Founded in Sweden, Blueair is one of the world’s leading producers of air purification systems for home and professional use. With their powerful, energy-efficient and intelligent air purifiers for cars, Blueair is now moving into a new segment backed up with expertise and best-in-class technology.
Research shows that the air in cars is up to 15 times more polluted than on the streets outside. One of the reasons is the direct flow of exhaust from the car and other cars on the road. Car air-conditioning system can also function as a breeding ground for bacteria. People spend, on average, about 10 hours a week inside vehicles.
Above has worked in close collaboration with Blueair to support their team creating this first product with the aim to open up for new markets and possibilities. Our initial focus was to get an understanding by gathering insight through market research and interviews. The research gave us clear ideas of what we could improve. Regaining trust in the product by doubling the performance and increasing fidelity of the cleaning progress visualization so users clearly can see a difference in just a few minutes drive.
Safety and placement of the unit are also closely connected, and the research showed examples of units mounted onto the dashboard due to the interface being placed on the purifier. Our solution to this issue was to separate the interface from the actual purifier and integrate it in a smaller remote positioned in the car charging cradle. This enabled a flexible and safer placement of the air purifier. The 3D knitted textile, wrapping the purifier, creates a soft comfy appearance that blends in well with the car interior at the same time as it lets air pass through the knits with minimum effort.
All the various insights, scenarios and ideas were consolidated into short user experience videos. The UX-films was used to evaluate the relevancy of the ideas both internally and with users before moving into the industrialization phase
Above’s vast toolbox of capabilities has proven very valuable tackling challenges like these, starting off with intense researching and insight gathering, moving on to early UX concepting, ID and digital services, to creative engineering, prototyping physical, interactive and video experiences. Creation and packing solutions for POS are just a few services used.