ASSA ABLOY wanted help to design a new generation of doors - revolving doors to be exact. These are products witch a long life cycle and are not redesigned often. Therefore ASSA ABLOY wanted to completely reimagine the product concept for a long term future, by changing the entire approach to product development - from engineering driven to design driven. From siloed to research and human centered. And from a build first, sell later approach to market needs. To completely integating product concept and design with a clear market strategy, product identity and marketing messages from day one.
👇 NOTE:
The details of this work is not yet public so I cannot share any upfront details. The process is interesting though as it has let us turn product design on its head, which is super exciting.
Research & strategy
The design team did deep research into the sales process, and the entire lifecyclke of the product to find opportunities where design decisions can change the game or elliminate big problems for example in installation, maintenance or upgradability.
We also had to understand the roles of everyone involved and find opportunities where design and communication can give ASSA ABLOY the edge over the competition.
From learnings and trend forecasting, a kernel design strategy was formulated and several concepts explored.
User journey mapping was just one of the many tools used to inform the concept.
Designing with VR
To try out ideas for improving the user experience of the product as well as aesthetics, VR experience testing became an essential prototyping tool, allowing the team to run through and iterate lots of solutions quickly with real people immersed in the scene. The VR approach was then adapted to become a sales and presentation tool, incorporating more affordable - and not least important - free untethered VR hardware.
Marketing concept integrated.
Product design and marketing posiotion, messaging and even prototyped markeing materials have been iterated step by step, in each iteration one feeding the other while validating with stakeholders and potential clients. A side effect of this is that we have identified opportunities to completely change the way not just these products are being brought to market - from ”sales” to engaging with the most important stakeholders in the right way and at the right time, supported by personalized service and digital tools to empower architechts and other stakeholders to embrace the product in their projects.
