During its journey from whiteboard to store shelves, a product can go through countless iterations. Often, the ideas are born from the brains of a company’s internal executives and designers; but they could just as easily come from partnering with an outside design firm. And for most consumers, the give and take of this collaborative product is a total mystery. To see how this process works, I spoke to executives at Ecobee and their design partner Lunar, on how the two firms partnered together to create the Ecobee3 smart thermostat—a new product that is getting rave reviews from home automation enthusiasts for its use of remote sensors that allow it to size up far more than a room’s temperature, and use this information for a slew of automation tasks. Here’s how the collaboration went down for this one product.
Why The Product Exists
“Thermostats – even modern ones — have perpetuated the same design flaw: They only measure temperature in one location, which makes it hard to deliver comfort in other rooms that matter to people. Ecobee worked with the design firm Lunar to solve this problem. The team conducted qualitative research with professional installers and homeowners to understand the ecosystem of selection, purchase, installation, and use. We identified Ecobee’s ownable differences and unearthed crucial expectations that would set the ecobee3 apart. This upfront framing work led to the development of the innovative room sensors, which are wireless devices that measure both temperature and motion that help ecobee to deliver comfort in the rooms that matter, and not just the hallway where most thermostats live.” – Rahul Raj, VP, Ecobee
A Collaborative Approach
“From ecobee’s early talks with Lunar, the initial project kickoff, and all the way to manufacturing, we’ve taken a highly collaborative path. We’ve all been aligned on the core visual identity—traits characterized as ‘intuitive, clever, and imaginative.’ This vision was key in enabling the team to make the right design decisions from start to finish. It also served as a guiding light to collaborate on inspiration and mood boards to share imagery for UI, UX, and Industrial Design. The final design enables customers to save an average of 23 percent on their home’s heating and cooling costs, while reducing their environmental impact. It also allowed Ecobee to launch directly in Apple, Home Depot and Best Buy with a DIY solution for consumers. It is the highest-rated smart thermostat in Apple and Amazon stores, won the PC Magazine’s Editor’s Choice Award in 2015, Tom’s Guide Editor’s Choice Aware in 2016, as well as an iF product design award in 2016.” — Rahul Raj, VP, Ecobee

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