X-Rite Pantone
Reimagine an intuitive second generation of the eXact G2—the print industry standard for understanding complex colormetric readings.
Practice:
Research
Contextual Interviews
UI/UX Design
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Take a minute to write an introduction that is short, sweet, and to the point.
Context
The Challenge
Contextual Interviews
Prioritization
Usability Testing
Service Blueprint
X-Rite, parent company of the Pantone color matching system, is the leader in color science and technology. Their handheld color measurement and management devices and software are used across the globe for ensuring that brand colors are consistent to the human eye across all applications.
The eXact G1 has been the printing and packaging industry’s staple for ensuring that brand colors and ink densities appear consistent across substrates and applications—from the ink lab to the printing press. However, the G1’s convoluted interface and poor ergonomics (namely, the clamshell design that springs off of slanted desks) presented an opportunity to re-evaluate the experience around the device (which blurred firmware and software)and design a new and improved second generation device for the eXact’s cult following.
We visited several printing facilities and ink labs to meet with a range of eXact users and interview them while they went about their processes, using the device in context. This helped us better understand their unique workflows, pain points and workarounds. Which, ultimately helped us develop personas.
After interviewing users directly and taking stock of all customer feedback and proposed changes from internal stakeholders, we prioritzed the updates to the UI based upon how impactful they would be to the user and how much effort they would take to develop.
We gave participants a handheld prototype embedded with new UI concepts and a list of tasks to complete that were reflective of the persona workflows we identified in the contextual interviews. Several rounds of this helped us identify pain points with the new UI and ways to improve it.
Because of the complex and intricately connected nature of the handheld colorimetric device, building out service blueprints was critical in the beginning. Each user interacted with the device differently and paired it with different X-Rite software, so we created a service blueprint for each user environment. The blueprints served as living documents that we would update with every new insight. Poster versions were hung up on the walls so we could easily reference each users unique workflow and interactions when we discussed research or design decisions.