HP Customer Welcome Center

propelland was tasked with updating HP's Customer Welcome Center to showcase a more in-context user experience, where customers can see HP hardware within the context of a real user interfacing with HP products within different work environments. As you walk through the new HP Customer Welcome Center you can see these environments sorted into different areas such as an "Office", a "Home", or a "Gaming" environment. In "Office", you'll see printers or videoconferencing hardware, and for "Gaming", you can experience streaming setups, gaming hardware, and even musical instruments.

The new Customer Welcome Center was updated with different activations powered by Home Assistant, an open-source home automation software that integrates with a variety of appliances and IoT devices. For one called "Choose Your Persona", we used differently colored Philips Hue Lights to highlight sets of products according to which work persona would use them. Additionally, we added controllable sounds and smells throughout the entire space to make a more immersive and interactive experience.

In this particular interaction, "Choose Your Persona", personas were identified and created to represent users that would benefit from the products that exist within the model co-working space. Examples of some of the personas that were created are "Tech Experts", "Creative Experts", "Office Collaborators", etc. We had the lights and personas activated by custom ID cards, each one representing a different persona to be highlighted.

The cards are scanned by a NFC tag reader and we also added control cards to turn them all on or off and to reset them. The primary user for these cards would be a tour guide that would guide customers through the space.

Everything was built to be easily customizable and accessible, so that the system can be modified when different needs arise.

Sounds and smells were added and placed throughout the space as well. Sounds were controlled by Sonos speakers attached to Home Assistant, where local sound files were being hosted. Smells were controlled by a smart plug attached to a Wi-Fi connected aroma diffusers from Pura.

Overall, the new Customer Welcome Center has been augmented with a multi-sensory experience, sights, sounds, and smells that enable HP customers to look at HP products within a context that they will actually be used in. This allows customers to get closer to how real users will use HP products.