Design Tofu

UI/UX · Logo · Illustration · Motion

A developer tool for testing and certifying BLE devices on the SmartThings ecosystem. I handled the whole design side, logo, icons, illustrations, UI, and motion. It got featured at Samsung Developer Conference 2021, which is basically the Samsung version of the Oscars, except everyone's dressed more casually. Some details are kept private due to NDA.

Samsung Research Institue Indonesia, 2021

Problem

Samsung's device partners were burning too much time just to get their products certified through the Work with SmartThings (WWST) process. The idea was to build an app so developers could run tests themselves, move faster, and skip a lot of the back-and-forth.

The Challenge

SmartThings works with a huge range of devices, which means a huge range of test cases. The real design problem was figuring out how to present all of that without making developers want to close the app immediately. And it all had to stay consistent with Samsung's broader design system.

Design process

Turns out barely anyone has built a BLE testing app, so references were slim. We benchmarked against Apple's, the only one worth looking at. From there I mapped out the biggest UX pain points, sketched low-fi wireframes, and explored a few design directions per problem. Stayed close with the devs throughout so my ideas didn't accidentally require rewriting the entire codebase.

Homepage

First-timers hit onboarding, then land on an empty state staring back at them. The obvious trap: they have no idea what file to upload. So I put a template download right there on the page (radical concept, I know). Once a file's in, device icons show up per entry so scanning a list doesn't feel like reading a spreadsheet at 2am.

Test page

A lot of test items to get through. I grouped and prioritized them by category, then designed progress bars so devs can instantly see what's passed and what still needs work without having to read every single line. Icons are kept minimal and contextual. There's also a device info panel and a one-click export to send results off for certification.