VBOx Pro DEsign STRategy

VBox Pro is a real-time image collaboration device to assist the professional videographers from the VPhoto team upload and transfer captured materials in regular small-scale activities, including business activities, weddings, gigs, and parties.
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During the design research phase, YANG DESIGN needs to help VPhoto to define the product in both terms of appearance aesthetic style and functions based on the working process and usage preferences of the videographers. The research results could cover the limitation of reasonable size, settle position, installing ways, and place of the screen, power button, connect interface, and indicator lights.

Desk ResearchWe started the research with the background communication and field research with VPhoto to figure out their requirements, limitations, and collaborative workflow and activity types. While with the communication with device renters, we understand the three main types of frequently used vidicon and how to install other accessories on them.
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Based on the primary workflows, we participated in three shooting activities to observe how the videographers prefer to install, use and store the vidicon and accessaries, which could help us to build the journey map and analyze their main install and operation zones.
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Besides this, we interviewed five videographers in total ( three videographers from Vphoto, two from outside teams) to test the prototype with the contextual tasks to help us analyze reasonable functional details, including installation position and size, wiring, buttery position, connected interface, and others.

Below is an illustration of the main research process and approaches.

1. The videographers of Vphoto usually use Sony 280 to shoot activities last for 7-8 hours. Taken into the four frequent-used shooting positions and postures, we found that the REC and the Display buttons on top, operation buttons on both left and right sides are the main operation zones. The hot shoes on top, battery case on the tail, and the bottom are the standard zones for installing other accessories. Therefore, the size and the establishing position of VBox Pro need to avoid overlapping them. Besides, no matter which shooting postures, the videographers need to gazing the screen on the vidicon. Thus, it's better to keep the same directions of the screen on VBox Pro to that on the vidicon.
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2. We found the videographers need to change different postures and move around during the shooting process according to the observation and the user interviews. We need to consider the videographers and the vidicon as a system. That means the establishing position of VBox Pro can't interfere with the barycentre when people were lifting the vidicon on their shoulders.

3. To keep the high sound quality of recorded materials, VBox Pro need to avoid to give sound or shake feedback.

4. As the videographers need to move around and change postures during the shooting, they feel upset about the long and complicated wiring.
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Based on the above research and analysis, we defined the VBox Pro product as a real-time video collaboration device with low interference, reliability, controllability, integration, and branding recognition, to assist the videographers recording long-time activities.

The five key features are the new ones derived from the dimensions of emotional, functional, and sensory experiences.  We summarized and prioritized the specific opportunities under these categories, such as balanced establishing position,  integrated silent fan, convenient wiring, connected interface positions without interruption to change postures, and so on.

Furthermore, we displayed the functional design opportunities in the form of architectural illustration, including the reasonable size, settle position, installing ways, and place of the screen, power button, connect interface, and indicator lights.

The product strategy research has helped both our Client, VPhoto, and the product design department to make sense of the reasonable functional layout of the product and to understand the insight to inform the direction of appearance design.

However, with the impact of the COVID-19, the section of product design is still ongoing.