Holistic Stylus Evaluation

alt text      PROBLEM STATEMENT:

Accelerate the development & implementation of stylus design for Intel’s PC Client customers (such as Dell/Lenovo/HP).

alt text     SOLUTION:

Crafted and rolled out a comprehensive Stylus Assessment Methodology, complete with objective metrics, to meticulously evaluate customer stylus implementations. This iterative approach facilitated ongoing platform refinement and performance enhancements.

alt text      MY PROCESS

  • Constraints: I faced a tight deadline to provide robust design requirements for styluses being developed by laptop manufacturers in collaboration with Intel's technology. Initially, the project lacked available funding.

  • Stakeholder management:

  • I engaged with subject matter experts from Intel's Precise Touch team to explore how the new Stylus technology could serve as a market differentiator.

  • Additionally, I met with Intel liaisons representing various customers to grasp their needs, timelines, and expectations, considering the tight deadlines and resource constraints.

  • Creativity included: Initially faced with resource limitations, I opted for secondary research to pinpoint crucial UX attributes driving effective stylus design. Recognizing the significance of a comprehensive stylus evaluation methodology, funding was later secured for direct user research.

  • Final Research Methods:

    • Conducted Market Landscape Assessment, Competitive Assessment & Secondary Research to create the Intel first holistic stylus evaluation methodology.

    • Executed within subjects, structured one-on-one in person user study to validate & update the assessment methodology.


alt text       DELIVERABLES:

  • Developed an intricate stylus evaluation methodology encompassing both fundamental and advanced robotic assessments, addressing aspects such as physical design, palm rejection, productivity, accuracy, latency, and smoothness.

  • Provided comprehensive documentation, templates, and scorecards to facilitate iterative assessments of customer stylus design implementations.


alt text      OUTCOMES:

What kind of data analysis was used and what were the findings?

  • Utilizing secondary research, I developed a detailed stylus evaluation methodology tailored for common usages. Drawing from empirical papers, I curated basic and advanced tests covering physical design, palm rejection, productivity, accuracy, latency, and smoothness.

  • Performed comparative rating analysis on physical attributes perception, value proposition, user task performance, device interaction, and feature rating among competitive devices.

What was the impact?

  • The evaluation methodology was employed by Intel's competitive team for recurring assessments of customer stylus iterations. Performance targets for latency and accuracy were established by the PC Client group following competitive assessments.

  • Performance targets, coupled with iterative stylus assessment feedback and regression analysis, were shared with customers to enhance their implementations pre-market launch.

  • A comprehensive Stylus Evaluation Methodology & Design Guidelines paper was published by Intel.


alt text       Tools: Google scholar, Intel Library Repository, Excel & Word.

alt text     Duration: 1 quarter to develop evaluation methodology and another quarter to run the user study.

alt text What would I have done differently if I had additional time/resources/funding…?
I would have liked to conduct direct user research for competitive stylus assessments concurrently with secondary research. This approach would have aided in uncovering unmet needs, potentially transforming them into compelling market differentiators for our customers.