DESIGN CHALLENGE

ThinkEco is a home automation company based in New York City that provides easy-to-use energy efficiency solutions for utilities, enterprises, and homes. In line with product development and business growth, ThinkEco required a new innovative up-to-date app (working with utility companies such as ConEdison, National Grid and Amazon home) to improve user experience, drive market behavior and meet utility program requirements (lower energy usage at peak demand).

^{Client: ThinkEco
Year: 2017 - 2018

Roles: UX Design, UI Design, Art Direction, Creative Direction

Skills: Ideation, information architecture, site
structure, wireframe, prototype, interface design, usability testing

Tools Used: Sketch, InVision, Illustrator, Zeplin.}

DESIGN PROCESS

01. Understanding Consumers Needs, Wants and Discovering Problems

In order to engage more active user participation for home automation and energy savings, it is important to follow a user-centric process.

Key takeaways from the previous application performance based on a feedback survey:

Repetitive content and pages
Unclear commissioning action requirements vs. status indications
Deficiency of information relating to troubleshooting
Insufficient desire or motivation for energy savings
No control function during night time

02. Information Architecture: (Site Map)

Based on our user insights, there were major changes needed to solve the problems experienced in the previous application structure.

Integrate Savings Summary and Usage Diagram sections into the application to motivate people’s savings behavior. These functions allow easy access of usage data, providing usage comparison, and savings.
Add the ability to use multiple devices to set a flexible temperature schedule that meets personal and room needs in different situations.
Use gamification for the rewards segment including: using data, streaks, icons to reveal users’ progress, indicating reward goals to encourage energy saving behaviors, providing tips about how to get points, etc.
Planned social media integration.
Changed alert pages into alert notifications. Reorganize Settings, Support etc. into a vertical navigation.

03. User Flow and Wire Framing

Rough sketches about app structure and user flow analysis in different scenarios (see right).
Organized content through mockups (see right).
Process included understanding the product system from the perspective of engineers. Tasks were focused on exploring potential functionalities supported by our existing technology, collecting backend problems from the customer service team, and finding corresponding solutions.

04. Low-Fidelity Prototype > High-Fidelity Prototype > Design

High-fidelity prototype combined UI design elements; we summarized and applied our stakeholders and partner utility companies’ feedback into design.
Internal tests on selected customers to improve usability.

05. Design Details

New design for summary and usage monitor sections help customers better understand their energy usage. Saving suggestions and home page notifications allow them to access tips about reducing energy usage and set up goals they can achieve.

Set up design for ‘Schedule’ for timed air conditioner use.

Clear confusion between Action and Status buttons.

Place easily accessible information for people to discover their unique problems and fix it on their own when device(s) are disconnected. Better information display for troubleshooting.