INTERVIEW : Chris Baumann, le Design chez TADO

Le design au coeur de nos quotidiens, partons aujourd’hui à la découverte de la marque TADO, spécialiste allemand de la technologie / domotique à destination de nos chauffages et climatisations.

Une réflexion au coeur de notre projet de rénovation de notre appartement, où comment rendre notre habitat plus intelligent ? plus en phase avec nos modes de vie ? et s’il est possible de moins consommer…

Facilité la maitrise de noter consommation d’énergie, pièce par pièce, mais également garder un oeil sur la qualité de l’air intérieur, idéal quand certaines personnes du foyer ont des allergies particulières ou en milieu urbain et sa pollution.

La bête sélectionnée par nos soins, sans être signée d’un grand designer, va à l’essentiel, minimaliste et fonctionnel ce thermostat trouvera facilement sa place dans votre intérieur. (un blanc poudré au toucher agréable). Nous optons pour un starter kit accompagné d’un kit de têtes thermostatiques intelligentes à fixer directement sur les radiateurs.

Un véritable plus, permettant comme avec beaucoup de système standard de piloter habilement la température de votre pièce de vie (là où est situé le thermostat) mais également d’adapter pièce par pièce, la température parfaite. Idéal pour les chambres éloignées, ou chambre d’enfant par exemple…

En début de phase de test, nous reviendrons avec les premiers résultats, laissons passer l’été pour en juger les bénéfices. (Certains autres tests consultés annoncent entre 10 et 25% d’économies sur la consommation d’énergie en chauffage !)

Le thermostat connecté, pourra à souhait ajuster la température en fonction de votre présence ou de votre arrivée prochaine.. Il adapte au mieux sa consommation et son “travail“. Lors de la configuration, le thermostat prendra la configuration de votre habitation (surface, isolation, orientation) ainsi que la météo afin d’ajuster les t° en fonction des conditions climatiques. Un jeu d’équilibre entre chaleur naturelle et chaleur rapportée, permettant à votre thermostat d’orchestrer tout cela pièce par pièce et de réduire la consommation d’énergie sans perte de confort.

Le bonus, partons à la rencontre de Chris Baumann, Head of Product Design TADO, ayant accepté de répondre à mes questions. (in English)

Un plaisir de découvrir son parcours, sa vision, ses inspirations et détailler le métier de Designer intégré à ce jour ce société. Un métier “de l’ombre” essentiel au fonctionnement et développement de “toute” société. Deux réponses et citations, retenant particulièrement mon attention : “Designers at tado° have multiple roles. They all focus on the goal of continuously improving the tado° experience across all touchpoints.” Au delà du produit, de la conception, de l’objet en lui même, l’intervention réside dans toutes les interactions les futurs utilisateurs.

La seconde, faisant de chaque employé, de chaque bonne volonté une approche, une énergie bonne pour la marque.. “What I like at tado° is that we do have a lot of ‘silent designers’ in the company” Une équipe en charge du Design, en lien, en échange, en interaction avec l’ensemble des autres services… De quoi faire rêver certains ou certaines ?

Voici l’interview, dans sa globalité ! N’hésitez pas à nous partager vos réactions et citations marquantes ! Bonne lecture.

Chris Baumann, Head of Product Design TADO

What is your level of education & background?

Born & Raised in Munich, Bachelor of Industrial Design from University of Applied Sciences, Munich., First professional experiences at BMW and its mobility startup DriveNow. Master of International Design Business Management from Aalto University Helsinki

Previously worked at Finnish Digital Service Creation Agency Future

What are your inspirations in your work?

The most inspiring input into my work are the insights we gain from talking to our users as well as the positive product & service experiences my colleagues and I have in our daily lives.

Whenever working on a concrete project we collect inspirational examples of how others have solved similar challenges, often from completely different industries. As the focus of my team spans across multiple design fields including service design (both for B2B and B2C), interaction design, and physical product design there are a lot of sources for inspiration

How did you come to tado°?

In 2018, after 2.5 years of agency life at Futurice, I was looking to join a smaller product company in which I could contribute to the development of great digital and physical products from the very beginning to launch and beyond. I had quite a few expectations for my next step. The most challenging one: I wanted to work on a product which I really believed in, one that offers not only a great experience but also has a positive impact. tado° was the company that I knew that would meet all the criteria I had in mind. I had known the young company for quite a few years and really liked the design philosophy and the sustainable contribution of their products.

What is the role of a designer at tado°?

Designers at tado° have multiple roles. They all focus on the goal of continuously improving the tado° experience across all touchpoints.

Everything we develop needs to be relevant to our users by solving real problems for them. One of the key roles of our designers is to lower risk in our strategic decision making. We do so identifying user needs early and experiment and testing to validate hypotheses before we invest resources in development.

Once we identify opportunities, our designers develop concepts, prototype and iterate the solutions with user feedback in close collaboration with multiple other departments across tado°.

The designers are often in an interface position between Product Management, Domain experts, Marketing, Customer Support, Development and others in which their role is to combine the input of this cross-functional setup into a holistic concept.

How would you define design at tado°?

Put yourself in the shoes of the users and continuously improve the experience they have with our brand everyday. What I like at tado° is that we do have a lot of ‘silent designers’ in the company. Team members who are not trained designers but who are sharing the same goal as our design team and stand up for the needs of our users in order to deliver them a great experience.

What is your typical day like?

Waking up during a short bike ride to the office
For the past few months, we have a quick Product Design team standup every morning to discuss the highest priorities of the day and update each other on the status of ongoing work.

Throughout the day I will spend some hours supporting the team members in whatever they are currently working on. I will join a demo of one of our product teams where the latest concepts and implementations are presented by designers and developers. For lunch, the design team would normally go to a small cafe nearby (An experience that can’t be fully replaced via video calls).

In the planning session following the demo, the product team will then together agree on the highest priorities for the upcoming week based on user needs, company goals, and latest market developments.

What is the difference/innovation brought?

tado° makes any heating system smart. We enable users to conveniently control their heating and cooling from anywhere via their smartphone while saving a lot of energy with features like Geofencing or the Smart Schedule. It’s a great feeling to know you will have warm feet in your bathroom in the morning while being sure that no energy is wasted whenever you leave your home.

What does a designer bring to this kind of company & product & innovation?

As designers we merge tado°s goals and expertise with the needs of our users to create a successful & user-friendly product offering.
Our designers bring the necessary empathy for our users, understanding of market, and design trends as well as collaboration skills to make this possible.

What will the future of the brand be made of? The impact of Covid-19 ?

I personally don’t expect a long term impact of Covid-19 on our brand.
With the strategic decisions made in the past years and the high quality of our products, services and support I see tado° perfectly set up for the future.

Across our markets we see a growing interest in the smart home as well a sustainable usage of technology. Thanks to the hard work we put into ensuring our products are highly compatible with all types of home heating and cooling systems, anyone can take part in a smarter and more sustainable future.

Personally I am very excited about our growing services offering which is an interesting time of transformation at tado°. We are constantly looking into how we can support our users even more in the field of climate in their home and are building valuable experiences on top of our core product.

What will be for you the great innovation(s) of tomorrow?

I think we need to differentiate between technological progress and great holistic innovations.
Many past ‘innovations’ came along with the promise of making life easier, providing convenience etc.. Often they had negative side effects like causing bad social impacts, contributing to steadily increasing consumption and energy usage, causing social pressure and addictions especially among younger generations.

For me a great innovation is having a positive impact on society, our planet, users’ private lives and their health. I hope that we’ll be seeing more development in these directions.

Plus d’informations sur la marque : TADO

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