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Shade Automation

Smart Shade Solutions for Commercial and Residential

Lead UX Designer / 5 Months

Lutron Electronics is a world leader in lighting control solutions. The company designs and manufactures energy-saving lighting controls, automated window treatments, and total light management solutions for residential and commercial.

Founded in 1961, Lutron manufactures more than 17,000 energy-saving products, sold in more than 100 countries around the world. Lutron offices locate worldwide in London, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Sao Paulo, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Beijing.

On the commercial side, some of the larger Lutron light control systems include the New York Times Building, New York; Empire State Building, New York; the Wimbledon “Centre Court”, UK; the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain; and the Bank of China headquarters, Beijing, Shanghai Tower, Shanghai, to name just a few.

On the residential side, light controls are installed everywhere from single-room apartments to palatial homes, including the White House, DC; 15 Hudson Yards, New York, and Windsor Castle, UK, to name just a few.

This page will only touch on my impact to project but not product details as they are restricted due to confidentiality agreements. Please reach out for more or go to next project to see other products!
‍
heydanieltsai@gmail.com

I worked with my PM, PO, RTE, Architects for 4 months on the project to complete the mission of expanding shade automation from commercial buildings to residential sites

I helped users including dealers who program the automation and end users who experience the automation by delivering a shade automation setup feature for programming software and shade automation control for the end user app.

I initiated and executed a research-led product development roadmap with multiple pilot diary studies and influenced the feature direction by leading workshops with the core team.

Impact 1

Delivered the first-phase design (user flow, architecture, and screen) for shades automation that set the tone and pave the way to product north star

Challenges

Many legacy developments are involved in bettering the experience
← automation is new and the past development didn’t consider it

Changes are hard to push
← decisions are consensus-based in company culture

Approach

Prioritize what user problem to focus on by referencing the critical user journey that I built.

Transparent discussion with all stakeholders on the significance level for users, technical constraints from processor/back-end/front-end and business requirements

Impact 2

Influenced the product strategy by story-telling an automation vision experience that fits both business/user goals

Challenges

Band-aid designs
← Development decisions were done for speed and not well thought through

Messy feature launch
← The team didn’t have an aligned vision that guides feature-level decisions

Approach

Motivate the team to not just focus on one feature but vision how does it fit in users’ automation experience as a whole

Initiate key questions and assumptions that we need answer to to validate design decisions

Impact 3

Strategize an iterative research plan to fit in product scrum and created a process where research and product influence each other mutually

Challenges

Research is done after product decisions and development
← Low UX involvement and representation in product developing process

Approach

Ease the research plan in the running product scrum by mapping out the connections between research and feature and balancing feature progression and refinement

Increase the presence of UX by including PM in research, leading workshops, and storytelling compelling user narratives

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