Product Design Scotland, Edinburgh: Shore Design

Honeywell ▪ Programmable Thermostats

Requirement

Designed in the 1990’s the CM30 range of programmable thermostats had been a mainstay of the Honeywell heating control division. A reliable and strong seller, the CM30 was starting to show its age, had limited features, poor user interface and diminished aesthetics. To re-focus the brand Honeywell opened up the development to a selection of six European design agencies; one was Shore Design.

Development

After an iterative process of hand sketch development and 3D Computer refinement, multiple design concepts were produced. These were taken, along with submissions from other agencies, to an extensive series of user trials across Europe. After analysing the  results, two of Shore Design’s concepts stood head and shoulders above the field; the only problem – which one to manufacture?

The solution proved simple – make both! So further refinement was carried out on the external form and the user interface was fine tuned in close collaboration with the Honeywell team.

Result

Based around a common core user interface, software and electrical hardware, the CM900 offers a premium, feature rich product whereas the CM700 gives a cost effective, focused solution. This dual approach has allowed Honeywell to successfully fulfill a range of market opportunities. Now with both products widely accepted by the distribution channels they are vying with each other once again to be Honeywell’s next best seller.