Case study 1

I was brought in to improve the Energy Savings Overview feature and help more users see the value of the paid assistant and understand its value. The goal was to make the experience feel clearer and more engaging showing how smart automation could actually help people save on heating costs and access actionable tips. My focus was on improving feature visibility, showing energy consumption data in accessible way, and creating a more intuitive way for users to understand their energy savings and act accordingly.

My responsibilities

📌 Assist with initial user research interviews
📌 Implement research findings and validate the new design iteration
📌 Ensure technical feasibility and compliance with business & user needs
📌 Design wireframes and prototypes for hand-off to UI designer and developers

The outcome

As a result we simplified the access to the Savings assistant feature over several entry points, added advanced savings data graphs and personalized recommendations based on individual device setup to give the users all the necessary tools to understand and optimize their energy consumption.

Understanding the status quo

Project onboarding and mapping out my next steps

I joined the project after initial development and early research were completed. Once onboarded, I joined user interviews to better understand the audience and the product ecosystem.

I mapped the full user flow of the Assistant feature, distinguishing free and paid functions, and categorized paid features:

📁 by type: analytics | assistance | direct action;
📁 by usage frequency: continuous | one-off,

This helped clarify feature logic, highlight user value, and reveal early opportunities to boost engagement and retention.

User research

Planning & carrying out interviews, summarizing findings, defining priority

The first round of interviews has been carried out with 7 participants, which are current app users.  

Goals of the interviews:
🎯 Validate if the users can find the entry point to the savings overview
🎯 Validate if the users understand the statistics graphs
🎯 Find out how the users feel about “negative savings” in case there is a downward trend
🎯 Find out how users feel about comparison with other households
🎯 Find out what other functionalities are desired

⏱️ DURATION

45 min - 1 hr moderated online interviews with 7 active app users (beta testers)

📋 SCOPE

1. Open ended questions to learn about the living situation, app usage patterns, attitude towards saving energy and money
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 2. A remote thinking aloud task based test session with a low-fidelity prototype of the “Assistant” feature.

👥 ROLES

Senior Designer: Recruitment, moderation, summarizing the findings
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Designer (me): support during the interviews, moderation, support with summarizing the insights, implementing the feedback.

Reviewing the interview results

Summarizing findings, defining priority & implementing feedback

I joined the project after it had been initially scoped and partially developed by another designer, who had created the first draft of the savings feature and scheduled user interviews.

Show consistent timeframes across different screens

Try out different entry point cards for better findability

Remove percentage value as it's not clear what the reference is

Remove the "Great job" card as it does not have any perceived value

Move the info icon to the top right corner, consistent with the rest of the screens

Provide detailed analytics on savings history and comparison value

Remove or redesign comparison block without it feeling like an ad

Remove percentage values or replace them with Euro, if possible

Make recommendations relevant for the specific user setup

Legend

Low severity / cosmetic / easy fix

Medium severity / needs discussion

Critical issue

Implementing the feedback & testing the 2nd iteration

Remote qualitative usability testing round to validate the new designs

After updating the prototypes based on user feedback, we ran a remote qualitative test using Maze to validate the changes and gather preferences. With support from the research team, I designed and set up a usability test for beta users.

Test goals included:
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🎯 Checking if users expected to access “Savings” via the dashboard card or “Analytics” menu
🎯 Testing if the info overlay about default settings was easy to find and understand
🎯 Running a preference test for the savings history view (timeline vs. two-timeframe comparison)
🎯 Evaluating findability and perceived value of recommendations
🎯 Assessing the perceived value of the hardware promo card
🎯 Evaluating the perceived value of savings tips on device configuration screens

Result review & workshopping solutions

Reviewing and presenting the test results, sorting feedback and technical feasibility check

After presenting the test results in the round, we carried out a workshop with the Product owner, data scientist, developer & UI designer to ensure the implementation of the feedback is feasible and is within our timeline and budget.

1. Entry point

Although there have been several misclicks, the trend showed that most users tapped on the top card and “Analytics” menu item.

Todos:

Entry point via dashboard tile at the top

Secondary entry point via “Analytics” menu item

2. Savings history view preference

60% of users preferred the timeline view, though the sample size limits representativeness. Based on preference and ease of implementation, variant B was selected.

Todos:

Pick timeline view for implementation with monthly & yearly granulation

Check technical feasibility for the time series data

3. Recommendations findability

Sentiment varied by user type, with current subscribers being most negative, saying they already know what to do and found the recommendations unhelpful.