Blurb about Disney accelerator, my role, team, etc. fknf osnfknds slklkdgv sdnlknv vlknv dvlknvxxv
It started with a small team moving to LA for 4 months to participate in the Disney Accelerator.
The team: Ayah Bdeir (littleBits CEO), Emily Tuteur (Lead Product Designer), Andrew Tergis (Lead Engineer), Nitin Barghava (Head of Business Development). We picked up our UX designer, Rowan halfway through the process.
We met leaders from a variety of business units and Disney owned franchises to see where there might be synergy.
We rapidly built prototypes to explore a variety of different concepts.
The force was strong with Lucas Film for a number of reasons:
Star Wars is filled with technology and invention
Rey is a tech savvy female lead, GRIT
Star Wars is highly successful and recognizable franchise and they had a movie launch we could align with
littleBits CEO, Ayah Bdeir announcing littleBits’ partnership with Lucas Film at the Disney Accelerator Pitch Day
Product Goals
Reach More Kids
Brand Recognition
Increase Sales
Blurb about research/concept. Explored all sorts of concepts under the Star Wars umbrella (sketches)
Sketches of SW concepts - droids, ships, etc…
As part of our research, the design team attended Star Wars Celebration, where we met many real life droid builders. One thing that stood out was that almost all the droid inventors were men. As a gender neutral company, we knew we would need to flip the script if we went with a droid narrative.
Landed on Droid Inventor Kit
(ethnographys) In-home studies of previous kits showed that kids could feel overwhelmed with too many options of what to make. They also often skipped the Bit Basics and didn’t retain info about how Bits work.
Multiple droids vs. 1: Simplified to 1 recognizable and lovable droid. Girl
User tester hugged droid - classic and universal and a little mischevious.
Kit Definition
We defined the kit to meet our product goals of reaching more kids, gaining brand recognition, and increasing sales
Reach more Kids
Financial accessibility with a $99 price point
Make it gender neutral by emphasizing customization and self-expression
Make a technology kit look less intimidating by leading with a familiar and beloved character
Brand Recognition
Partner with Lucas Film
Authentically and seamlessly merge the littleBits’ and the Star Wars’ universes
Go beyond the “shell” - use Star Wars as a portal to introduce the littleBits ecosystem
Increase sales
Time product launch with movie and tap into parental nostalgia
Cool technology - BLE, proximity sensor, authentic R2 sound effects
Self-guided app experience for kids
STEAM learning as key value prop for parents
For the development of this kit, we put together an advisory council of kids and parents. This group came in to the office at regular intervals and tested all aspects of the kit along the way. We also did a number of tests with brand new users.
We did X number of tests with X number of Kids. Our user group 8-12 year-olds
Personas
Tested concepts and interaction - looking for gender neutral, aha moment, playability, understanding
User Journey/experience - Needed to define journey and interactions in order to design physical components and digital experiences.
In all past kits, the user experience emphasized the creation of multiple inventions as a way to maximize the modularity of the platform, and show kids that Bits can be used in all sorts of different contexts.
Insight - while multiple inventions showed breadth, depth of knowledge was missing. Single build form, so kids could focus on Bits and learn how they work
New challenge. How to develop an experience around a single base build and still show the power of the platform.
Insight: Kids may become full blown droid inventors, but might not make the leap to other types of inventions. It’s ok. One kit can’t do it all.
Image comparing LB invention cycle to Droid Invention Levels
The user experience is broken up into 4 phases and is based on the littleBits Invention cycle: Base Assembly, Droid Training, New Powers, and Customization. This journey is designed to incrementally level kids up from beginner to droid inventor.
High level journey image
Base Assembly is required onboarding that guides kids through building their first droid. This phase is broken up into milestones, providing quick wins along the way.
Droid Training missions instruct users to experiment with the droid to understand its capabilities in the Base Assembly configuration.
New Powers missions go a level deeper. Kids are prompted to change how the droid functions by remixing the circuit and droid build. They also discover new digital controls and block coding.
Customization missions are all about creativity and inventing unique droids. Prompts help kids think about how new Bit configurations and block coding can create custom droid attributes, and how craft materials can give the droid a brand new look and feel.
Physical components (Plastic parts & bits) in the kit were all designed to meet interaction requirements for the user experience.
Bits
Control hub = Droid brain (3 output Bit). Bit Needed to connect to the app via BLE and control multiple outputs.
Bits
Proximity Sensor - met multiple interaction requirements. limited to number of Bits so had to make some cut.
Bits
Bit configuration and each Bits’ kit function
First time creating intensive plastic parts
Design requirements being passed on to Mech E
Design a base build that emulates Artoo but allows for customization
Neutral plastic tripod base
Clear Artoo shell - see inner workings of droid. Allows for customization
Show Custom Droids
China Testing