Introduction:

The goal of this exercise was to prototype a tablet interface for a smart home thermostat. For this exercise there were a couple of requirements as far as this thermostat’s features were concerned. Our prototype was supposed to be able to show current temperature and humidity for each sensor, show current and forecasted temperature and humidity outside, adjust the HVAC fan status, adjust current temperature, and be able to set geofencing parameters. Another big aspect of this assignment was that we were to be working in groups where wireframing, high to mid fidelity, and interactivity would be split up and we would individually choose a certain design platform that we were unfamiliar with. I ended up choosing to work on the interactivity portion with the program known as Justinmind.

Sketches

Screenshots:

The Images above starting from left to right are; firstly the Initial Landing page, then we have the main Temperature page, then we have the Humidity version of the main page, then on the far right we have our Schedule and Geofencing page.

Process Description

To start off with this exercise my group and I had decided that we should get on the same page with our sketches, after a lot of unneeded hassle we were finally able to get a common design for this exercise. We wanted the initial landing page screen for when you opened the thermostat to be the room select option so that you would be able to select which rooms you intended to change before you ended up accidentally changing settings for another room. Then after selecting the room or rooms you intended on viewing or editing you would be sent to the main temperature page that would have a consistent layout for each of the rooms. In this page you can adjust the temperature, change the HVAC fac status, see the current weather forecast showing temperature and humidity, you can swipe to the right or click the arrow on the right of the temperature to swap over to adjust humidity, by clicking either the arrow in the top left corner or just the room name at the top of the screen it will send you back to the initial room selection screen allowing you to adjust what room or rooms you are editing, and finally by clicking the plus on the top right portion of the screen it will take you to the scheduling and geofencing screen. In the scheduling and geofencing screen you can make simple schedules easily by setting your preferences for time, temperature, fan, and the room you want to schedule. Then in the geofencing portion of the screen you can set a radius and then configure what will happen when you arrive home, when you leave, or when you want to go to bed with the same options that would fall under scheduling excluding time for all except the bedtime option.

Main Affordances:

• Easy to start in terms of designing the user interface, It reminded me of a lot of other design platforms.
• It has basic input options for design such as buttons, drop down selects, and toggleable checkmarks that I found very helpful.
• There is a free version which makes it very accessible.
• You can add as many screens that you would like to work on.

Main Limitations:

• From what I have found, this platform’s free version used to be a lot more useful for prototyping but now after a certain amount of time your free account loses access to a lot of the once free tools.
• User flows are a paid feature of this platform after a certain time so when I was ready to start incorporating them I was unable to connect my screens in an interactive way.
• There are only two possible routes to export, you can save a local copy which will give you a .vp file or you can export to image files as a .png
• Justinmind’s only shape options are the rectangle, eclipse, triangle, callout (text bubble), arrow and line. Which may not seem too bad until you realize that their customizability makes them near impossible to work with without taking what feels like ages.
• Almost all tutorials for this platform that can be found on Youtube are from eight years ago. Or include tools not available in the free version.