Star Wars Force Band for BB-8

My role and responsibilities:

Senior UX Designer: ideation, UX/UI design, prototyping, cross-functional collaboration (tech, business, product, vendor)
Research: Usability research

About this project:
The Force Band was a wearable device designed to control the BB-8 robot without the need for a mobile device. After the initial launch of BB-8, we received feedback that users were hesitant to loan their expensive mobile devices, particularly to children, for operating the robot. The Force Band was created to solve this issue, while also enhancing the play experience by offering both active and ambient play modes.

This project allowed me to extend my influence beyond traditional digital design, as I contributed to the out-of-box experience, onboarding, device pairing, and audio/haptic feedback loops within the gameplay. I also consulted on the industrial design of the wearable and the packaging design. The complexity of this project expanded my practice of user-centric design, as it involved balancing multiple elements of the product experience.

Design process:

Research synthesis
Collaboration with hardware, industrial, brand design
User journey mapping (onboarding and play experiences)
Sketching/ideation
Usability testing
Dev-ready specifications
Post-launch iterations

The challenge:
UX design is often an invisible part of the product development process. I was involved at the ground level, helping define experience requirements while balancing the needs of the business, manufacturing, and engineering teams. My role required orchestrating user-facing experiences across hardware, software, firmware, packaging, and industrial design, which demanded significant patience and trust from all teams involved.

In addition to managing these tasks, I also served as a lead individual contributor. With a limited budget, we made the most of our resources by bringing on two part-time associate UX designers to help execute the product vision. Working in a startup environment, I had to navigate ambiguity and take responsibility for providing clarity and leading the design vision.

The solution:
To manage the complexities of the project, I worked incrementally, aligning milestones with key deadlines such as manufacturing and packaging timelines. My first priority was gathering research to optimize the driving experience, the primary use case for the Force Band. This required uncovering data to inform the physical product design, digital onboarding, and device calibration with the smartphone. Once that was solidified, I shifted focus to designing the gaming features—Droid Control, Combat Training, and Force Awareness—working closely with the firmware and hardware teams to ensure the physical interaction experiences matched the device’s capabilities. After finalizing these features, I completed the design of the product setup and feature tutorials.

In summary, my responsibilities included:

Applied user research for feature exploration, scoping, development, and refinement
Field research with children and adults, over 600+ participants in 6 months
Human factors research, design, and analysis across the Force Band product system. Included management of user setup experiences, multiple device user interfaces, play environments, modes of play, optimal use of products within the system, and management of errors.
Gesture ergonomics and industrial design optimization
Active and ambient play design, including the use of haptic, audio, and light feedback systems
End-to-end physical and digital user experience design, from unboxing, onboarding, and the returning play experience

Results:

App Store – 4.6/5 average rating – 1.2K reviews

Google Play Store – 4.3/5 average rating – 2.9K reviews

“It’s the closest you’ll ever get to being a Jedi, and it’s great. There’s an undeniable joy that you’ll feel when you’re driving a droid with little more than the power of your mind.” trustedreviews.com

“The holographic AR messaging, automatic robotic mode and the cute mannerisms of BB-8 made our first impression of this little droid an overwhelmingly good one, and now the addition of the Force Band has only made us fall more deeply in love with the little guy.” techradar.com

A sample of my work:

This is the video trailer that demonstrates the orchestration of different hardware and software features as a result of my design and research work.