The goal of this project was to redesign an existing product and improve its usability. The product our group was assigned was the Tanita BC-545N, a body composition monitor. This device measures not only body weight, but also water weight, muscle mas, fat percentage and many more. The current interface of the body composition monitor was very complex and confusing, and could be improved on many different levels. This project was done with six people from the same master; Design for Interaction. This meant everyone contributed equally to user testing and designing. I did, however, focus mostly on conducting the second user test and the designing of the interface of the redesigns.

The first step in this project was to find out what were the errors in the current design. What elements are unclear to the users? Where in the interface do they get stuck? To do so, the first user test was conducted. Users were given several tasks to complete with the real, working Tanita. For these tasks it was noted which pathway they took, how long they took to complete the tast and if they completed it correctly. These results were used to pinpoint the issues in the existing product.

Using the conclusions from the first user test, three concepts for possible redesigns were developed. These concepts all had a different level of technology and viability. One concepts was very conservative, one was very futuristic and the other was somewhere in between. For the final design it was decided to combine elements of the conservative and moderate concepts. This concept was worked out further. A physical model of the scale itself was made from cardboard and foam. For the interface, a clickable prototype was made on a computer. During the detailing phase, I mostly worked on the flow of the screens. I also helped on detailing the graphics of the interface.