Echo Frames Gen 1 and 2
Project Description
Amazon Echo Frames are an all day wear smart glasses with hands free Alexa. Built and design with the customer in mind, it lets you make phones, listen to media of your choosing, hear to incoming notifications with our VIP Filter feature, and much more; all while still being engaged to the world around you.
DEsign RESPONSIBILITIES
Primary designer for High-profile features such as VIP Filter , Auto Volume , Sleep mode, and Top Contact calling and much more.
Lead and conduct user research with the design research team design solutions to validate design solutions
Drive and collaborate with visual and voice designers to bring feature to life.
Collaborate with product team member to deep dive into product requirements and bring designs from zero to one.
01. / Open Ear Audio: Auto Volume
CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
Echo Frames uses an open-ear technology that directs audio into the customer’s ears. With such audio technology, we have learned from our customers’ experience two major pain points: One, the ability to hear their audio content in different noise environments. And two, concerns over their audio content being heard by others around them; leading to privacy and social acceptability concerns.
DESIGN CHALLENGES
Open Ear Technology is a foreign concept to our customers and requires additional customer education.
Each and every customer has their own preference when it comes to audio. These preferences includes; music, spoken audio, and communication
Echo Frames gen 1 and 2 having one size fits form factor causes customers with different head sizes having different perceived audio loudness.
Audio leakage: Increasing the volume also means increasing the chances of the audio being heard by others around the customer.
DESIGN Solution
02. / Battery Life: Sleep Mode
CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
Echo Frames being an all-day wear device, customers expect the batteries to remain at a moderate level throughout the day while they are not in use. However, due to the size of the battery to keep the frames lightweight, customers have express their pain point of not having sufficient enough battery to last them through the day.
DESIGN CHallenges
Customers do not turn off their frames. They expect the frames to be on and ready-to-go at anytime of the day.
Sensor reliability: With a singular sensor solution detecting for don is 98% reliable but detecting for doff falls to ~65% accuracy.
Sleep Mode is a post-release feature update. Existing customers have already built a habit and will need to revisit the Alexa app to learn about the new feature.
DESIGN Solution
03. / Personalization with VIP Filter
CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
Echo Frames’ top product pillar is its ability to allow customers to stay in the moment all while connected to their most important notifications. Through ethnographic research, customers have express a high need to stay informed and connected with those that are important to them, but also do not want to be overwhelmed and distracted by notifications that have little or no importance.
DESIGN CHallenges
The customer have a diverse method of managing their phone notifications; Heavy curated, no curation, block-all notifications.
Customer’s perception of audio notification changes depending on the context and surroundings. Example: Customers would enjoy hearing from their friends and family during their time at home but would not enjoy it when they are in a meeting unless it is an emergency.
Customers have to remain control of their audio notifications or else they would find the entire feature distracting.
Audio-only interactions add a layer of difficulty when it comes to content management and customers do not prefer it.
DESIGN SOLUTION: VIP FILTER
04. / Stay connected with Top Contact