Designing Connected Products: UX for the Consumer Internet of Things

✏️ Highlights

“This is more than a UX book; it covers all of the critical design and technology issues around making great connected products.” —DAVID ROSE—ENTREPRENEUR, MIT MEDIA LAB RESEARCHER, AND AUTHOR OF ENCHANTED OBJECTS “Whether you’re an IoT pro or just getting started designing connected products, this comprehensive book has something for everyone, from examinations of different network protocols all the way up to value propositions and considerations for hardware, software, and services. This book takes a clear-eyed look at IoT from all angles.” —DAN SAFFER—AUTHOR OF MICROINTERACTIONS

Covering the end-to-end ecosystem of devices through to backend services, the authors address so many aspects of the UX journey that constantly make you think: ‘Oh, yes, really good point!’ There is comprehensive coverage of the technology options available as building blocks and patterns for an IoT solution. The book skillfully delivers a wealth of sound UX wisdom, backed up by of-the-moment examples, which will resonate with practitioners already familiar with the IoT world, and will serve as a modern educational text for everyone.”

This book pretends to be a primer on designing the Internet of Things (and it’s an excellent one) but it reveals itself quickly as really being a primer on nearly every aspect of contemporary design—as the Internet touches nearly every aspect of it.”

This book pretends to be a primer on designing the Internet of Things (and it’s an excellent one) but it reveals itself quickly as really being a primer on nearly every aspect of contemporary design—as the Internet touches nearly every aspect of it.” —MATT JONES—INTERACTION DESIGN DIRECTOR, GOOGLE CREATIVE LAB, AND FORMER PRINCIPAL AT BERG

the Internet has grown up. No longer a just a collection of virtual storefronts, it now facilitates a wide range of human expression and interaction. It catalyzes changes in our culture. It supports intimate contact, and it fuels revolution. Through it, we’ve realized a shift in our relationships, from a centralized model where a few central players control how we communicate to a decentralized one in which the size of your organization matters less than the relevance of your message.

The decentralization of media and communication is the most important change brought about by the Internet.

Internet now connects your car, your car keys, your door lock, your lights, and your exercise regimen. Your informational body can now have a more direct effect on your physical body, and vice versa.

I’m not a fan of the term “Internet of Things.” It overlooks this major change that the Internet has brought about in how we communicate, and instead, presents an ideal world in which the automation and centralization of data collection comes first, and the interaction of people and communities comes a distant second, if at all.

This change is not about the things, but about the physical interaction those things enable.

We remember (and use) great products because of the experiences they help us to realize. Our interaction with a product—and with each other through it—is what makes it memorable. Really great connected products will be memorable for the same reason. We won’t remember them because of the data collected, but because of how they will enhance our lives and our connections to each other. Designing connected products is not just an engineering problem. This job takes creative input from many different disciplines: engineering, industrial design, anthropology, and user experience design, to name a few. In this book, Claire Rowland and her colleagues outline a thorough framework for practicing the design of connected products and services. They provide the overview of the technical landscape that you’d expect from such a book, and best practices for designing connected products, including user research, business model formation, and prototyping methods, of course. But they also tackle issues that aren’t often covered: two chapters on understanding your fellow team members, for example. By juxtaposing the assumptions of each discipline, from industrial design to UX design to anthropology to product engineering, they provide insight on why something that seems nonsensical to an engineer might be important to a designer, and how the concerns of all team members are necessary to do a thorough job. Looking beyond the everyday production tasks, they introduce two critical concepts that anyone working in this area needs to understand: interoperability and interusability. Without interoperability, we are doomed to a future of incompatible devices and standards from competing brands. Without interusability, we are doomed to a future of relearning core user experience concepts like connect, play, stop, and restart over and over again with each new interface. A world in which connected devices are ubiquitous is one in which privacy, control, and transparency are radically changed. As

We remember (and use) great products because of the experiences they help us to realize. Our interaction with a product—and with each other through it—is what makes it memorable.

Designing connected products is not just an engineering problem. This job takes creative input from many different disciplines: engineering, industrial design, anthropology, and user experience design, to name a few.

Claire Rowland and her colleagues outline a thorough framework for practicing the design of connected products and services. They provide the overview of the technical landscape that you’d expect from such a book, and best practices for designing connected products, including user research, business model formation, and prototyping methods, of course.

provide insight on why something that seems nonsensical to an engineer might be important to a designer, and how the concerns of all team members are necessary to do a thorough job.

Without interoperability, we are doomed to a future of incompatible devices and standards from competing brands. Without interusability, we are doomed to a future of relearning core user experience concepts like connect, play, stop, and restart over and over again with each new interface.

Gathering all the data in the world is pointless if we sacrifice quality of life for it.

There are plenty of technical manuals (I’ve written a few) and there are some excellent critical monographs, but there hasn’t been a great design manual for connected devices until now. Thank you, Claire, Ann, Martin, Liz, and Alfred for making my job easier through this book. TOM IGOE

BY CLAIRE ROWLAND My grandfather could probably have told you how many electric motors he owned. There was one in the car, one in the fridge, one in his drill and so on. My father, when I was a child, might have struggled to list all the motors he owned (how many, exactly, are in a car?) but could have told you how many devices were in the house that had a chip in. Today, I have no idea how many devices I own with a chip, but I could tell you how many have a network connection. And I doubt my children will know that, in their turn. —BENEDICT EVANS[1]

As a label, IoT isn’t perfect. It says nothing of the people who are also a fundamental part of the network.[6]

“This is more than a UX book; it covers all of the critical design and technology issues around making great connected products.” —DAVID ROSE—ENTREPRENEUR, MIT MEDIA LAB RESEARCHER, AND AUTHOR OF ENCHANTED OBJECTS “Whether you’re an IoT pro or just getting started designing connected products, this comprehensive book has something for everyone, from examinations of different network protocols all the way up to value propositions and considerations for hardware, software, and services. This book takes a clear-eyed look at IoT from all angles.” —DAN SAFFER—AUTHOR OF MICROINTERACTIONS

Covering the end-to-end ecosystem of devices through to backend services, the authors address so many aspects of the UX journey that constantly make you think: ‘Oh, yes, really good point!’ There is comprehensive coverage of the technology options available as building blocks and patterns for an IoT solution. The book skillfully delivers a wealth of sound UX wisdom, backed up by of-the-moment examples, which will resonate with practitioners already familiar with the IoT world, and will serve as a modern educational text for everyone.”

This book pretends to be a primer on designing the Internet of Things (and it’s an excellent one) but it reveals itself quickly as really being a primer on nearly every aspect of contemporary design—as the Internet touches nearly every aspect of it.”

This book pretends to be a primer on designing the Internet of Things (and it’s an excellent one) but it reveals itself quickly as really being a primer on nearly every aspect of contemporary design—as the Internet touches nearly every aspect of it.” —MATT JONES—INTERACTION DESIGN DIRECTOR, GOOGLE CREATIVE LAB, AND FORMER PRINCIPAL AT BERG

the Internet has grown up. No longer a just a collection of virtual storefronts, it now facilitates a wide range of human expression and interaction. It catalyzes changes in our culture. It supports intimate contact, and it fuels revolution. Through it, we’ve realized a shift in our relationships, from a centralized model where a few central players control how we communicate to a decentralized one in which the size of your organization matters less than the relevance of your message.

The decentralization of media and communication is the most important change brought about by the Internet.

Internet now connects your car, your car keys, your door lock, your lights, and your exercise regimen. Your informational body can now have a more direct effect on your physical body, and vice versa.

I’m not a fan of the term “Internet of Things.” It overlooks this major change that the Internet has brought about in how we communicate, and instead, presents an ideal world in which the automation and centralization of data collection comes first, and the interaction of people and communities comes a distant second, if at all.

This change is not about the things, but about the physical interaction those things enable.

We remember (and use) great products because of the experiences they help us to realize. Our interaction with a product—and with each other through it—is what makes it memorable. Really great connected products will be memorable for the same reason. We won’t remember them because of the data collected, but because of how they will enhance our lives and our connections to each other. Designing connected products is not just an engineering problem. This job takes creative input from many different disciplines: engineering, industrial design, anthropology, and user experience design, to name a few. In this book, Claire Rowland and her colleagues outline a thorough framework for practicing the design of connected products and services. They provide the overview of the technical landscape that you’d expect from such a book, and best practices for designing connected products, including user research, business model formation, and prototyping methods, of course. But they also tackle issues that aren’t often covered: two chapters on understanding your fellow team members, for example. By juxtaposing the assumptions of each discipline, from industrial design to UX design to anthropology to product engineering, they provide insight on why something that seems nonsensical to an engineer might be important to a designer, and how the concerns of all team members are necessary to do a thorough job. Looking beyond the everyday production tasks, they introduce two critical concepts that anyone working in this area needs to understand: interoperability and interusability. Without interoperability, we are doomed to a future of incompatible devices and standards from competing brands. Without interusability, we are doomed to a future of relearning core user experience concepts like connect, play, stop, and restart over and over again with each new interface. A world in which connected devices are ubiquitous is one in which privacy, control, and transparency are radically changed. As

We remember (and use) great products because of the experiences they help us to realize. Our interaction with a product—and with each other through it—is what makes it memorable.

Designing connected products is not just an engineering problem. This job takes creative input from many different disciplines: engineering, industrial design, anthropology, and user experience design, to name a few.

Claire Rowland and her colleagues outline a thorough framework for practicing the design of connected products and services. They provide the overview of the technical landscape that you’d expect from such a book, and best practices for designing connected products, including user research, business model formation, and prototyping methods, of course.

provide insight on why something that seems nonsensical to an engineer might be important to a designer, and how the concerns of all team members are necessary to do a thorough job.

Without interoperability, we are doomed to a future of incompatible devices and standards from competing brands. Without interusability, we are doomed to a future of relearning core user experience concepts like connect, play, stop, and restart over and over again with each new interface.

Gathering all the data in the world is pointless if we sacrifice quality of life for it.

There are plenty of technical manuals (I’ve written a few) and there are some excellent critical monographs, but there hasn’t been a great design manual for connected devices until now. Thank you, Claire, Ann, Martin, Liz, and Alfred for making my job easier through this book. TOM IGOE

BY CLAIRE ROWLAND My grandfather could probably have told you how many electric motors he owned. There was one in the car, one in the fridge, one in his drill and so on. My father, when I was a child, might have struggled to list all the motors he owned (how many, exactly, are in a car?) but could have told you how many devices were in the house that had a chip in. Today, I have no idea how many devices I own with a chip, but I could tell you how many have a network connection. And I doubt my children will know that, in their turn. —BENEDICT EVANS[1]

As a label, IoT isn’t perfect. It says nothing of the people who are also a fundamental part of the network.[6]