Ergonomic Research & Design for Microsoft Surface Earbuds & Headphones

Industrial Design, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Communications, & Human Factors/UX.

Purpose/Objective: Design wearable devices that are easy to don, stay in place, and comfortable to wear all day.

Goal(s): Devices should be easy to don, remain in place during typical usage scenarios, and comfortable to wear for extended durations; Ensure designs produce proper alignment when donned to support audio and microphone performance requirements; Maintain ID form factor as much as possible across different sizes.

Role(s): I owned the ergonomic research and design efforts, including generating insights, design recommendations and rollouts for partner teams; Supervised a team of researchers running dozens of studies from concept to release; Conducted competitive analyses; Reviewed and processed internal anthropometric ear scan data; Created an internal library of ear casts and performed fit evaluations; Measured clamp force and overhead headphone pressure for internal and competitor devices; Led experimental design and development of user scenarios, evaluations of industrial design, engineering and HF prototypes I created to iterate form factor designs, and photogrammetry to measure donned device positioning; Provided design direction for soft goods (i.e., silicones, durometers, fabric textures, foams, coatings); UX writing and design guidance for the device donning process in the quick start OOBE app.