Behind the Scene
Here’s how I approached the Harman team's design challenge:
Design a product/service that optimizes people's daily audio listening experience.
I consider myself a music lover and a fan of audio device, though not necessarily a gearhead. :)
When I received the challenge, many scenarios came to my mind—such as using headphones during commuting and at work, or listening to speakers at home. I further explored Harman's products and reflected on some pain points.
But I was concerned that the problem was still too personal, so I returned to desktop research. I used articles from professional institutions, cross-referenced searches through ChatGPT, Deepseek, and Google, and began looking for the latest "signals" in personal audio devices.
I focused my research on the headphone market and Gen Z user group, organizing findings from the current market landscape, industry-leading brands, customer trends in headphone technology, and user needs.
Appendix:
I noticed that the latest technologies in spatial audio, ANC, and hearing enhancement are being widely implemented, and many new user needs are emerging in the listening experience, such as health and social interaction demands.
Based on these trend signals, I further explored the areas of interest and decided to focus this design challenge on headphone devices to enhance the user listening experience.
I moved away from the commonly used Double Diamond model for incremental innovation and adopted the Disruptive Innovation method to think about new technologies and user needs.
Unlike the Double Diamond model, which starts from existing problems, this approach imagines a radical future based on trends and then works backward to figure out how to achieve or avoid it.
Thank you! But not this time 😊
I back to Harman Lifestyle's vision again:
Under the implementation of new technologies such as audio sharing, how will Harman reshape the way people experience the world around them?
And that led to my presentation. Feel free to review it again; )