Designing for the IoT: Creating Interfaces for Connected Devices

Internet of Things is no more a thing of the past, the last decade saw exponential growth in the devices that run on the principle of Internet of Things and with this increase in IoT devices, IoT design has also been growing and designers are eyeing up for the future of design that is designing experiences and interfaces for Connected Devices. In this article, we will discuss what Internet of Things (IoT) design is. How can we design for connected devices along with some best practices?

Designing for IOT

IoT Design

IoT Design or Internet of Things design refers to a process of designing the interactions for a user with an IoT device such as Smartwatches, Screens for smart cars, and other smart devices like Amazon Echo, etc. An IoT design enables the user to easily navigate through the interface resulting in higher user retention and user satisfaction.

This Internet of Things design can be divided into three parts:

1. IoT Interface design: IoT Interface design is the process of creating visual interfaces for an application. There are lots of businesses where a designer will play both parts, but there are also lots of designers who specialize in UI design. UI designers help users to navigate an interface by using visual clues.
2. IoT experience design: IoT experience design is the process of creating the experiences or the interactions that a user has with a product. The basic principle of UX design is to keep the needs of the user prior and improve the interaction of the user and the product keeping this in mind.
3. IoT hardware design: IoT design is not just about designing the software interfaces and interactions but also about designing the shape and the structure of the hardware part of the device. In the hardware design part, the designers come up with the physical shape of the product, material used, color, texture and other visual properties.

How to Design for IoT?

Designing an application involves of a lot of processes, we can bifurcate the process of application designing into three important steps:

• User Research: The first step of designing for IoT devices is user research. There’s a lot of information that will be gathered so the designer has to analyze the information, understand the trend, and organize data using tools to identify trends and patterns in that data. The role of the designer is to create reports and presentations to present that complex information to other people in the team. Researching about the customers gives valuable insights about the product and software and what things should be improved.
• Wireframing and Prototyping: The second step of the application design is Wireframes and Prototypes. But what are these Wireframes? Wireframes are detailed structural sketches that illustrate a concept. A wireframe for a digital product is similar to a blueprint for a house. Wireframe clearly illustrates how the product functions and the core elements of its design.
• Visual Designing and testing: The final step in application designing process is to Visually design the interface and the hardware using the prototypes and wireframes and test it. In this particular step the designer comes up with creative and innovative design solutions keeping in mind the wireframing and prototypes created before. He/she designs the Interface and creates different visual touch points and establish the interactivity with them. Along with that the interfaces are tested and iterated upon the shortcomings.

Best Practices

• Wireframing is half way through: Wireframing done right leaves a very less scope of things going wrong in the User Interface and the hardware design. A perfect software structure and hardware prototype can make or break your design which in turn reflects in user experience as well as user interface.
• Content Hierarchy and Organization: When you are designing for IoT, make sure that the content Hierarchy and the organization of content is in such a way that the USP – every product or software has a Unique Selling Proposition, Make sure to highlight this unique selling proposition in the hardware and software design.
• User feedback and iterating: Taking feedback from the users can provide valuable insights about the hardware and the software design and what things should be improved. In order to continuously improve the IoT design we have to that user feedback and iterate our design.

While designing the interface for IoT devices, Focus on these best Practices:

• Contrast: Contrast helps the User Interface in establishing the content/visual hierarchy, emphasizing a focal point and adding visual interest.
• Alignment and Proximity: Alignment is direction of element flow and Proximity is closeness of the elements. Alignment and proximity brings order in unordered typography.
• Repetition: Repetition is basically how many times patterns, visuals, or other properties are being repeating in the UI to give user an application that is easy to navigate.

Conclusion

IoT Design or Internet of Things design refers to a process of designing the interactions for a user with an IoT device such as Smart watches, Screens for smart cars, and other smart devices like Amazon echo etc. IoT design is way more complex than designing for websites or applications. While it follows similar principles for the software designing part, designing hardware is where we as designers have to come out of our comfort zones and design physical products. IoT design has also been growing and designers are eyeing up for the future of design that is designing experiences and interfaces for Connected Devices. Make sure to follow the points we discussed in this article while designing your next IoT design.