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The Cooper office phone
We haven't met anyone who likes their desk phone. Conference calls and transfers result in accidental hang ups and lost productivity. Changing a voicemail greeting requires a user's guide. With basic LCD screens and jumbled buttons, most office phones look ugly and intimidating, like the hardware and software were designed completely independently of each other. In 2002 (before the iPhone or other touchscreen phones existed) we decided to design a phone where the interplay between hardware and software resulted in a seamless experience that was useful to new and familiar users alike. Since then, we've updated our hardware and interface designs in our spare time, but the underlying concepts have remained.
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User research helps identify patterns
The team used scenarios, an understanding of user needs based on research, and research into technology opportunities to create 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). However, other actions, 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.
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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.
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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?"
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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.
Imagining solutions
The design framework that evolved to meet these needs centered on 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 designers 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.
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Testing the concept
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.
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Design language studies
Although the design had to be cost-effective to manufacture, 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. -
It's about the conversation,
not the phoneNow 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?
