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Project

Printer Interface Design

Redesigned the printer interface by improving the ability functionality of the interface

As part of my summer internship capstone project at World Wide Technology, the interns were tasked with developing a solution for managing project files. Our solution focuses on providing a user-friendly system that simplifies file management while improvising the process of locating past project files to match the unmet needs.

Info

Role

UX Designer

Team

2 UX Designers 
2 Project Managers
2 Developers

Duration

10 weeks

Overview

Challenge

Using a printer required a supporting device to operate it, and their

Solution

A redesigned interface for a printer that reduces the dependency on other devices to operate and allows the user to edit, print and share documents all in one place.

Inbuilt photo editor

Simplistic touch screen that enables all user functions

Inbuilt photo editor

Simplistic touch screen that enables all user functions

Inbuilt photo editor

Simplistic touch screen that enables all user functions

Intial market research

Process

add visualisation of process

To understand the current process of finding information about a past project, we initiated conversations with different teams at the company to understand how they gather information related to past projects.

Initial market research

62%

American household still own a domestic printer

Costs of printing, toners and maintenance impacted the demand of printers since a decade, but the need still sustains

Although e-readers have become popular, some readers still prefer hard copy books enabling printing business

The expansion of commercial packaging, delivery and the increase for on-demand printing sustains printing needs

By reviewing customer comments and ratings on Amazon, we found the common brands preferred by users and their pain points associated with those printers

Canon Pixma

HP

Brother

Epson

User research

To understand the current usage pattern of printing at home, 30 focus interviews of mixed cohorts were conducted which further helped us map product usage journey and market trends.

School boy.png
Speech bubble.png

“I don’t understand the printer properties on the computer to find the best setting for me”

School student

Devices required for printing setup are not available to a school going kid and the printer properties use jargon that is difficult to understand

Limited access to devices and knowledge about setup

College student.png
Speech bubble.png

“I have to download documents from my online university drive to print before submission”

College student

Setting up the devices and logging into multiple accounts to download documents at the last minute before submissions takes a lot of time

Lack of flexibility for multiple device connectivity

Woman Enterprenuer.png
Speech bubble.png

“I don’t have the time to edit graphics and format it to the correct printing layout”

Woman Enterprenuer

It is time consuming to edit multiple downloaded images and then format them to print them in appropriate formats and high quality

Lack of time for editing and formatting images to print

Business man.png
Speech bubble.png

“I need to scan multiple papers and upload digital copies
online”

Business man

It is frustrating to log in to multiple accounts and download printing applications to simply scan, preview and export a scanned document

Too much effort for exporting scanned documents

Personas

College student.png

Sarah, 24 years

Sarah is the social club head at her university. She manages the communication and events. She considers herself novice when printing high quality images.

  • Too much time spent in setting up the printer and downloading relevant apps to print or scan

  • Cannot choose the best printing setting and choose different applications to edit and format images

  • Face connectivity issues while sending documents to print from an external device

Challenges

“I want a device that does everything for from formatting to adjusting settings for me in one place”

Needs

  • ​One stop solution for all printing need

  • Reduce dependency on multiple devices

Opportunity areas

Based on the pain points expressed by the users while using their printers, I translated these needs into opportunity areas to develop a solution that addresses the current challenges in the printing process.

Dependency on other devices is frustrating

Develop an intuitive, standalone interface with familiar functions to streamline the user experience

Using different applications for formatting and editing is tedious

Enable formatting and editing documents on the printer interface to reduce back and forth between applications

Limited flexibility of previewing and sharing files

Allow users to preview and share files over the internet from the interface to decrease export time

Ideation

User flow

Old

New

Final design

Ideation & Concept testing

Thoughts to sketches

We used quick wireframes to help visualise our ideas and iterated based on the feedback

Creating wireframes enabled the team to visualize concepts, provide feedback on features, and identify potential implementation challenges early, helping us stay on track with the project timeline.

User flow

We used quick wireframes to help visualise our ideas and iterated based on the feedback more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more

Documenting

Lack of accountability

Opportunity areas

Finding

Greater learning curve

Utilise automatic in everyday features to do time consuming tasks

Reviewing

Too many files to preview

Personalise the experience of viewing project files

Feature mapping

We used quick wireframes to help visualise our ideas and iterated based on the feedback more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more

Value

Accountability

Efficiency

Feature

File request

File upload search

Impact

Streamlines project management by ensuring timely documentation and reduces the risk of missing or outdated files

Saves time and frustration while locating relevant information by quickly identifying similar projects or parent project folder

Convenience

Quick preview

Eliminates the need to download multiple files or numerous tabs to quickly preview files in one place

Clarity

Compare

Reduces time spent on manual file comparisons by facilitating quicker decision-making to identify the most relevant file

Efficiency

Upload web links

Reduces redundancy and streamlines the workflow of uploading project files by eliminating the need to download and re-upload files from different applications

Organization

Label projects

Improves productivity by providing quick access to essential project files, eliminating the need to repeatedly search through directories

Final concepts

UI kit

Add all components here

Header

Finding similar projects and the people who worked on them in a database of over 10,000 files can be difficult. Uploading a reference file enables the smart search function to scan the database, identify similar projects, and pull up a list of past team members.

Step 2

Search file by uploading

Finding similar projects and the people who worked on them in a database of over 10,000 files can be difficult. Uploading a reference file enables the smart search function to scan the database, identify similar projects, and pull up a list of past team members.

Step 3

Quick preview & compare

Comparing project information by downloading and toggling between multiple files is time-consuming and cumbersome. By adding a selection of relevant files, users can compare them in a single view and download only the most relevant one.

User testing

Quick preview & compare

Comparing project information by downloading and toggling between multiple files is time-consuming and cumbersome. By adding a selection of relevant files, users can compare them in a single view and download only the most relevant one.

Learning & Takeaways

Quick preview & compare

Comparing project information by downloading and toggling between multiple files is time-consuming and cumbersome. By adding a selection of relevant files, users can compare them in a single view and download only the most relevant one.

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