Mahindra Susten
Mahindra Susten is working on providing renewable energy to every Indian business and household with smart solutions. We collaborated with their team of engineers to design and develop a compact, low-cost range of consumer-facing gateway-cum-dataloggers for monitoring smart devices.
The Opportunity
The datalogger category of devices currently on the market have a very commercial and industrial, function-driven approach to their design. There was a clear gap in the market for a functional, yet approachable take on a product that is highly technical in nature.
A Different Approach
We conducted research on market trends and worked with the client to understand the target audience to come up with a list of descriptive keywords to create a mood board for this product.
The keywords finalised on were: professional, capable, secure, discreet, and approachable.
Communicating data security through the form
A wide variety of concepts were explored in through sketches and modelling, each experimenting with the form and function ranging from traditional and conservative to experimental and innovative.
An important criteria for evaluation of the form was whether the design communicated that it was a high performance product that kept the customer's data secure.
Development of the shortlisted concept
A concept that satisfied all criteria was shortlisted and developed further.
In this stage, we fine-tuned all aspects of the design - display and buttons, port layout and orientation, LED placement, IO access, doors for the battery, SIM and SD card slots, vents and airflow and most importantly layout, placement and fixture of the mother and daughter boards.
We worked closely with the board designers to work around certain limitations to ensure that the design intent was maintained till the end. Assembly, fitment, strength and other factors were tested and refined during the prototyping process.
Easy to understand and use
We spent a lot of time making sure communication across the device was clear and consistent.
The navigation arrows for the menu are easy to understand and reduce input error.
Clear labelling of the IO and relational placement of the LEDs to the ports ensure easy diagnostics.
A project with two firsts. Mahindra Susten’s Nodex was the first within a new product category created by itself, and my first in-depth experience in designing for manufacturing and assembly.
Designed at Lucid Design