A meeting room management device with a minimal user interface

Custom connected room signs for Method’s San Francisco studio

Method’s small studio suffered from a common set of problems with its shared meeting rooms. People wanting to quickly drop into a meeting room had no visibility of the room’s future availability. Many rooms were occupied by people that hadn’t booked properly, or seen that a meeting was starting soon. There was a barrier between the digital booking system and physical space. Furthermore, available solutions to this problem were clunky, visually unappealing, and overkill for a small studio. I initiated Roomie and built a custom solution to solve meeting room confusion at Method.

Client

Method (Internal)

Date

2017

Role

Design
Development
Production

Type

IoT Prototyping
Physical Device Development

Approach

Simplifying the purpose to solve a discrete problem

Roomie was designed to be as basic as possible, filling a discrete gap in the calendaring experience. Rather than replacing digital calendaring, Roomie is meant for moments when booking a room through a device is not feasible. It’s designed for the two-second decision in front of a meeting room where users need to know if the room is available and for how long. If available, Roomie allows them to book the room anonymously for the length they choose. Any other detailed use cases would mean users have a bit more time to plan, which could be done through a device using the existing calendaring system.

Design solution

Minimal single-button user interface

Roomie has four LEDs and one large button. Each LED represents a half-hour interval of the corresponding room's Google Calendar, giving users a quick indication of whether a meeting is coming up and how much time they can drop in for. It effectively serves as a physical short-term display of the digital schedule with the ability to book right now. Users can quickly book meetings for the length of time they choose in half-hour intervals or cancel their impromptu meeting by holding down the button.

Process

Design, Development, and Production

I completed this project in entirety, design through production. This process included 3D modelling, 3D printing, electronic circuit design and construction, server software development for Google Calendar integration, firmware development for Roomie’s onboard computer, and physical construction of the signs.