We haven’t met an office worker yet who likes her desk phone. The problem? Where to start? Conference calls and transfers result in accidental hang ups and lost productivity. Changing a voicemail greeting requires a user’s guide. And with a basic LCD screen and a jumble of seemingly unrelated buttons, office phones even look ugly and intimidating.
In 2002 we used our Goal Directed Design process to design a new solution. Since that was before the iPhone or other touchscreen phones, we wanted to design an integrated solution from scratch—hardware and software—that didn't rely on an existing platform.
The interplay between hardware and software needed to result in a seamless experience, and that coherence must be apparent to new and familiar users alike. We assigned a team of two interaction designers, a visual designer, and an industrial designer to work together from day one.
Scott, project manager
Scott's goals :
- Stay on top of communications
- Look competent in front of his boss
- Focus on the conversation, not the phone
- Be in control, not intimidated
The team used scenarios, an understanding of user needs based on research, and technology opportunities to drive to a seamless user experience that met the goals of Scott, our primary user persona.
It became clear that Scott needed the convenience of persistent controls for some actions (like volume control, mute, and playing voice mail). Other actions, however, such as conference calling and transferring, required dynamic information in order to give Scott high visibility and detail so he'd never make a mistake.
The design framework that evolved to meet these needs centered around a high-resolution touch screen integrated with physical controls such as a volume dial, mute and voice message control buttons, a jog wheel for scrolling through contacts, and numeric keypad entry.
The industrial designer and interaction designers collaborated to create a form factor that puts the most important visual information in the center of the device, flanked by easy-to-reach hardware controls.
The design team used various rapid prototyping methods—from lower to high fidelity—to test the key task flows and physical controls.
Results helped the team refine workflows and more crisply define locations of physical controls in relation to the central display. They also confirmed that the overall experience—a touch screen surrounded by integrated hardware controls—was working.
Conference Calls
Conferences aren’t always planned; they also happen spontaneously. A single button makes it easy to add new participants. To eliminate confusion, the call display lists all the callers present on the call. No more asking “Who else is there?” or “Who just hung up?”
Voicemail
Scott doesn't want to manage his messages. He wants to act on them. Visual voice mail lets Scott listen to messages in any order he likes, and he never has to remember obscure numeric codes to act on a message.
Office Directory
Calling a coworker's extension doesn't require a paper phone list. Scott merely opens the directory and flips through it using a scroll wheel, then calls a coworker by simply touching his or her name.
Transferring Calls
The Office Phone always provides a final transfer confirmation that includes the name of the person who ultimately received the call. Scott never wonders if the call was dropped or lost.
Although the design had to be reasonable to build with 2002 technology, everything about it had to show that it was a high-quality, business-grade product. It needed to be unintimidating, but something an executive would want to show off—professional, but also an object of desire.
The team explored several design language directions that would unify the hardware, software, tactile, and visual elements of the phone. The design language studies centered around the product being approachable, exceptional and trustworthy.
Three candidate language studies emerged. Each explored different approaches for physically and visually expressing what functional elements do, creating a visual hierarchy to emphasize importance and frequency of use, and establishing key brand signatures.
The Cooper Office Phone helps Scott by making the most important and common features readily visible. It lets him focus on his conversations, not his phone.
Although the phone itself is a combination of hardware controls and a software-enabled touch screen, it provides Scott with a seamless, integrated experience. He doesn't feel like he's moving from hardware to software—he just feels like he's using his phone. He's no longer intimidated because it works the way he expects it to.
Now Scott can focus on his conversation instead of on managing his phone—and he'll never accidentally hang up on his boss. Judging by the number of people who ask us where to buy the Cooper Office Phone, Scott's not the only one with that goal.
The Cooper Office Phone design presents an integrated experience because it was designed by a truly integrated team sharing a design process. The only missing component on this concept project is a phone manufacturing company with the engineering expertise and resources to build it.
Any takers?
