ELEMNT BOLT 2.0 Launch
Wahoo launched their reimagined ELEMNT BOLT GPS bike computer on May 25, 2021
From 2 colors → 64 colors. Full ANT+ & Bluetooth Sensor support. Turn by turn navigation, live tracking. USB-C charging. Almost all the maps in the world, in color. Color data fields, new fonts.
A lot of my work involved with launch was marketing-focused and out-of-the-box onboarding. Getting the appropriate screens ready for packaging, renders needed for product commercials, and hammering out all the UX for a good map download experience for users all over the world.
Team
Product Owner: Megan Powers
Lead UX/UI Designer: Lauren Pangborn
Supporting UX/UI Designer: Mackenna Lees
My work: Animations & Onboarding
Problem
Even though the UI for the ELEMNT BOLT 2.0 was settled, all user onboarding is done in the ELEMNT Companion App (iOS/Android) to make for a swimmingly easy onboarding experience.
The heavy lifting was done — we’ve launched 3 GPS bike computers before this one, so the general onboarding process was locked down.
What’s left is new imagery (this is new piece of hardware, with brand new UI components) and handling extra storage. We couldn’t quite get the whole world on the device for maps. It was up to onboarding to handle those discrepancies for users all over the world. 🌎
Process
Get animations squared away (time consuming!)
Retro-fit onboarding screens for new specs/features/constraints of this device
Handle map download experience for all users
Design HAPPY PATH. Handle any errors.
How much of the world can we install at the factory? Decision to be made later by PO.
Animations
Animations for companion app
Not complicated, but time-intensive!
Animation process
Export needed screens in Figma
Overlay screens on hardware render
Animate in Photoshop using Timelines
Export animation as MP4.
Compress MP4 using KEKA
Finding compression quality/file size “sweet spot”
MP4 cannot export with a transparent background
Light and Dark mode - ready versions for iOS
This way, developers just swap 1:1 while writing code
Onboarding
General Onboarding
Device onboarding to follow ELEMNT ROAM for majority of features (except maps)
Location services + Wi-Fi configuredWelcome to BOLT
Firmware (FW) Update
Map handling + download
Quick Tour
Feature carousel (animations)
Intro to routing features
Wrap-up
Companion app detail
Onboarding wrap-up + error handling
Firmware update
Out of the box ELEMNT BOLTs only have the last FW update they were given at the factory pre-boxing. They need the latest FW. This is done via Wi-Fi.
Scenarios
Checking for update (image right)
Currently updating (will reboot after)
✅ Already up to date
Wi-Fi required to update - Settings tab later
❌ Skip FW update (not ideal)
Need to give the user an opportunity to skip and continue with onboarding at this step
Map handling
With its extra storage, BOLT has much of the world pre-loaded. Users in United States/ Australia have the best UX; they are good to go.
If user turned on Location Services → We can find where they are and streamline this screen to make download as easy as possible.
Scenarios
Maps are installed. User is from a country with maps
pre-installed. No action needed
Forced download. User is from a country not on list. Wi-Fi and Location Services enabled, so force download at this step
Visit Settings. User is from country not on list. Skipped Wi-Fi or Location Services. Needs to visit settings tab to fix these things.
We love a happy path!1. Maps installed
2. Forced download
3. Visit Settings
Quick Tour
At this point, BOLT is doing a number of things; FW update, maybe a map download. It’s kind of busy doing its thing. This is the perfect time to show the user some fancy features of their new GPS bike computer.
This is where many of the animations come into play.
Features
Switch pages
Zoom in and out
Power button
LED indicators
Intro to routing features
Still kind of a feature tour, but with some steps. Routing features require a safety pop-up and setting home/work locations for easy “route to home.”
Features
Location on map
Safety consent pop-up (legal)
Saved locations (set home/work)
Wrap-up
Scenarios
✅ Good to go. Most users. Happy path! Everything is ready to make a usable device. Even maps.
Map download queued / still downloading / almost ready!
Accommodations for lags in map downloads.
❌ Action needed. ELEMNT BOLT is missing maps. [You made it past all our barricades, action is needed].
1. Good to go
2. Downloading
3. Action needed
You are going to have a bad time if you make it here
Action needed…
Here’s the thing.
We have to give users the ability to skip certain things. Users are allowed to skip two critical steps during EARLY onboarding; Wi-Fi setup and Location Services enablement.
If a user skips both prompts, their device is NOT READY!
It has yet to go through a firmware update
We haven’t checked if their local maps were already downloaded
Goal with error screen:
Be direct that this is an issue, but phrase it as a device problem.
Structure language as “maps are missing” and “needed to function normally”.
It’s not the users fault.
Learnings
This was my first device launch! It was exciting to develop all the onboarding for this new GPS bike computer and to see it launch into the world.
I have a newfound respect for anyone involved with animation. Even making the LEDs blink was no joke! Even if I had the screens all lined up in the right way, the LEDs were a next level problem to get juuuuust right.