The Brief
Nest Thermostat is a home automation producer of programmable, self-learning, sensor-driven, Wi-Fi-enabled thermostats, smoke detectors, security cameras, and other security systems. Based out of Palo Alto, CA, Nest focuses on reducing waste, using energy wisely, and positively impacting communities.
Nest Thermostat is an eco-conscious product that helps users save energy, and, ultimately, money.
Our Goals
The goal was to create a new standalone app that serves to help our users save energy, visualize their impact globally and locally, track utilities, and offer ways to save energy. Ultimately we pitched the idea to do an integration rather than creating a new version of the app. After looking through the Nest application we thought it is best to save time and money to integrate new features to the existing app.
Project Scope
We are integrating progressive features to help our users conserve energy and save money via our existing mobile app.
THE PROBLEM
In order to bring more transparency to people and their homes around the US, Nest is looking to create a new app. They want the app to help homeowners track their utilities, provide ways to save money, waste, and energy, as well as help customers visualize their local and global impact.
THE SOLUTION
A mobile application that will help bridge the eco-conscious world and technology, helping raise environmental awareness. Using our skills as designers in order to streamline an existing app. The new features will illustrate user's environmental impact globally and locally, track their utilities, and advise on ways to save energy.
The Process
Team: Pauline S McNaughton, Chad Cates & Felix Tsai
My Role: Project Manager, Head of UI & Visual Design, Head of Information Architecture, Head of High fidelity Wireframes & Prototype. Also work on User Research & Interviews, Persona, User Journey Map, Affinity Mapping, Wire flows, User flows, and Usability testing.
Tools: Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Invision, Google Suite & Keynote
Platform: Mobile App
Timeline: Week 1 Users research; Week 2 Design wireframes and prototyping; Week 3 Usability testing and iterations.
RESEARCH
- Product Research
- Survey & User Interviews
- Comparative & Competitive Analysis
- Heuristic Evaluations
- Synthesis (Affinity Map)
- User Persona
- Scenario & Journey Map
- Problems
- Feature Prioritization
- Information Architecture
- Card Sorting
- Site Map
- Task Scenario & User Flow
Product Research
Understanding the product usage and our target audiences. This helped us identify users and how to approach them with our survey and interview questions.
Through extensive research online, downloading and testing the app, and extra reading, we learnt the ins and outs of the app.
To do that we learn about the Nest app and research about the company and what they have to offer.
This lead to having to download the app, going to their website, and read about home thermostat.
Survey & User Interviews
We first conducted a user survey and found the majority of users prefer to have an all-encompassing app rather than one for thermostat and one for savings.
Our survey results helped us craft our interview script.
By conducting user interviews we found our target user group and their problems. Users told us they bought their Nest expecting these features.
C&C Analysis
We conducted a C&C to find out Nest's smart thermostat competitors. This helped us understand what they have to offer and what Nest can improve on based on the differences.
We created the above. Nest and its competitors share many similar features but something that all three lack are energy saving tools. We firmly believe that we can capitalize on this by being the first to integrate these features.
Heuristic Evaluations
This is where I made a Usability Heuristics chart (based on the Nielsen Norman group format) to see what kind of issues we found in the current app. As you can see, Nest currently does not offer tools to save money and energy through the app. Nest also does not offer visualization of the user's impact on the environment nor offer a way to compare current energy usage patterns with past usage.
From these findings we analyzed what we can offer for a new iteration of features.
Synthesis
We collected our data from user interviews and surveys, producing an affinity map to find common themes.
Our map showed us that the target user comprises of those predominately in the 30+ year old range who are environmentally friendly, and interested in saving money. This led to our user persona.
User Persona, Scenario & Journey Map
Joshua is worried about his most recent energy bill, which was pretty high, and wants to see what his usage was over a particular week.
From the Scenario and the Journey map above we can see Joshua's process from using the current app to finding what he thought the Nest thermostat would have provided. He realizes he can't check the energy usage on that particular week. He leaves the Nest app unsatisfied thinking the application would have a function that displayed usage details.
Insights
After conducting our research we found several issues that we can fully address.
Our team identified three key issues that users have come across while using the Nest app. This allowed us to prioritize our features in a manner that will effectively resolve user problems in a timely and cost efficient way.
- Lack of tools to help save money, or see your energy usage
- No way to set a monthly budget
- Currently no way to track utilities
Feature Prioritization
After synthesizing all the research and user interviews, we have prioritized our features. It is important to keep in mind that although we have a plethora of features we want to put in, it is the user who ultimately guides our decisions on what features are needed.
- Utility Account integration
- Local/Global Impact visualization
- Monthly Budget feature
- Shows user usage versus community/country
- Alerts at Critical Temperature points for energy usage
Information Architecture
Card Sorting
To introduce our new integrated features with the current existing app, we decided it was best to do a round of card sorts to better understand where users felt the new features belonged. This helped us determine the information architecture layout moving forward. This also gives us a deeper understanding of the psychology behind our users to better our understanding of what users want and what they understand.
Site Map
Making the site map is used to help us find the hierarchy of how the prototype will flow. This helps us build and create wireframes that make sense according to users and how they understand the flow.
Task Scenario & User Flow
Joshua has used Nest's new budget feature and he wants to see his expenditure over the last month.
The user flow of our app provides insight into how users naturally flow through the app and at what points users become stuck or frustrated. This helps guide our designs to better suit the user needs.
SKETCH & DESIGN
- Sketching
- Low Fidelity Wireframe
- Medium Fidelit Wireframe
- High Fidelity Wireframes
- Wire flows
Before designing any further than sketching, we took all the user research and created a series of low fidelity, medium fidelity and high fidelity wireframes in order to ideate from the user testing. We did so by using white board, pen and paper, open design studio, and ideation sessions to get out as many ideas as quickly as possible using cost efficient methods.
White Board
Hand Sketching
Low Fidelity Wireframe
Medium Fidelity Wireframe
High Fidelity Wireframes
From the design we made with Low Fidelity wireframes it helped me create the Medium and High Fidelity ones. Taking each step carefully and testing each with users helped make the new integrate features ideal to our users.
Wire Flows
After finishing the High Fidelity, I constructed multiple wire flows based on the task scenarios we have given to our users to test.
This helps us test whether or not these integrated ideas are fluid and work as expected.
check out other wire flow examples
PROTOTYPE
USABILITY TESTING
The plan is to test our users through two separate flows that will give us data on our primary feature integrations. These flows are to check the budget feature and to look at the visualization of the energy usage/impact on a local and global scale (This can refer to the visulization from the wire flows).
ITERATION
After the usability test with our Nest prototype, we made some changes based on user reactions to certain placement of the two features. So our team can decide what would be the best convention to place those features. The response after the iteration for the Nest app was what we wanted to finalize for this case study.
- 100% of our app testers were able to navigate our prototype and complete the tasks without fail.
- 80% of our app testers preferred the integrations and 20% didn’t mind them.
- 100% of users identified that saving money and energy was a top priority and that our budget integration helps remedy that issue.
NEXT STEPS
We know that users enjoy being able to visualize their energy and impact usage, as well as having budgeting features to help them save money.
What's next:
- Improving the home away feature to improve accuracy
- Add double comparison feature for set temperatures
- More smart home integration
“When creating content, be empathetic above all else. Try to live the lives of your audience.”
