Solar Development Kit
Biosphere Solar, 2023
Design Director
This project was exhibited in Dutch Design Week 2023.
The Brief
Biosphere Solar is a Dutch solar energy startup which aims to make circularity and fairness norms in the photovoltaics industry. I led the design efforts, bridging between leadership and engineering teams, translating our core values into tangible product directions across pitch decks, exhibits and design sprints.
The challenge at hand was to conceptualize a micro solar panel for in-home use, a new product for the company leveraging our unique technology.
Outcomes
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Research insights (persona, design requirements, interaction vision)
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Product concept of the micro solar panel
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Guidelines for repairability
The Process
The research stage is oriented around understanding the target user’s habits and values, especially in assembly and repair through user interviews, web scraping, and site visits to maker spaces. I set up a framework to create product guidelines, drawing from many places like leadership goals, the Solar Manifesto, emotion driven design principles. This allowed me to outline overarching principles for design at an abstract level, rooted in specific needs and values.
My experience in product design and engineering work helped me straddle high level design decisions and day-to-day product development. At the conceptualization stage, I would think how abstract qualities like "evoke a state of flow" could be embodied in tangible design choices. For example, flow came to mean a smooth assembly process: rounded corners, chamfers to lead in screws easily and guiding features for mating parts. I co-defined engineering requirements with respect to user needs. For example, our storage capacity was defined as "charging one phone indoors on a sunny day”.
Ethnographic methods for framing the “nooby maker”
A framework for directing open-ended projects
From abstract qualities to actionable design guidelines
Engineering-enabled design directions
Testing user experience
The Impact
I led the design team to an initial concept for the dev kit that meets the core need for nooby makers feeling comfortable in handling and assembling solar systems, with learnings that scale to a repairable house-size solar module. I played different roles throughout the project, which is only possible in an early stage startup. As the client and strategist, I decided the metrics of success with our leadership and as the designer I took responsibility for how we meet them.
This project utilizes a design process that works like a transformation matrix: choosing methods to map what the startup is looking to provide to what the market would adopt. I operated between layers of abstraction and tangibility to translate between company and the target user to inform our product position and roadmap.
- From specific company context to general market → ethnography, desk research, stakeholder analysis
- From general space to specific user context → design requirements, interaction vision, embodiment choices