Water Saver
My Role Research, Interviews, Personas, Wire-framing, Prototyping, Visual Design
Tools Invision, Illustrator, Photoshop, Pen & Pencil
Duration 2 week sprint
Deliverables Documented Research/Analysis, User Flows, Testing, Personas, Wire-Frames, Clickable Prototype
Goals
- Create tool that pairs with the Smart Meter features
- Insentivise water conservation
- Allow users to be notified of irregualar water usage
The cost of water in the city of Seattle is one of the highest in the country. This is primarily due to the cost of transportation and purification. Seattle Public Utilities has determined that greater efforts toward conservation and education need to be made. The city has made steps toward smart technology or "Smart Meters" that will be implemented into Seattle households over the next 2-3 years. The development of a mobile application that pairs with this device will help increase awareness about water conservation and education.
Objective
Create a simple tool that educates and encourages water conservation.
Vision
Water Saver raises awareness about household consumption, and builds motivation and excitement around water conservation.
Research and Analysis
We conducted a number of user interviews in order to understand how different Seattle residence consume water and what elements affect their decisions to save water. We knew we needed to focus on users who are responsible for their own water consumption. Individuals with utilities included in their rent were excluded from this study. A comparative competitive analysis was also conducted at this time to understand what similar products offer. We found a number of reoccurring patterns in our research during this time.
- Users become concerned when spike in water bill occurs
- Users would like to know why a spike occurred.
- Many individuals are not educated on water conservation tips.
- Users are more inclined to save water if they see how they compare to other households
- People are not aware that many spikes in water bills come from leaks
Design
With our persona established, we moved onto the sketching phase. We rapidly produced a number of variations and options. Paper prototyping helped us identify what design layouts and navigation would work best for our audience. Once we felt
Low-Fi Prototype
We knew we needed to keep our features to a minimum because of our wide demographic. We focused on few core features.
- Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly water usage
- Leak alerts and location of leak
- Current bill amount
- Household consumption compared to greater community
Our data showed that users do not keep track of their water usage. Giving them the ability to see their past water usage and current bill amount will incentivize conservation. We also discovered users are more inclined to save water if they had the opportunity to compare their usage to their surrounding community.
Solution
Future Additions
- Include a more personalized community comparison, possibly connected to social media
- Ability to pay bill via app
- Detailed conservation tips
What I learned
- The importance of voicing my own opinion, conflict is not a bad thing as long as it creates productivity
- The value of making design decisions based off of user feedback
- The importance of focusing on the individual strengths of each member of your team