Access System
Designing the future entry experience with a smart home system for homeowners and guests
My Role
UX Designer Interaction Designer
Team
Paul Summerson (UX Lead Designer), Sammie Nesslein (Industry Designer)
Partner
Alex Huffaker (Senior Interaction Designer), Akshat Pokharna(Electrical Engineer), Olena Gorban(Program Manager)
Timeline
May 2023 - Present
Context
Authenticated entrance designed for smart homes
Since 2023 summer, I started working as a User Experience Intern within the R&D department of masonite, crafting the future entry experience of Access System. Access System is an authenticated entrance designed for smart homes. It originates from Masonite's foresight envisioning a connected future for homes. As the most critical part within the home, an elevated entry experience would give Masonite the opportunity to bring the door into digital revolution by uniting both smart home and secure solutions.
The sole UX designer, wearing a lot of heads
As the only UX designer with digital product and IxD background in the internal team, my main responsibilities include product capability assessment, user journey mapping, testing scenario development, mobile app design, and on-product interface design.
What I did
Everything needed to make 0 to 1 happen
In the development of the Access System prototype, I played a crucial role in establishing a comprehensive testing framework. This involved defining testing scenarios through journey maps and integrated multiple interaction modalities. I foster close collaboration with the cross-functional team through proactive onboarding of engineering partners at an early stage. This involves conducting weekly meetings to align on project requirements, milestones, and assess technical feasibility. I also work closely with UX researchers to plan usability studies for 2024. As the primary UX designer for the Access System, I also crafted on-product interfaces and digital app interfaces. This encompassed ideation, creation of wireframes, user flows, UI mockups, and high-fidelity prototypes. In such a early stage design team, I am so grateful that I could have the chance to lead and take a lot of ownership with one of the most exciting projects in the team.
Impact
Acted as founder UX designer to laid the foundation
Established design consistency: built the first digital design language for the Access System and took the initiative to pioneer the first scalable digital design language for future products Elevated user experience: developed on-product interfaces and digital app interfaces, contributing to a heightened and seamless interaction experience for the Access System.‍ Improved collaboration: acted as the facilitator in both internal and external cross-functional teams to bring all stakeholders in good alignment with testing framework and experience vision for Access System‍
Challenges
#1 Navigating through ambiguity
Navigating through ambiguity in early-stage UX design for the Access System transformed my working approach. I learned to ask right questions to effectively communicate with stakeholders and uncover the hidden insights. Also, I learned to adapt quickly to evolving project requirements and stakeholder needs.‍
#2 Breakdown to simplify the problem with big picture in mind
Access System's complexity, with multiple layers of strategy and diverse stakeholders, shaped my design thinking. Although the intern project’s scope became very focused on certain use cases at the end, it was still part of the entire hardware ecosystem. Thus, understanding where does the product fall on the overall blueprint how they align them with business goals became crucial. Collaborating with multiple seasoned designers who work on different products within the entire ecosystem, I learned how to think systematically and how to integrate different products in different use cases.
#3 Design is communicating
As the sole UX designer, communicating with diverse colleagues posed a lot of challenges. Managing stakeholders with varied expertise honed my collaboration and communication skills, fostering effective cross-functional teamwork.‍