Neev designed the frontend for a device that aimed at replacing the old landline phones in homes and offices with a combination of TV and computer features, an all-in-one offering. UI techniques like card sorting and Skeumorphism were used to arrive at the final design. The interactive design catered to a varied user segments across all age groups. A PIN number was used to distinguish between different users of the same device.

The Client

Path Partner Technology Consulting Pvt. Ltd. provides software solutions, system integration services, technology consulting and product engineering services. Through these offerings, the client enables the development and deployment of convergence devices for wireless handsets, digital home and surveillance markets.

Business Need

The typical landline in any house/ office displayed only dialed numbers. Pathpartner wanted to make the landline more interactive and social. Hence, they launched a revolutionary media phone called the Consumer Media Phone (CMP) that was a multi-function desktop phone with rich media and exclusive operator services. Eg: A person calls on a CMP. The most recent details of the caller are displayed on the screen. These include the most recent Facebook updates, tweets and even latest mail correspondence.

Neev was required to design the front-end interface for this innovative device.

Neev Solution

Neev took up this year-long engagement of designing the entire front end for CMP. Being an innovative product, a vast amount of research was done as part of the requirement gathering phase to articulate the client need into feasible workflows.

The target audience ranged from young kids to senior citizens. With this varied set of users for the same device, the interactions had to be very simple yet attractive to each of these user segments.

Since the requirement was evolving as we worked on it, an iterative approach for wire framing was adopted to design the ~220 screens for the CMP. Card sorting, a UI design technique to arrive at information architecture, was done to create and evaluate information architecture for the application. The entire work flow was broken down into modules. Workflows were then created for these modules and discussed individually with the client.

Due to a not-so-tech-savvy user base, we drilled down the interactions to the simplest ones. The entire application was built as a low-fidelity prototype for feedback and rework. This prototype brought all stakeholders in sync on the application requirements and end functionality.

Having got a sign off on workflows, we started with the design. Skeumorphism, a design paradigm where web design elements imitate their real world counterparts was used in the UI design. Information display was restricted to the most relevant information on the screen and all secondary details were provided as drill-downs. Social updates on incoming caller, local weather, latest movies, face time etc were the other features were also displayed to make the CMP a highly engaging device.

Neev also provided support services throughout the integration to the backend.

Technology footprint

• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator

Top features

• Voice/video calls to any phone & IM clients
• Ability to quickly check TV, radio program schedule
• Flip through latest photos
• Updates on local movies & show-times, events and promotions
• Stay connected with friends on social network
• Multiple numbers (or lines) available on each phone and the facility to route the call depending on geographic location

Top Challenges

Accommodating diverse set of users and their usage of the same device was a challenge. We used a PIN number to distinguish individual users in a family/ office