At a Glance

• 4-month consulting engagement

• Principal UX Designer

• Embedded appliance HMI

• Dual-basket washing machine and dryer

• Design system + interaction model

• Cross-functional partnership with engineering and industrial design

THE CHALLENGE

TOOLS USED: ARCHITECTURAL FLOW AUDITS, CONCDEPTUAL FLOWS, MARKET RESEARCH

Whirlpool was developing a premium dual-basket washer that allowed customers to wash two loads simultaneously. While the hardware innovation created new opportunities, it also introduced significant UX complexity. The dual-basket model challenged deeply ingrained expectations around how laundry is sorted, started, monitored, and completed. Designing an experience that felt intuitive required balancing new capabilities with familiar mental models, ensuring customers could immediately understand the product without feeling like they had to learn an entirely new way of doing laundry.

Customers needed to understand:

• Which basket was active

• How two cycles interacted

• What actions were available at any given moment

• How to manage parallel tasks without confusion

Unlike traditional appliances, there were few existing patterns to reference, requiring the team to define entirely new interaction models for the platform.

DISCOVERY & INSIGHTS

TOOLS USED: STORYBOARDS, CONCEPTUAL MODELS, PROCESS MAPPING, WIREFLOWS, COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS, STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS

Key Insights

• Laundry is a high-frequency household task with little room for confusion

• Users expect appliance interactions to be immediate and predictable

• Simultaneous cycles create cognitive complexity absent from traditional washers

• Hardware constraints significantly influenced interaction possibilities

Design Principles

1. Clarity over complexity

2. Minimize cognitive load

3. Surface relevant actions at the right time

4. Maintain consistency across states

5. Balance power and simplicity

Early assumptions suggested the dual-basket functionality could be introduced through a single additional control on the HMI. However, as we mapped real-world user scenarios across the laundry lifecycle (from load planning and cycle setup to monitoring and completion) it became clear that the complexity extended far beyond a simple feature addition. Physical control constraints and pre-engineered hardware decisions limited available interaction patterns, requiring a more holistic approach to the experience architecture.

INTERACTION DESIGN

TOOLS USED: COMPONENT LIBRARY, WIREFRAMES, USER FLOWS, PROTOTYPES

Framework

• Navigation structure

• Screen hierarchy

• System states

• Error handling

• Cross-basket interactions

• Messaging behavior

Key Considerations

• Two baskets operating independently

• Hundreds of potential system states

• Safety and compliance requirements

• Fixed hardware controls

• Limited screen real estate

• Cross-basket interactions

Household appliances hold various safety regulations. For example, to prevent accidents, there are strict safety requirements governed when doors could lock and unlock, directly impacting how users interacted with the appliance throughout a cycle.

DESIGN Strategy

TOOLS USED: MOCKUPS, ANNOTATED SPEC DOCUMENTATION, DESIGN LIBRARY

Design System

To ensure consistency across hundreds of potential system states, I created reusable patterns and components that supported scalability and engineering implementation.

Deliverables

• Component library

• HMI messaging standards

• Screen templates

• State management patterns

• Interaction specifications

Execution

Deliverables

• End-to-end interaction flows

• High-fidelity HMI screens

• Component library

• Messaging standards

• Behavioral specifications

• Engineering-ready documentation

IMPACT & OUTCOME

Outcomes

• Established the foundational interaction model for the VMAX8 platform

• Delivered scalable design patterns supporting future features

• Created documentation that enabled engineering implementation

• Aligned UX, engineering, and industrial design around a shared vision

• Contributed to a first-to-market appliance experience

The product is scheduled for release in Summer 2026 and remains under NDA for certain details.