Work
Energy Monitoring & Device Control
Providing the energy heartbeat & savings opportunities for small businesses.
My Role
- UI/UX Product Designer & Project Manager
My Contribution
- User Research
- User Journey Map
- Wireframe & Prototypes
- Visual Design
- Design System
Project Introduction
The client's customers struggled with inefficient energy consumption and lacked the necessary insights to optimise their utility expenses. Businesses such as restaurants, convenience stores, and retail shops often relied on manual processes for managing plug loads, HVAC, and lighting systems, leading to significant energy waste and high operational costs. The market lacked an accessible, data-driven energy management solution that could provide real-time insights and automation capabilities tailored to these enterprises.
The Challenges
Designing an intuitive mobile application while providing actionable insights in an easily digestible format.
Many business owners were unfamiliar with data-driven energy optimisation, so the application had to bridge this knowledge gap while delivering measurable cost savings.
Designing and demoing the lighting functionality to the stakeholders. I managed the team and ensured the project was delivering value.
My Contribution
As the Product Manager for the Lighting Mobile App, I led a cross-functional team of designers, engineers, and business strategists in 2018. Over 12 months, we conceptualised, designed, and deployed a robust energy management solution tailored to small and medium-sized businesses. My responsibilities encompassed product strategy, user research synthesis, roadmap development, and cross-functional alignment to ensure a seamless execution of our vision.
The Objectives
- Real-time Energy Monitoring: Enable users to track energy consumption across different business areas, identifying inefficiencies.
- Automated Controls: Provide business owners with the ability to automate energy usage based on predefined schedules and conditions.
- Custom Alerts: Notify users of unexpected energy spikes, equipment malfunctions, or opportunities for savings.
- User-friendly Interface: Ensure that the mobile application is accessible to non-technical users with minimal onboarding requirements.
- Sustainability Insights: Empower businesses to achieve energy savings while supporting their sustainability goals.
Low Fidelity Designs
I created low-fidelity wireframes to quickly visualise and communicate product features. These intentionally simple layouts allowed the team to explore user flow, and functionality rather than design aesthetics.
High Fidelity Designs
After much iteration we progressed to high-fidelity wireframes to validate design decisions, align the team on look and feel, and provide clarity to developers before the build begins.
Final MVP Application
Energy Monitoring App
A mobile application to provide small-medium sized business owners energy heartbeat metrics and alerts about their facility.
Usage Charts
- The user can swipe left or right on the top section in order to see other metered spaces.
- Choose between a traditional linear bar chart or a rotary style bar chart.
- Based on performance the chart will indicate Good, OK or Poor performance on site based on past usage.
Heartbeat
- This is the opening page to the app.
- The page provides jump off points to rooms and alerts.
- A scrollable grid of actionable items are present.
Usage Overview
- Communicates the current status of the site.
- Chart segments and a supporting table communicate the percentage proportion of usage across the site.
- See how much you've saved last month vs. cumulative savings so far.
Opportunities
- Alerts the user when something is not going according to expectation.
- Notifications when a solution to a problem they are facing comes to light.
- The opportunity detail screen explains the benefits of an assessment.
Conclusion & Learnings
The Lighting Mobile App reaffirmed the importance of user-centered design and iterative development. Key takeaways included:
- User Education is Critical: Businesses needed guided onboarding and educational prompts to maximise app usage.
- Data Transparency Builds Trust: Providing clear, actionable insights enhanced user confidence in the app’s recommendations.
Regrettably, after extensive user research, analysis, design, and development, the project was ultimately shelved. This decision was made after demonstrating the Minimum Viable Prototypes (MVPs) to the C-Suite team.
We were an agile R&D team tasked with assisting customers in exploring novel product and service opportunities. Initially, the project commenced as a mobile application for controlling lighting. However, as the project progressed, we pivoted to utilising energy monitoring to identify potential savings opportunities.
Following this shift, the company recognised the importance of dedicating more time to the ideation, design, and prototyping phases. I firmly advocate for utilising wireframing tools to validate market concepts before investing significantly in development.
Ultimately, a customer-facing mobile application proved to be an unsuitable fit for the company’s core business. Nevertheless, the journey led to the creation of a lighting as a service solution by extracting opportunities from the mobile app and providing customers with intelligent reports, gamification, and subtle nudges. In this instance, the audit and monitoring tools we designed and developed were closely aligned with the company’s core product solutions. The new service enabled a diversified business model and added value to the organisation.