👋 Quick Introductions

TouchLink Pro

The TouchLink Pro comes in many shapes and sizes and is the end user-facing interface for controlling the technology in a room. These touch panels are designed to control video, audio, lighting, shades, HVAC, security, and other systems within virtually any environment.

“Mach” Template Examples

• We have designed and tested multiple templates for our TLPs over the years

• In addition to the templates, we have also created a guide for users who want or need to design their own interface

Additional screens and sizes:

NFC Technology

Near-field communication (NFC) enables data sharing between an NFC tag and an electronic device over a small distance (approx. 4cm).

A “tap” or scan between an NFC tag and an NFC-enabled device can facilitate:

• contactless payment

• unlocking and starting your vehicle

• opening doors touch-free

• connecting electronic devices to share data

📌 The Problem (aka the Opportunity)

• Over the years, many of our customers have asked for touch-free solutions for accessing and controlling work spaces

• Touch-free usually means faster, and when done well, can also mean seamless

• Post-pandemic, there is also a looming safety concern about limiting the spread of harmful germs

💡We have explored several possible touch-free solutions, including voice user interface, QR codes and NFC compatibility. This research and development project was an exploration into Extron + NFC.

Additional Context 👀

• PD, UX and ENG collaborated over the course of a few weeks to develop this POC

Empathize and Define

Touch panels are used in many different environments, by a wide variety of people. While voice commands and QR codes are becoming more widely adopted, NFC technology is still relatively unknown.

READ: We needed to make this new workflow as obvious and intuitive as possible.

Research

📝 User Goals

• Convenient and quick access

• Touch-free entry to secure buildings and rooms

• Easily share and apply user preferences

😥 Painpoints

• An earlier touch panel experiment had a UFC chip embedded into the beveled edge on one side

• This model had a VERY small NFC logo which indicated the scannable area

• If a person does not see this tiny logo, or does not recognize the logo and its purpose, they will be left guessing as to what to do

  Example:

Secondary Research

Examples

GOOD: This Sony ball speaker has a tiny NFC logo to indicate the scannable area, but at least it is in an obvious spot

BETTER: Both of these printers have a backlit icon to indicate the scannable area

BEST: Both of these examples give users onscreen directions 😎

Ideate & Prototype

We practiced Lean UX to quickly generate ideas and concepts with very few requirements. Working under tight deadlines, we performed quick, guerilla-style usability testing and incorporated the qualitative feedback into our iterative process.

1st Iteration

• Based on feedback from SME’s and competitive analysis, we recommended putting the NFC chip “under the glass”, and that we build the workflow into the UI

• Our first concept added the step of scanning an NFC chip to an existing start screen:

👎 Findings

• This required disabling the main content until users have been authenticated, complicating the design and creating the opportunity for user confusion

2nd Iteration

This time we added a new screen, solely for scanning the NFC chip:

👍 Findings

• This flow gives users clear instruction on how to proceed

• It also distinguishes the act of of scanning from first step of using the panel to control a space

Hi(ish) Fidelity

With buy-in from Product Management and Engineering, we moved forward with the second iteration.

• I created a very basic prototype, to get feedback on the workflow