A data-centric initiative that re-envisioned the PC ecosystem. This dynamic product influenced our partner roadmaps and reshaped the future of immersive mobile experiences.
PC Health App was designed as an approachable assessment and analytics app, that tracks the key features and functions of a device and suggests informed, intelligent edits and updates to keep it running longer and smarter.
Using original rich research data to shape our position, I led the team that structured a fast and deep development process, fed by custom algorithms and a language model that started with 500 and progressed to 10,000 users. This initiative revolutionized our modern digital ecosystem, by creating a set of assessment categories that can listen and learn about usage patterns and deliver real-time solutions to customer needs.
This holistic product and brand position inspired internal stakeholders and external partners to think about what was possible and informed and adjusted several ODM UX strategies and product offerings including a deep partnership with Microsoft.
My role was to establish a focused domain team, that championed the ability to bring customer insights and impactful data into the product development process at the right point. We worked to establish a product team with a representative from architecture, planning, marketing and user experience in each working group. The effort and alignment necessary to bring the four domains together was significant. It took a cultural shift and constant campaigning and prototyping to drive this change. This effort allowed the team to move much quicker and to build customer-focused solutions where human-centric input was added to the product development process at the beginning.
The established core domain team was now able to understand and intercept any experience or technical request, and to add or edit a feature into the architecture of a new product. Anyone needing to understand where customer pain points were being captured or new features and technical capabilities were being added, could now access a clearly defined process with frameworks assigned to each topic. This sped up the development cycle and minimized scope creep.
As this process was enabled, product teams could far more quickly assess, scope, define, and then build to meet customer asks and business needs. It transformed the way we did business. Early concept development could now be prototyped with data informing the process. Enclosed are early development concepts of the PC Health app that allowed the team to build algorithms to group PC usage data and present it as as series of categories that help assess and learn about usage and ware and tear.
The PC assessment score is a central focus point and it presents an arched bar of data that can be quickly scanned. It is curved around the score icon to save space and allow for ease of readability.
Our research taught us which assessment categories mattered and we built the prototypes based on that data. Over time this data could teach the user how the PC was performing and how to maintain and extend the life of the device. With ML and some refinement of the algorithms, It was also possible to teach the device to predict problems and 'heal' them.
Once we had the main stages and keyframes of the prototype built, we worked to develop a design system and roughed out key stages of the flow. We aligned on the priority of the information and then built out the full flow, locking down the template, the data we needed to convey as well as language, styles and colors. At this point, we had a palette of assets that were starting to form a cohesive experience.
As we advanced the flow of the screens and the hierarchy of information, we also started to prototype a series of graphic assets that help visualize stages of the process.
We wanted these to be purposeful and easy to read as well as presenting information in an approachable and engaging way. We also wanted to push the boundaries of possibility to try and influence and impact our customer's UX and UI positions.
Concepts and animated behavior helped us test what was possible. These quick but compelling prototypes and iterations on a theme, helped us define the final experience. Data coming to life, visualizations delivering information that can be easily understood and in some instances indicated complex activities in elegant ways.
