Brief Introduction of Myself
Why do i change my job career to be a UX designer( product designer )?
I used to be a physical product designer for 8 years at Mattel. This was an interesting job, I could create something very fancy, bold, or might be crazy ideas and concepts. As a physical product designer. I learned a lot from Mattel. for example, I need to do some research for the target user’s needs, analyze the pros and cons of existing competitors, conduct the usability tests with play lab, ideation development and prototyping creation, and design system creation and so on. those experiences could help me to better transfer from a physical product designer to UX designer.
I think the most important thing to being a good UX designer is product thinking and problem solving. Meanwhile, I have to understand the target users, absorb the users’ needs, and learn about the user experience behind the products.
Disney small doll—Playset concept development
Title Disney small doll—Playset concept development
Role Product Designer
People Me (Product Designer) + Product Manager + VP+ Disney Licensor + Marketing + Engineering+ Packaging + Play lab + plant (factory)
Time Jun-Dec 2014
Client 3+ years old girls
Research
when i received the task from marketing team and asked some ideas of creating a playset for disney princess. the most important thing i need to do is narrowing down the research to find out users’ needs and what is the existing competitor products, why the competitor products got the best sale, how the competitors make it? with all the questions, I started to look for the answer from online (amazon) or conduct a user interview (survey).
Ideation——Brainstorming and Sketches
after I gathered all the research and summarized them into users’ needs and pain points. there’re 2 major needs I found from the research:
the users would like the toy to have a water feature, reason: there weren’t water playsets on the market.
now the playset on the market is very dull and boring. the users would like the toy to have different themes, it could have a different style to play. for example, indoor and outdoor, sky and land….
according to all the needs and pain points, I started to create some sketches. after review with my product manager and VP, i finally created the below idea and send it to Disney licensor team.
Low-fidelity Wireframe——Control drawing
after i received the Disney licensor approval, i started to work on the control drawing. the control drawing was to define the size of the product and explained the product features. at the same time I need to closely with engineering team for the 3D and mechanism and start to build up the 3D model.
Hi-fidelity Wireframe——3D model review
usually, the rough 3D model could be finished within a week. but there’re couple feedback and comments need to adjust or revise because of the Disney licensor. therefore the whole 3D process will be like almost a month.
Prototyping review——Grey model
after the 3D model was approval, then I need to ask the engineering to output the model and review the features and functions with team. normally we will invite some users (20-30 kids) to join our usability test in our play lab. at this moment, I would received a lof to safety feedback or concerns from the user as well as the engineering team. therefore, after the usability test, there would be a lot of implements to adjust in my design.
Prototype review—— Color Model
after all the feedback and concerns had been revised in the 3D model, I would output the model again, but I will ask the model shop to spray some colors on it and make it looks like a real product. and then I need to ship the model to US design team and asked them to invited the Disney licensor for final approval.
Final design
after i recieved the final approval from Disney and the design team, the product could be launched to the production stage. the engineering team will take care it until it showed up in the market.