Matterport Axis

Leading product design and industrial design on a project that created a new way for small and medium businesses to capture spaces.

Prior to Axis, frequent complaints about stitching errors during smartphone capture undermined Matterport's commitment to accuracy, posing a significant challenge to user satisfaction and brand integrity.

Based off of customer research, the hardware, product, design and engineering teams kicked off the Matterport Axis — an automated motor mount that rotated 360°around, taking six photos with perfect alignment and precision for faster higher quality models.

With a user base primarily comprising professional photographers and real estate agents, affordability and efficiency were paramount. High-end cameras were often beyond budget, while manual smartphone capture proved too time-consuming.

My Role + Team

Led the product design on the mobile app side, worked with third party vendors on Industrial design (both giving feedback but also designing elements), supported the brand team on packaging and quick start guide, and worked with the marketing team to create renders and animations in Blender.

Worked with the Mobile PM, Hardware PM, and an engineer to build the initial proof of concept that we then productized

Impact

Axis reduced user churn by 205% and users created 4.7x more spaces with Axis than SPC over their customer lifetime.

Won the Japanese “Good Design award of Best 100” in 2021.

Met inital week sales goals within hours of launching

Timeframe

This project took six months from initial ideation to launching the first version of Axis.

Industrial Design

Our process involved selecting an industrial design that ensured consistent phone placement without the need for constant adjustments. Once we had a baseline design, I led multiple rounds of revision to improve the user experience — ranging from informative alignment improvements to functional improvements on the screws.

If you'd like to view or share the Spline 3d file above, use the following link:
https://my.spline.design/axisv7animations-f53659a66f57cf8852db5347e16ba385/

Collaborative efforts with hardware and mobile app PMs aimed to create a modern, user-friendly experience where initial connection and subsequent scanning were as simple as possible.

Iterative improvements based on internal studies and user feedback enhanced Axis, addressing alignment and grip issues to optimize the user experience.

Integration of additional features such as a remote control and sound necessitated design adjustments throughout the processes.

Overcoming timeline constraints

Despite facing delays in development and QA, the team maintained an aggressive timeline targeting an early-year launch. Challenges included conducting user research without product leaks and adapting to new functionalities like remote support.

View a sample space captured by Axis

Reflections and Learnings

Learning to tightly scope hardware projects while allowing room for incremental software improvements was a key takeaway, emphasizing stricter timelines for hardware alterations.

Finding a balance between internal beta testing and field deployment without risking leaks became crucial, highlighting the necessity of taking calculated risks to validate ideas.

Undertaking industrial design at scale for the first time brought lessons, including the importance of prototype validation before manufacturing, despite successful outcomes with new screw designs mitigating potential risks.