With IoT, everyday items become smart allies, making life and work easier and more connected. And it’s not just the devices themselves doing that. It’s a combination of IoT devices and the applications and systems that connect to them. Good IoT design aims to create smart systems that are easy to use, work well, align with end-user expectations, protect data at all stages and are scalable to any deployment size.
Traditionally, different teams handled each stage of the IoT design lifecycle. With more consolidated and collaborative teams, IoT product designers might wonder how they can create successful devices and systems that deliver the experience and feature sets that end users want.
Challenges of IoT design
Designing systems and apps for IoT devices presents several challenges:
- Power consumption. Designing energy-efficient devices and systems that increase operational lifespan for battery-operated or remote devices.
- Network reliability and latency. Maintaining consistent and reliable connectivity in variable network conditions, while minimizing data transmission delays and processing to support real-time applications.
- Interoperability. Seamlessly integrating the different communication protocols used by today’s IoT devices with the fleet, network and related systems.
- Complexity. Managing the increased complexity of IoT ecosystems and the networks they connect to, including hardware, software and communication protocols.
- Scalability. Managing networks and systems to accommodate a large IoT fleet without compromising performance, reliability and related systems as the fleet grows and evolves.
- Data management. Handling large data volumes generated by the devices efficiently, including storage, processing and analysis as needed.
- Security and privacy. Protecting data and devices from cyberthreats and ensuring secure communications that safeguard data across the network, while complying with any relevant privacy regulations and business rules.
- Regulation compliance. Complying with regulations and laws across regions of an IoT fleet, given the diverse nature of applications, device uses and business locations.
- Hardware limitations. Elegantly combining the need for compactness, affordability and cost, which impose constraints on what hardware and software can be used in an IoT fleet, limiting the capabilities of the device and connected systems.
- Cost (upfront and ongoing). Balancing IoT planning, design, implementation and maintenance with affordability — without sacrificing quality, functionality and performance.
Cross-functional isolation in IoT product design
One final challenge IoT product designers face is the siloed nature of product development. Product managers often work with upper management to define requirements and customer journeys, while the technical teams, project managers and support teams that do the designing, testing and implementation are elsewhere in the organization. This often results in duplicate efforts, missed requirements, conflicting objectives, workflow breakdowns and territorial behavior.
Now that we’ve examined the challenges facing IoT product development teams, let’s explore the design principles that will help with successful IoT product creation.
IoT design principles
Product designers must simultaneously address industrial product requirements, IT components, business needs and UX design. Those who can best incorporate all those elements into their devices and systems are often more successful, especially if they can incorporate these design best practices.
1. Do the research
The first step in the design process is to research the device’s purpose and its user base. To define its main features, designers should think like the device’s eventual users to identify how the IoT product will solve pain points and help overcome obstacles.
A good rule for designers to follow is to never assume they know what end users need. Instead, they should research the target audience to see what products and experiences exist and how the IoT device can make users’ lives easier.
Designers can speak to customer support teams to hear directly from end users, or they can discuss with the sales team what prospective customers ask about before purchasing. Industry conferences are also a place to discover what end users might look for in an IoT product. Session titles can show what potential customers are interested in, the latest features to introduce and technological advancements.
2. Look at the whole picture
Product designers often support an IoT portfolio that consists of multiple devices with different capabilities and touchpoints, so they must consider the entire system that supports devices. It’s not enough to simply design physical devices. How users, systems and applications interact with the product should be properly defined for every IoT device.
During IoT device design, consider everything the product could connect to, control or communicate with in the network and design accordingly. If designers understand the bigger picture, it helps create a device that’s interoperable and can integrate into more use cases.
3. Align features with user value and UX
IoT users aren’t always aware of the value IoT devices can provide. They might be reluctant to adopt a new IoT product because it addresses an unfamiliar problem or because they’re unclear how to address company adoption barriers, such as cost, usability or security concerns.
This includes considering UX needs and requirements, as IoT design should provide a positive experience for all users. Use previous research to discover which end-user problems are worth solving with an IoT device and what value it provides. If the product’s feature set aligns with these problems or barriers, it will be easier to sell.
4. Consider the operating environment
A successful design depends on how well IoT product designers combine digital and physical components, as one can affect the other. A device that can function on low power is different from one that must be weatherproof or another that accommodates multiple end users. Context for IoT devices means developing timely and purposeful features for the considered use case that can give the user value.
When developers deliver contextually appropriate IoT experiences with the right device feature sets, they inform end users about how IoT can solve their problems. Context creates long-term demand for IoT devices and products because people better understand IoT use cases and how IoT can work within multiple settings.
5. Provide device or system autonomy
Remember, IoT is all about connectivity, so there will be a time when the device and connected systems will be offline. Consider adding device and/or system autonomy to prevent bottlenecks. Add system messaging to ensure all users and systems understand that the work was completed without the data or other inputs. If the device, system or data is mission-critical, ensure all alerting and monitoring systems provide tier 1 or emergency alerts to relevant teams, so they can engage incident management protocols.
6. Incorporate security and privacy early
IoT devices can make personal and work lives a lot easier, but designers should not ignore security until the device is live. Designers should understand the possible error situations with the device, such as hardware, software and network issues, and then appropriately communicate the error to users and resolve the issue. The device should include both hardware and software measures to address top IoT security threats.
Data security and privacy should be key elements of any IoT device design, especially if the devices are in remote or insecure locations. End users must see and feel that their data is safe to comfortably purchase projects. The one way to build user trust is to incorporate privacy and security measures from the start.
7. Deploy effective data management
IoT devices generate massive amounts of data regularly, so IT product companies must deploy effective data management workflows early and often. Designers who understand how the device generates data are better positioned to develop the right systems and integrations to efficiently gather, store and transmit the data.
It’s ideal for designers to reduce data latency anywhere they can, such as through reduced transmission loads or increased bandwidth for peak use times.
8. Include scalability for hardware and software
IoT devices are often deployed in large quantities for enterprise use, resulting in thousands of devices simultaneously collecting, transmitting and receiving data. These device fleets must connect and integrate with each other easily and with the larger corporate network.
To ensure scalability, product designers must incorporate the appropriate gateways and management software to handle fleet and data collection. Developers should include easy connection options and set up wizards for IoT devices and networks to make it easier for companies to scale IoT deployments.
9. Prepare for different use cases
IoT product designers should expect end users to implement IoT devices in unexpected or unintended ways, such as a repurposed doorbell camera device acting as an access control point or actuator control devices controlling industrial machinery instead of operating doors.
Use case-flexible IoT devices might have more success in adoption, as end users can expand the product’s use and reach. Designers can track user-generated ideas and incorporate them into future device versions or retroactively support those new use cases.
10. Develop cross-functional team dynamics
Cross-functional teamwork helps eliminate many barriers that IoT product designers might face. They need the synergy between technical, creative and business thinking to drive innovation and produce successful products quickly and efficiently.
Good collaboration begins with clear and regular communication. Daily standups and frequent work reviews across departments help keep everyone on track. Each team will understand how their work affects others, so they can avoid bottlenecks and unintentional barriers. Technical teams will understand why business leaders have prioritized certain features or requirements the way they have, and product and project managers will know which work will be delivered, when.
IoT design examples
There are many well-designed IoT products on the market, but here are just a few examples:
- Audi Connect System. Audi offers several IoT options for its electric vehicles that let drivers monitor everything from their EV’s charging status to temperature controls, advanced navigation and a review of their driving behavior — all from an app on their smartphones. Audi also offers high-tech security features for its connected cars and their data through its partnership with Cisco.
- Zubie. A fleet management company, Zubie offers real-time GPS tracking for rental cars and business fleets. Zubie’s IoT devices and software monitor information such as vehicle health and driver performance, identifying patterns that affect vehicle maintenance workflows and helping improve fuel efficiency. Fleet customers can benefit from vehicle tracking options and open APIs, so companies can connect additional apps and systems to the platform to manage dispatch, payroll and staffing.
- Verkada. This asset security company offers IoT sensors, cameras and platforms that help customers manage everything from IT zero-trust security platforms to physical location security — entryway, license plate recognition and roll call — to educational monitoring for school bus security and smoking/vaping detection. Each Verkada device is controllable and monitored through its Command platform, which delivers actionable insights in real time from each unique deployment and fleet size.
- HerdDogg. A mobile agricultural tech company, HerdDogg offers lightweight sensors that can be attached to the ears of herd animals to collect location, health and heat data. The data is transmitted to the cloud, which ranchers can access via an easy-to-use mobile app. The smart tags continuously monitor animal movement and temperature, generating real-time alerts so ranchers and farmers can take action before there’s an emergency.
Julia Borgini is a freelance technical copywriter, content marketer, content strategist and geek. She writes about B2B tech, SaaS, DevOps, the cloud and other tech topics.
