Hitachi Advanced Color

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  • 2021

  • Product
    Consumer Electronics

Designed By:

Commissioned By:

Liu Yang

Irene Ding

Designed In:

China

Advanced Color is a wired air conditioning controller for residential and commercial spaces, featured with simplified navigation and aesthetics that integrates with interiors. The wave shape on the cover is an ergonomic benefit to a more comfortable touch angle.


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  • CHALLENGE
  • SOLUTION
  • IMPACT
  • MORE

  • From phase 0 research, we understand that users have difficulty navigating and understanding the features of their air conditioning system, and that flat mechanical buttons on the control panel were tiresome to use where touch screens were no better with messy smudges that connotes uncleanliness.

  • To rethink its form and reconfigure the interface that helps the user to feel comfortably in control of indoor temperature was the ultimate objective. By angling the touch interface and reorganizing the information architecture, a unified sense of belonging is brought to the user on engaging to their atmospheric temperature.

  • Our legacy controller has a housing consisting of four main parts and six small parts for mechanical push buttons. In order to correspond to sustainability, designers collaborated with engineers to simplify the structure. As a result, the mechanical push buttons changed into touch buttons and the new housing consists of only three parts. It helps in cost saving as well as recycling.

  • The controller is also friendly to blind and visually impaired users. On the button panel, there is a protruding dot to help them locate the ON/OFF button and there are three molded dividing lines to guide them to reach the right buttons. Additional buzz feedback tells the users whether the operation is valid or not.