People tend to think about websites and software when talking about UX. But with the age of IoT (the Internet of Things) upon us, UX design is expanding to new horizons. Our devices will be interlinked more than ever in upcoming years, so it’s time to think about how the popularity of IoT solutions will affect UX research.
There are a few basic UX design principles to keep in mind when conducting research for IoT. Read on to find them out.
The Importance of UX Research for IoTs
UX adds value to the Internet of Things devices by making them user-centric. While IoT are developed, UX research is performed to comprehend the ideal user and their needs.
The initial phase of UX design includes research, whether you’re designing for one website or a network of devices.
And one of the basic principles when researching is to think about the value an IoT device can offer your users and your business. When diving into IoT UX design, you’re not dealing with products anymore. You are now building services and experiences that have the potential to make users’ lives better. So a thorough qualitative analysis is vital for moving on with your UX design.
UX research should focus not just on attempting to make the product look pretty but also on providing users with seamless communications, high usability, and easily accessible customer support.
UX Challenges to Research for IoT Solutions
To develop an effective product, UX design for IoTs must mix several design disciplines. They are difficult to handle individually, let alone combined.
UX for IoT solutions needs to keep track of a variety of things – from standard paths to structures. And, a change from standard UX design will be this – you won’t just be designing the actions users want. You also need to make these products customized on a user basis and able to connect to different IoT devices.

UX challenges in the IoT sphere include:
- Lack of efficiency – Embedded systems are still heavily ladened with expenses. You need to do proper research to figure out how you can minimize costs and further drive the development of various digital elements.
- System security – Security is always an imperative. But it’s a special kind of challenge when you need to provide an excellent user experience for embedded systems. Taking a product from prototype to deployment will have a lot of security bumps to solve along the way.
- Emerging standards – Some devices might be unaware of the presence or capabilities of others on the IoT network because their manufacturers have designed them to work exclusively with those of specific providers. The main challenge for developers is dealing with the potential interference of such different devices.
3 Key Components for UX design for IoT Solutions
Good UX design for IoT solutions has three components:
- Great technology functionality
- High usability
- Compatibility with human psychology
We’ll go over each in more depth.
Great Technology Functionality
To no surprise to anyone, you should focus a lot of your effort on successfully delivering a product. That is because you can’t just expect to sell your product solely on great marketing. Whatmore, false advertising can hurt your brand for years to come. Especially if a user’s first introduction to your product is a negative one. You should align your marketing messages with your product and the needs of your users.
High Usability
No matter if your user is highly educated in using technology, or just a novice, they should be able to set up your product. Operating and maintaining IoT should be even easier than non-IoT solutions.
Compatibility with Human Psychology
IoT should seamlessly go with human psychology. New tech should offer massive payoff for users to get them out of their comfort zones. UX design for IoT solutions should also strive to win the trust of users by making them rely on their devices for safe and simple actions.
Another thing the human mind will register as trustworthy is offering a user experience that pays attention to personal privacy.
Final Word
IoT is on track to become one of the most dominant technology trends. It will disrupt the scene and easily impact our everyday lives. IoT solutions are already present, so our interactions with tech devices are already evolving. And all those interconnected devices need detailed User Experience design. The key elements we have listed in this article can guide your UX research when designing for IoT.