Seamless UX for a Smart Air Disinfector’s Device Display and an IoT Remote Control App
Summary
WellAir needed to equip its air disinfection unit with a GUI and a mobile app
In early 2020, the global spread of COVID-19 raised the importance of reducing the risk of exposure to airborne pathogens by creating safer indoor environments. Backed by more than a decade of research and innovation, WellAir developed a product line of air-cleaning devices that were 99.9% effective at inactivating airborne pathogens such as certain viruses, bacteria, and fungi, and also purified the air of volatile pollutants and odours.
After a rigorous tender process, WellAir chose ELEKS to deliver a GUI and a mobile application that would allow individual users to control and monitor the air disinfection unit.
Preparing the air purifier for launch with a set of development, testing and design services
The ELEKS team delivered a graphical user interface and a mobile application for complete control and monitoring of an IoT device, a smart air disinfection unit. To ensure the highest usability, both GUI and app design went through a series of user interviews before the release. The app allowed to control the units fan speed, set its timer, enable various modes and schedules of operation. It also informed users about filter status and air quality rating with a temperature and humidity reading.
To help the client deliver a comprehensive product, the ELEKS team had successfully overcome one of the most challenging aspects of the project - the need to coordinate our efforts with the third-party provider of the unit’s firmware. Also, we were able to quickly establish the necessary access to the device and the efficient collaboration between all team members who had to work remotely during the COVID breakout.
WellAir benefited from ELEKS’ quality assurance services to guarantee the impeccable quality of their product. Our team performed regression testing of the complete air disinfection unit. We ran about 2000 tests and discovered several deficiencies that were successfully fixed before the release.
ELEKS’ experts also helped WellAir to collect the post-release user feedback. They conducted interviews with people who used the air disinfection unit for three weeks to find out how they liked the device, its features and ease of use.
Our experience designers ran a 6-week product design phase for the client to create a vision of an enterprise application that would allow centralised management of multiple air disinfection units in such institutions as universities, hospitals, or office buildings. We delivered a high-fidelity prototype with user flows featuring the same branding as the mobile app.
Following the development, ELEKS launched a support service for the mobile application, transferring knowledge, establishing support workflows and automated bug report functionality within one month. A part of the workflow dealt with establishing efficient cooperation with the vendor that provided support for the back end – the unit’s firmware. Within one year, the ELEKS support team implemented more than 40 enhancements to the app.
