Case Study

Who: Hines Headquarters

Where: Houston, TX

What: More than 60 AV and conferencing systems across diverse environments, including focus rooms, meeting spaces, the boardroom, and the CEO's office.

 

Hines created a new office as their headquarters in downtown Houston. For the first time, all Houston-based employees are now housed in the office headquarters, promoting close collaboration. 

 

At the start of every project, I gather all the information needed to understand the project objective. I thoroughly read the contract, review engineering drawings, and discuss with tech leads and stakeholders. Essentially, I would have to turn technical descriptions of functionality into graphical representation with the users’ best interest in mind.

 

From our discussions with Hines, I discovered two important insights while conducting user research. Firstly, since there will now be all sorts of workers in the office, not everyone was comfortable with using new technology. I find this to be a common statement, especially if someone is not encountering that new device every day. Secondly, since this office renovation occurred during the pandemic, people were not comfortable with touching public surfaces. Even though we were past the initial quarantine phase, users understandably did not want to be touching an object that others, perhaps many others, have touched.

 

Once all information is gathered, timelines are established, and client expectations are clearly defined, it's time to create a wireframe. This is an important step before creating a full blown UI. The wireframe serves as a map of screens, emphasizing layout and functionality without concerning itself with aesthetics. It becomes a guiding reference for both UX and developers throughout the final product's development.

 

I used the pain points gathered from the user research to guide my designs for the touch panels. Not only did the panels contain a lot of information for users, like room conferencing addresses and schedules, they operate the lights, send presentations to the displays, and made video calls. This would mean I would have to put the users at ease when operating the panels’ many functions. Therefore, I designed the user interface to be as simple as possible, removing anything that the average user does not need while maintaining full control within the technician section. Wherever possible, content would be shown across all room displays, eliminating the need for users to select specific destinations. Instead of showing separate mic controls, there was only one mic mix, which was also hidden under an advanced volume popup. Of course, the technician can still discreetly route any source to any destination and would have control of every mic and audio source individually. 

 

Most importantly, I utilized a QR code on the cover screen. Since QR codes became ubiquitous during COVID, everyone was comfortable scanning it to use their own laptop, tablet, or phone. It would then bring up the same controls found on the room’s touch panel.

 

Once code is developed and aligned with the UI, software is installed onto the panels at the client’s site. Stakeholders can then operate the UI, press all the buttons, and of course, give feedback. Since there were so many different rooms and spaces at Hines, having a consistent UX on all the panels was very important. I had further discussions with the tech team and client to make sure all needs were addressed while keeping the integrity of the UI. Some spaces were simplified by eliminating multiple devices while other rooms added displays. In the end, I created a clean design for Hines’ AV control panels to complement the office’s contemporary look.

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