EffiPower is an app in which users can control their smart home, as well as get insights about their ongoing usage , and tip regarding how they can consume less electricity and save money.
The name "EffiPower" is a combination of "Effi," derived from "efficiency," and "Power," referring to energy or electricity. It conveys the idea of optimizing power consumption for better efficiency and sustainability.
Manage
your power.
The Problem
Currently there are not enough good solutions that enable tracking electricity and monthly bills, get relevant information about sustainable usage, and updates about price changes.
Lack of
information next bill
There is no indication of how much the electricity bill will be.
Lack of
consumption data
There is no knowledge how much electricity is consumed.
Lack of
saving tips
There is no information how to save electricity.
Background For The Project
This project is based on a course assignment I completed during my studies. Since I felt a strong personal connection and genuine passion for the topic, I chose to continue developing it even after the course ended.
The Problem
Currently there are not enough good solutions that enable tracking electricity and monthly bills, get relevant information about sustainable usage, and updates about price changes.
-
Limited information of the bill - There is no indication of how much the electricity bill will be.
-
Lack of consumption data - There is no knowledge how much electricity is consumed.
-
Lack of saving tips - There is no information how to save electricity.
Research Competitors
Products on the Market Today:
Strengths
-
Whole-Home Energy Monitors: Track overall energy use.
-
Real-time: Monitor individual devices.
-
Energy Management: Track and manage energy usage.
What's Missing
Limited House management: An option to manage the whole house.
Predictive Analytics: Anticipating future energy consumption.
Detailed analysis: need for more specific insights on how to save electricity.
User-Friendly Interfaces: Simple designs for easier use.
Survey
Before diving into solutions and sketches, i sent a survey for 14 potential users
and these are the main pain points these users brought up:
-
Unexpected high bills - Users lack overview on their electricity consumption and real time alerts about changes or unexpected expenses in their houses.
-
Unknown energy-intensive devices - Users cannot identify which of their devices use electricity the most.
-
Limited knowledge of electricity - Users lack knowledge about home electricity use, making it hard to reduce their bills proactively.
Persona
Sara is a Marketing manager from Tel Aviv. she is married and has 2 children. She is concerned about her family well-being and cares about the environment. But recently she has unexpectedly high electricity costs and it's hard to interpret data and she doesn’t know how to manage it.
She asked her friends to recommend her a platform and understood that most of them are uncomfortable to use and don’t meet her needs.
So she needs a platform which can help her with house management, reduce electricity expenses and identify energy-intensive devices.
Persona
Sara is a Marketing manager from Tel Aviv. she is married and has 2 children. She is concerned about her family well-being and cares about the environment. But recently she has unexpectedly high electricity costs and it's hard to interpret data and she doesn’t know how to manage it.
She asked her friends to recommend her a platform and understood that most of them are uncomfortable to use and don’t meet her needs.
So she needs a platform which can help her with house management, reduce electricity expenses and identify energy-intensive devices.
MVP Feature Set
Smart Consumption
Enables control on all electrical devices, monitor and track the ongoing usage.
Smart Prediction
Forecasting the user’s upcoming payment.
Smart Scenes
Enables the user to choose pre-defined device scenes or create their on.
Smart Usage Tips
Provides the user with personalized energy-saving tips for safety and saving money.
The Solution
Our system makes managing house energy easy with smart predictions, helpful tips, automatic controls, and safety alerts, keeping life simple and efficient.
General Structure & Navigation
Wireframe Sketches
Analyzing my users' goals, the architecture, and the users' interaction with the system,
I worked on making informed decisions on how to design EffiPower’s screens by sketching wireframes.
High Fidelity Wireframes
Usability Testing
I tested the main screens with potential users to ensure the design decisions, navigation, and structure were clear and intuitive. I’ve gained good insights from their feedback, which enabled me to improve the interface according to these insights, before moving on to the visual design phase.
Before
Pain Points:
-
Too many actions and information. Users were unsure where to focus first.
-
In the top right section (monitoring summary) users were unsure to which period it refers.
-
Under the “Control House” section, there were too many hierarchies, and selections to make.
.png)
After
I returned to user research and the inspirations that collected to see what I could learn and apply. I then looked for more specific inspirations in the smart home sector, and here’s what I learned and applied:
-
I reduced the amount of information and actions on the screen, to make it less busy and overwhelming.
-
I added the relevant period and the charging date, at the top section (monitoring summary) to enable more transparency regarding the upcoming payment.
-
I decided to hide the latest notifications from the home screen, and make them available only under the notifications icon, to reduce the number of sections on the screen.
-
I improved the “Control House” layout and actions, to make it less cluttered and more organized.
This made the screen look cleaner, more intuitive, organized and readable.
Final Screens
Home Screen
The user can see an overview of the household’s electricity consumption and the upcoming payment.
In addition, he can enjoy Full control of his electrical devices, with the option to use pre-defined and set .
Home Screen - Control house
Full control of home electrical appliances by selecting a room and a specific device.
A pop-up screen will then appear, displaying all the control options for the selected device.
Home Screen - Notifications
The user can view notifications and insights about their consumption data, recommendations for saving money, and safety alerts.
Monitoring Screen
On this page, the user receives information about electricity consumption, categorized by device type. By default, the system displays the data on a monthly basis, along with a forecast for the upcoming payment.
The information is summarized with helpful insights.Users also have the option to view the data on a daily timeline.
Scenes Screen
A repository of the user's scenes, displaying relevant information for each one.
Includes options to edit existing scenes and add new ones.
Scene Editing Screen
Editing mode for each scene, which includes the chosen devices, activity time, and electricity consumption.
In the "Devices" tab, users can view information, edit, delete, and add devices to the scene.
Devices Screen
An overview of the household's electrical devices, displaying relevant information.
The devices can be filtered by the search input, currently active devices, or by rooms.
Users can access device editing options and also add new devices.
Mobile Screens
UI Design
The goal was to create an appealing, engaging and up to date visual language.
The color palette needed to be lively and fresh, but on the other hand clean and simple.
The challenge was to find the right balance between the amount/intensity of the visual elements, while still keeping the content in the front, and make sure the design is not too overwhelming.
Typography
During the design phase I decided to use the following fonts for the app:
-
Fira Sans: clean, easy to read style and modern.
-
Montserrat: Strong presence, for highlighting headings and organizing information.
Headlines
Montserrat, Medium 24 ps
Subheadlines
Fira Sans, Medium 20 ps
Main text
Fira Sans, Regular 16 ps
Colors
Primary: The purple provides an atmosphere of stability and reliability
Secondary: The turquoise green offers freshness, modernity and associate with being eco friendly.
Iconography
