AMAZON WEB SERVICES
GREENGRASS FOR ANDROID
1 Designer
3 Months
AWS IoT Greengrass is an open-source edge runtime and cloud service that enables developers to build, deploy, and manage intelligent IoT applications at the edge. As a device software platform, Greengrass serves as the foundation of all other AWS IoT services. Currently, Greengrass is supported on Linux and Windows operating systems, but not Android, meaning customers with Android devices are excluded from its powerful features. There has long been calls to extend Greengrass support to Android OS. In 2022, a joint business venture with LG Electronics finally kicked off the project, and I was attached as the UX designer from the AWS CX team. Due to capacity concerns of the engineering team, there were a number of backend limitations regarding Android compatibility that could not be addressed in time. Thus a main design goal was to ensure a pleasant user experience despite technical constraints.
RESEARCH
用戸研究
User Scenario
Specifically, business partners at LG Electronics wanted to use Greengrass for their line of refrigerators (with an Android display) so it can act as a hub within smart home systems. However, due to backend limitations, Greengrass cannot remotely install software components to Android devices. As a result, LG engineers would have to manually install the Greengrass software onto their refrigerators. Right away, the biggest challenge was to find a solution that can help guide our users through the admittedly complex manual provisioning and configuration process.
Persona & Journey Map
My time for research was limited due to a tight deadline. Luckily, each AWS service had prepared its user information well in advance for situations like this. I was able to refer to the base personas and quickly create a new one tailored for my specific use case. I then used the customer journey map for Greengrass (also pre-made) to walk through this particular LGE scenario to identify areas of concern.
Product Research
It became obvious early on that a separate Android app was needed to facilitate manual installation. I needed a quick cram session as I had not been familiar with Android OS and its Material design system. Just to make things even more complicated, turned out Google had just launched its Material 3 update, which saw major thematic changes from its previous versions.
IDEATION
設計構想
User Flow
Working through the customer journey map as well as the technical specifications given by the engineers, I plotted out the full Greengrass set up and deployment flows on an Android device. I labelled out key points where users have to switch from the AWS web console to the Android companion app, and tried to streamline the procedure as much as possible.
Information Architecture
Thankfully the logic behind Greengrass software installation was relatively simple. From the user flow I could easily abstract the key tasks needed for manual installation and translate them into screens and actions. And now we have the information architecture for an application that can fill in all the missing steps in the Greengrass Android flow.
PROTOTYPE
原型制作
Design Systems & Mockups
The biggest challenge in this project turned out to be design system — or the lack thereof. To my horror I discovered the whole of AWS did not have any guidelines whatsoever when it came to mobile app design. The existing AWS design system was wholly unsuited for mobile view, while Google's new Material 3 was way too different from the AWS brand.
The fact I was unfamiliar with Android apps only made things trickier. I turned to fellow designers for help, and even reached out to other AWS teams with mobile app experience for advice. In the end I made a number of mockups, trying out different design systems or even combinations of design systems, and went through rounds of design critique. Finally I decided to go with a visual refresh version of the AWS system (now the Cloudscape Design System) with adjusted font and component sizes for better mobile accessibility. I submitted my feedback to the AWS Design team and let them know of the significance of mobile platforms.
High-fidelity Prototype
Having essentially built out a mini design system, I was finally able to move on with finishing the prototype. Luckily the app was quite straight forward in terms of its content, and the task flow was already laid out and confirmed. I was able to quickly go through the internal UX review process without a hitch.
REFLECTION
経験総結
Working as a UX designer in a company the size and maturity of AWS was certainly different from anything else prior in my experience. I was lucky to be a part of an extensive Customer Experience organization with rigorous design guidelines and review processes in place. Having resources like personas and component libraries readily available greatly helped me jump on and go through the whole project in an incredibly short period of time. The engineering team I was partnered with was also amazing to work with, and there was little correcting for me to do when it came to frontend implementation (which unfortunately was not something I could say for many other places). Ultimately though, what I benefited the most from was seeing how it is to work in an environment where UX is not only valued but ingrained into the product development process. As a designer I was involved early on in project conception, and contributed to annual roadmap planning for the entire service. I got to work with not just PMs and developers, but a whole community of talented researchers, writers, and marketers whom I could rely on every step of the way. And I could see just how much more efficient, robust, spirited — simply better — the development can be as a result. This is above all the one thing I will take away from my time at AWS for the rest of my design carer.
