FreeWire will introduce the new and ruggedized Mobi Gen Flex at the 2018 American Rental Association Show. This unveiling comes with quite the back story.

FreeWire has always been an engineering-focused organization – an industrial hardware and IoT startup driven by lean tactics. Towards the middle of last year, the engineering foundations were solidly laid and we realized it was time for a shift. It was time to turn focus towards a user-centric design approach while maintaining our engineering chops. In the fall of 2017, we invited several user experience design consultants to help us rethink the Mobi Gen Flex and create a new version with premium usability. The consultants worked with FreeWire for several weeks starting with team brainstorming, contextual research, and customer interviews. From the feedback gathered, the design team ran numerous sprints.

FreeWire team visioning session

“To understand their product (Mobi Gen Flex) we had to first understand FreeWire’s business goals better. They asked questions about design impact, their customers, their target industries and their future that required a more in depth look at the existing assumptions and product.

The participatory design activities we lead allowed the stakeholders to consider user needs and reflect on their company vision. Understanding the company goals helped us realize the problem at hand and refine our objective and role in growing their success in the mobile power industry.”

– Becky Pierson

Introducing User Centered Design to Mobile Power on Medium

Contextual research at CBS Studios

The weeks spent with the design consultants had a tremendous effect, resulting in a company-wide embrace of user-centric design. At FreeWire, we established a refined process of collecting user feedback and synthesizing it to improve existing features & implement new ones.

A new and improved Mobi Gen Flex will be unveiled at the 2018 American Rental Association show in New Orleans on February 19th. This new version features an intuitive touch screen for vital operation stats and support, a ruggedized exterior, and a re-engineered motor for increased mobility. It will be on exhibit from February 19-21 on the main show floor. Stop on by!

by Serena Xu