UNIFIED COMMUNICATION
The Unified Communication system is an application that empowers users to communicate on Windows® and Mac® laptops and desktop computers and Apple® and Android™ smartphones and tablets across cloud and on-site business telephone solutions, including hybrid cloud and on-site networked solutions. Unified Communication works on VIPedge® and IPedge® business phone solutions as well as Strata® CIX systems with an IPedge Application Server.
Unified Communication is an award-winning experience for its seamless three-level architecture for multiple features.
Service
UX/UI Design
Client
TAIS (TOSHIBA)
Duration
6 months
Year
2015
There are tons of different ideas and features are there to implement into the Polycom's VVX series PBX phones, but there are few restrictions in creating this experience like the touch responsiveness of the screen, some of them have no touch screen, less RAM for quick response, small real estate for the lots of features, so I have taken up this challenge to create the beautiful experience among these restrictions.
01. UNDERSTANDING THE DOMAIN
At first, I need to understand the form & function of the IP Telephony why, what, how, what does it do, what is the functionality of these phones, and what are its specifications & restriction of it and believe have taken most of the time in the initial phases.
02. PHYSICAL FORM & FUNCTION
We started with an understanding of the phone screen environment (different screen dimensions), their screen resolutions, and the effect of the hard keys on the phone.
02(i). VVX 101, 201, 301
We have VVX 101, 201 which has a 132 * 64 dot pixel LCD screen with 4 action key buttons, 2 line buttons, 4 navigational buttons, 1 enter button, and a home button and these buttons are very important for the 101 & 201 series phone for navigation or any function to perform as it does not have a touch screen panel.
We have to create an experience with limited resources.
02(i). VVX 401
We have VVX 101, 201 which has a 320 * 240 backlit color LCD screen with 4 action key keys, 12 line keys, 4 navigational keys, 1 enter key, and a home keys and these buttons are very important for the 101 & 201 series phone for navigation or any function to perform as it does not have a touch screen panel.
02(i). VVX 501
We have VVX 101, 201 which has a 320 * 240 TFT LCD multitouch -capable QVGA display LCD screen with a home key, finally a touch screen (I can't tell you how much happy I was after having a touch screen)
03. UNDERSTANDING FEATURES
Once we are done understanding the phone's specifications and the restriction which will come on the way while creating a good experience, we are now ready to dive deep into the understanding of the 100s features that will help this phone to get converted into classy IP Telephony.
We have to go through a lot of Feature Documentation and understand it how it will go well with the IP Telephony.
Naming a few of the future set Call Camping, Call Parking, Multiple Appearance,
Phone Survivability and etc.
04. USERS AND WHAT THEY WANT
After getting through an idea of all the features we are now ready to define our user groups and how they will be able to utilize all of the features seamlessly with ease.
05. DEFINING THE MENTAL MODEL
After understanding our user & their journey and how the different features will work with then we have started creating user stories & use cases in first hand and based upon it we have created the mental architecture for all the IP phones.
The reason behind coming up with these mental is to keep this mental architecture to restrict the multiple simultaneous actions as it can crash the system due to low memory and also we have very less real estate for tons of feature
06. USAGE OF ICONS WITH COLORS
As we have already seen that we have very less real to perform all of the features in this phone, the iconography becomes a must part of the design so we have designed the icons which are not available on the online platforms and done the usability testing for it.
Also, we have to use the same icons for different states so color becomes the primary focus for the different statuses.
07. WIREFRAMING
Based on the above problem statement and the restrictions we have identified, I worked towards addressing these issues by coming up with potential solutions.
I quickly mocked up some basic wireframes to gather feedback from Product, Engineering, and the users on the overall layout and structure of the wizard form. This involved establishing a standardized visual hierarchy and layout for the components.
A few key wireframes are:
Login
Phone Status
Logout
Self Presence
Menu
Settings
Idle Phone
Selected Contact
Line Selection
Note: Only showing a few key screens as it will consume your time.
07. VISUAL DESIGN
Once your wireframes are matured enough and validated by the users, engineers & product managers we jumped into the visual design.
Few key screens are :
Idle Phone
Selected Contact
Toast Message
Outgoing Call
Call Parking
Dial Up
One-Touch Button
Assign One-Touch Button
Speed Dial
Qwerty Keyboard
08. DESIGN HANDOFF
I have used Axure for prototyping and specification and provided them to Developers for further development.
I have also used Adobe Illustrator for Concept Generation
I worked very closely with the Front End team to spec out any missing interactions that were not covered in the high-fidelity mockups. I conducted a UX review of each front-end ticket that was implemented to ensure it was aligned with the designs before it went live.
MY LEARNINGS
Designing with restrictions is fun: Creating an experience with restrictions is quite a challenging task but it takes out the best of you
User testing doesn't end after development: Design is a constant iteration of improving the experience for the end-user. Always find ways to collect and listen to your user's feedback.
Involve engineering upfront: This helps to reduce any rework later on as an understanding of the technical limitations upfront will help to inform your design strategy.
Note: For holistic wireframes please contact at kmr.abhishekh@gmail.com