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Thermostat Project; Baby it's cold outside

​The Challenge Design an concept idea for a thermostat that teaches the users how to use their home's heating or cooling unit. This design entails the user recognizing the color change when heating or cooling their homes. We developed the concept that when the user moves the temperature in a large increment of degrees, the heating or cooling unit would be powered on for a long period of time, thus using a lot of energy. When the design turns red, that means the user has selected a task that allows the unit to stay on of an unsustainable amount of time using a lot of energy. When the design signals yellow they are allowing the unit to stay on for a moderate amount of time. When the design signals green this means the user is using the device in an efficient manner. The teaching aspect comes into play when the device signifies to the user the heating and cooling unit will be powered on for a period of time that is costly and inefficient, trying to keep the device in the green. Who Teammate; Rayne Zhou The Process - Develop conversations and establish ideas about what we think the problem entails. - Create a schedule to meet the specified deadline. - Develop methods of research through interviews, observation, and surveys. - Create personas to fit the role of our user. - Sketch ideas about possible concepts, come to an agreement about a design to refine. - Develop a low fidelity prototype in order to test the design. - Usability test the design and take the feedback into consideration for iteration on the design. - Refine the design and submit for the deadline. Methods Used for Design Ideation, Research, Observation, Interviews, Team Protocols, Sketching, Prototyping, Usability Testing, Iteration, Personas


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