The OSIM uVenus is an innovative air purifier that combines the use of ambient mood light and therapeutic music with air-purifying technologies. This combination of mood light and music programs helps to relax the mind and body while the air purifier cleans the surrounding air, enabling healthier breathing. The uVenus was awarded the prestigious Red Dot Design Award in 2011 for its design and user experience.
I helped to craft the design strategy, conducting research and creating all user- experience flows and interaction designs. I also defined the CMF specifications for the product. This project was quite challenging, requiring frequent travel and work with vendors and manufacturers in Taiwan and Hong Kong. However, from this experience, I learned a lot about the technical side of product design, including how the manufacturing process works.
I worked with an industrial designer and the marketing team to define the user personas for the product. Using the personas, we created storyboards to help stakeholders and the development team to better visualize the design intent.
I conducted user research to map user needs to the feature sets of the product. I then adopted the fundamentals from the UX platform to create the interaction model, which I used as the foundation for the user interface design.
Leveraging the UX platform, I created all of the interaction workflows, interface design, and user experience - documenting all of this information into a specification. The manufacturer, engineers, and quality assurance teams used this specification as the standard reference for the product design and when testing for manufacturing defects and flaws.
I conducted design evaluations on all the pre-manufacturing samples, working closely with manufacturers and vendors onsite in Hong Kong and Taiwan to provide design solutions and recommendations and documenting all defects in a design feedback document. I found this part of the design process to be very rewarding: it provided me with the opportunity to be hands-on in the production factory - learning the nitty-gritty of manufacturing and literally turning designs into products.
Using a combination of color contrasts, material properties, and textured finishes, I was able to create a complimentary mix of materials to elevate the mood and feel of the uVenus. I documented all CMF requirements into a specification that became the reference for the manufacturer.
I worked closely with the patent lawyers to file for patents that would allow us to protect our product design, helping to produce design drawings and drafting the patent claims. After many rounds, iterations, and refinements, we did finally receive patent protection.
