for all the support along the way. You always made me feel relaxed when I thought I was on the wrong path.
I would also like to thanks all the interviewee subjects and a special thanks to Pierre from Telenor IoT department, for painting IoT in a way that could be understood for someone with very little experiences in the IoT field.
Finally, I would like to thanks all the anonymous respondents that participated in this project, for allowing me to come into your homes and follow you in your journeys.
