Experience Design, Hardware Product Design, UX Mechanism Generation and Implementation

Dates: November 2023 - November 2025​

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The Value I Delivered

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• Supported the 0→1 launch of Bose’s upcoming 2026 Home Theater Speaker Systems, contributing to three entirely new firmware-based product experiences from early development through release readiness.

• Built a data-driven, systemized feedback pattern library to unify physical interaction design across devices, including an LED behavior library and an audio tone system, improving consistency across multimodal touchpoints.

• Documented key user interaction and feedback patterns in Figma, enabling clearer cross-functional collaboration and stronger UX decision-making conversations with product, engineering, and firmware teams.

• Helped standardize UX communication frameworks across the organization by creating over 10 reusable templates for journey maps, flows, personas, and multimodal system interactions, increasing alignment and design scalability across teams.

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Building a Cohesive Speaker System 

At Bose, I designed their upcoming 2026 In Home Sound Systems products (Soundbars, Speakers, Bass Modules, etc) using a platform-based approach to ensure ecosystem wide usability and consistency.  

I participated in the end-to-end design process, contributing across both hardware and app interaction design to ensure a cohesive and intuitive user experience.

My work began with early prototyping, where I explored and refined industrial design elements—including button layouts, form factors, and status indicators such as LED pin lights and audio drivers—to enhance perception and emotional response utilizing LED patterns and audio tones. 

I also spearheaded the design and integration of all on-product interactions for primary and overloaded controls, balancing simplicity with functionality. Some of these experiences include solutions for content and sound control, troubleshooting, shortcuts, and pre-configured actions. To drive a companywide feedback system, I developed and implemented a comprehensive feedback design library, defining standards for audio and visual responses that reinforced product states and user actions.

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Taking a Platform + Scale Focused Approach to Platform Design 

Previously, Bose’s Product Design organization operated largely on a product-by-product basis. As new product lines were developed and launched, interactions, feedback systems, and user experiences were created to meet immediate needs rather than as part of a shared foundation. Over time, this resulted in a scattered and inconsistent experience—especially for customers who owned multiple Bose products.

The Bose product ecosystem lacked a unified hardware UX framework spanning portable speakers, home audio systems, Bluetooth headphones, earbuds, and more. This created a noticeable disconnect between the Bose brand promise and the actual day-to-day product experience. Internally, it also led to redundant design and development efforts, with overlapping workflows and repeated UX problem-solving across teams.
To bridge this gap, Bose needed a more platform-driven approach to product UX—one that could scale across categories while reinforcing consistency and cohesion. In response, I helped develop a library of shared UX patterns and behavioral standards designed to work across diverse form factors and feature sets. This foundation enabled more connected experiences across the portfolio, ensuring that variations were introduced intentionally and only when supported by research and design rationale.

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Outcome and Deliverables 

• Improved end to end OOBE setup experinece for customers of the Home Theater System (Launching Spring 2026)

• Organized and Data Driven LED Feedback Pattern Library

• Improved and Scalable Audio Tones Feedback Library

• Company-wide Design Documentation Resource for Product Development, Implementation, and Validation

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To hear more about this project, please contact Chloe Chen. 

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