DesignManagement + InteractionDesign
Improving the Consumer-Facing Strategyand Innovating the System User Interface
DESIGNTOREDUCEENERGYUSEINTHEHOME
DesignManagement
DESIGNTOREDUCEENERGYUSEINTHEHOMEIMPROVING THE CONSUMER-FACING STRATEGY
DesignManagement
Current state limitations of Powco Customer-facing Strategy
DesignManagement
PROBLEMS OUT THERE
Dependence on consumer to moder-ate home energy usage.
Existing incentives are not enough to catalyze change.
General lack of consumer awareness of energy supply limits and POWCO strategic goals.
DesignManagement
COMMUNICATION
POWCO wants to communicate a complex message. “We want you to use less, but we are capable of providing.”
Ambiguous, ineffective service brand messaging.
Large, unmet challenges in shaping communication. Obtusely communicated incentives and promotions. No active feedback loops (conversations). Lack of tailored/targetted consumer messaging.
DesignManagement
TECHNICALPower companies require the customer to do the vast majority of the legwork
Site energy calculators are hard to use, ineffective
Until recently with the implementation of smart meters, there was no feedback as to the user’s energy consumption until the monthly bill arrived.
RAISE AWARENESS
How do customer feel about interacting
with the power company?
Do they think it works?Why?
Do they think it is broken? How?
What is their experience from the first phone call
to paying the final bill?
What would get them excited?
DesignManagement
Ideas for a proposed solution
DesignManagement
RAISE AWARENESSSolutions
It isn’t just the service, it is how that service makes the customer feel.
Free home energy diagnostic with account setup for residences.
Use real numbers to shock them or make them feel their choices really do matter
Send energy saving tips via the web, email, or text
INCENTIVESCredit Union or COOP approach
Rebates, Point/Reward SystemsCommunity-Based.
Challenges/Competitions/Partnerships
Tailored Incentives for Generational/Demographic Groups.
Upgrading Older Homes/Appliances
DesignManagement
DesignManagement
IN-HOME DEVICE
CONVENIENCEAssociate new behavior with an existing routine
Less work for customer
Easy to understand
Convenient features such as auto bill pay, local weather,efficiency mode
DesignManagement
USER CENTERED
DesignManagement
Introduce ownershipUser is in control of total home energy profile.
User can create settings and goals around personal preferences.
Mobile app options for greater flexibility, control
DesignManagement
FEEDBACK
Detailed energy usage
Real-time savings/loss
Understand consequences and make better choices
Choice bracketing - daily vs yearly totals
Tips for saving energy
Give user frequent feedback about the consequences of their actions.
Introduce or increase present gains
DesignManagementTEAMWORK
Powco reaching out to customers
Educational institutions are important partners.Develop better customer relationships
TEAMWORK
MARKETING MESSAGE
“Save Energy: For your home and yourself”
Communicate specific goalsSocial networkingPossible message
DesignManagement
BENEFITSFor the power company
Improved customer and community relationships
Decreased strain on existing facilities
Poised to usher in new, sustainable technologies
DesignManagement
BENEFITSFor the consumer
Ownership of home energy usage
Greater savings
Sense of responsibility—home own-ership, energy usage, conserving re-sources
DesignManagement
BENEFITSFor the environment
Less energy waste
Reduce carbon footprint
Explore renewable energy sources
DesignManagement
Topics:ResearchPersonasScenarios
RESEARCH RESEARCHMETHODS
RESEARCHOBJECTIVES
• In-home interviews
• Behavioral observations
• Written and photographic documentation
• What we saw
• What we learned
• What it means
• What we can do
PERSONAS
Sue
John
Jessica
Cody
Jake
Amy
Boomers Gen-Xers Gen-Yers
Energy Attentive
Energy Passive
PERSONAS
BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE
JOHN: ENERGY ATTENTIVE
“I try my best to be efficient with energy,
but there’s often a battle between saving
and keeping Sue comfortable.”
SUE: ENERGY PASSIVE
“Now that I’m home more, I usually just set
the thermostat to what I need in order to
stay comfortable.”
PERSONAS
BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE
JOHN: ENERGY ATTENTIVE
• John pays the bills
• Average payment plan
• Hang dries laundry to save
• Maintains HVAC air filter
• Fireplace user in winter
• Wants long term results
PERSONAS
BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE
SUE: ENERGY PASSIVE
• Doesn’t pay attention to the bills or cost of energy
• Often leaves lights on
• Sets thermostat for comfort; feels she deserves it at her age
• Thinks CFL’s look strange and are too expensive
PERSONAS
BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE “We’re not planning on relocating,
so it’s worth it to invest in our home.”
• Empty nesters; spends weekends at lake
• Well insulated house with newer windows
• Have landscaping lights on a timer
• Thermostat:72 in summer and 68 in winter
• Used gov’t rebates for Energy Star appliances
PERSONAS
GEN-X: JESSICA&CODY
JESSICA: ENERGY ATTENTIVE
“I can hear our on-demand hot water
heater click on. It reminds me that we have
some control over our efficiency practices.”
CODY: ENERGY PASSIVE
“Jessica gives me a hard time about the
utility bills. I’m working on it, but our
technology is pretty important to us. We
don’t do well with turning off or unpluging
desktop computers.”
PERSONAS
GEN-X: JESSICA&CODY
JESSICA: ENERGY ATTENTIVE
• Attempts to teach their son, Ben, by constantly reinforcing
household rules to turn things off when finished
• Pays close attention to the utility bills
• Often attributes increases to the cost to actual cost of delivery,
rather than their usage
PERSONAS
GEN-X: JESSICA&CODY
CODY: ENERGY PASSIVE
• Active and likes to spend time outdoors
• Usually the one to take their dog for walks
• Tries to shut down lights and fans but sometimes forgets
• Doesn’t pay much attention to the thermostat — wants comfort
PERSONAS
GEN-X: AMY&JAKE “We schedule our thermostat to be most comfortable
between 5-9pm, the rest of the time it is about efficiency.”
• Have a 3 year old son; 1 dog
• Live in a 3 bed/2 bath suburban home
• Florescent bulbs everywhere
• Keep a big basket of blankets in the living room in the winter.
• Back door has a draft, they roll a towel up in front of back door
to keep the heat inside.
• They adjust thermostat for dog in summer • They adjust thermostat for dog in summer
PERSONAS
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
AMY: ENERGY ATTENTIVE
“Those boys will only recycle if I basically
do it for them and make it easy to drop
things in. I swear they wouldn’t even get the
bills paid if I wasn’t here.”
JAKE: ENERGY PASSIVE
“I really want to save energy, benefit the
environment, and my bank account, but
sometimes it just doesn’t fit my schedule.”
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
AMY: ENERGY ATTENTIVE
“Those boys will only recycle if I basically
do it for them and make it easy to drop
things in. I swear they wouldn’t even get the
bills paid if I wasn’t here.”
JAKE: ENERGY PASSIVE
PERSONAS
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
AMY: ENERGY ATTENTIVE
• Responsible for keeping track of all bills
• Collects money from all the roommates
• She sets up and empties recycling containers for the home
• Pays the most attention to the electricity used in their home
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
AMY: ENERGY ATTENTIVE
• Responsible for keeping track of all bills
• Collects money from all the roommates
• She sets up and empties recycling containers for the home
• Pays the most attention to the electricity used in their home
PERSONAS
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
JAKE: ENERGY PASSIVE
• TV and gaming systems always on
• Keeps an old small refrigerator in his bedroom for sodas/beer
• Habitually opens window in his room when the heat is on
• His room seems to be warmer than the rest of the house
PERSONAS
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE “It’s difficult to control the electricity usage
when roommates are always leaving things on.”
• Lights often left on unintentionally
• Either A/C or heat is always on
• Multiple gaming systems stacked up by the television
• Not everyone understands how to use prorammable thermostat
• Live close to campus and frequently have guests coming and going
• Cost of utilities and all household bills are split 3 ways
SCENARIOS
Sue
John
Jessica
Cody
Jake
Amy
Boomers Gen-Xers Gen-Yers
Energy Attentive
Energy Passive
SCENARIOS
BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE
After having their Smart Meter and new
thermostat installed, John and Sue find
out they could be saving money by
programming their thermostat and paying
closer attention to their energy usage.
However, they are out of town a lot and
don't have much time to worry about
their thermostat.
SCENARIOS
BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE
John turns on the thermostat
for the first time and goes
through the set-up wizard,
and alert settings (including
the monthly bill limit).
SCENARIOS
BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE
John turns on the thermostat
for the first time and goes
through the set-up wizard,
and alert settings (including
the monthly bill limit).
SCENARIOS
BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE
After he's finished entering
the settings, John starts the
programming feature.
SCENARIOS
BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE
He finds out that he can
create specific settings for
home, away, and vacation
modes.
Sue is especially excited
about the vacation mode,
because every time they go
out of town, John sets the
thermostat for extreme
temperatures and she can't
keep her plants alive.
SCENARIOS
BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE
A week later, John notices
the status bar on the home
screen is yellow.
SCENARIOS
BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE
He presses a button on the
status bar and a pop-up
shows that his current
usage pattern will cause him
to exceed his monthly bill
limit; the pop-up says that he
can get back on track by
turning the AC setting up
2 degrees, with a button to
press to approve thermostat
change.
TIP!
Get back on track
by turning the
AC SETTING
up 2 degrees.�
SCENARIOS
BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE
He presses OK, and the
status bar goes back to
green. He notices the AC set
temperature has changed
from 70 to 72 degrees.
SCENARIOS
GEN-X: JESSICA&CODY
Jessica and Cody schedule their
thermostat to be most comfortable
between 5-9pm, the rest of the time
it is about efficiency.
Their programmable thermostat helps
Keep the temperature ranges constant and
prevents them from forgetting to adjust
when needed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KRyjNOkjMA&list=PL93019A1526FC1BE6&index=57&feature=plpp_video
SCENARIOS
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
Jake and Amy are college students living in
an old drafty house.
Amy comes home from her evening
waitressing job, sits down at the kitchen
table and counts her tips. After she
discovers that she barely has enough
money to buy groceries for herself for the
week, she tries to take her mind off of
things by opening the mail.
”The electric bill is $149! What are those
boys doing in this house? What can I do?"
SCENARIOS
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
She goes to the thermostat
and sees the status bar is
red.
SCENARIOS
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
She then presses the
Charts/Graphs icon to look
for clues about what is
causing the bill to be high.
SCENARIOS
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
She sees the week
comparison and notices
energy use is much higher
than last week.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
SCENARIOS
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
She rolls over to the year
comparison and sees
energy use is also much
higher than last year;
she realizes she had energy
conscious roommates last
year and attributes this to the
higher bill.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
SCENARIOS
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
Then she goes to the
program mode and sees the
weekday mode has been
turned off and only weekend
is on, when the thermostat is
set much more comfortably
for lots of company.
SCENARIOS
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
She immediately turns
weekday mode back on.
SCENARIOS
GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE
When she finishes,
the home screen shows
a yellow status bar.
She notices that the set
temperature for heat has
automatically adjusted
from 70 to 68.
HOMEENERGYCONTROLSYSTEMLAWRENCETEAM
Marcus Gardner, Adriana Guzmán, Amy Mihalevich, Satoshi Inoue, Meredith Tack, Darren Kennedy, Gianfranco Villagomez
InteractionDesign
DISCOVERY
“I have a couple of Energy Star rated appliances, but I don’t really know why they are good. I like the idea of being efficient, but honestly, I just wanted the rebates.”
InteractionDesign
“We love Christmas lights, and I think they don’t use a lot of electricity, so we leave them on all day.”
“We set the goal to change the temperature on the thermostat by November 1st and the same for June 1st, but sometimes it is so difficult...”
“Yeah, we use those light bulbs but you know I don’t like the color..”
They agree on almost everthing related to theenergy. They use a programmable thermostat that is on from 6:00 and 8:00p.m. Summer is 68 and in winter it is 75.
HOMEINTERVIEWS:WHATWELEARNED
People make an effort to look good in front of others.
Most wanted to conserve energy but didn’t know that much about what to do.
Homeowners often think of efficiency in terms of big projects, rather than daily practices.
Thermostat control can be an area of frustration among members of a household.
People do not have a very clear understanding of how their energy bill is calculated.
Most people are more interested in saving money, than they are in being green.
InteractionDesign
USE CASESAs a (user/role) I want (goal/desire) so that (benefit).
John Jessica Amy
FEEDBACK LOOPData must be measured, captured and stored.
Information delivered to individual in an emotionally relevant context.
The information must illuminate one or more paths ahead.
Recalibrate behavior, make a choice, act, and evaluate.
EVIDENCE
RELEVANCE
CONSEQUENCE
ACTION
Home
Smart Plug
The Controller
Energy Company
SYSTEM IDEATION
InteractionDesign
Home Owner
The device will become the missing link for the user to understand and be in control of the energy consumption in their home. The Controller is the user’s interface for a complete smart home system.
Controller Set Up Wizard1
Account Info
Home Analysis
Set First Goal
Smart Plug Inventory
Interface Tour
Controller Home
2
FLOW
InteractionDesign
Temp Display
Temp Control
Weather
Date/Time
Quick Away
EnergyStats
Goals
Up & DownHeat / AC/ Fan/ O�
Major AppliancesDisplay
MinorAppliancesDisplay
LightingDisplay
Heating/ACDisplay
_Pricing Feedback
_ColorFeedback
_Noti�cationIcons
IndoorsOutsideScheduled
Graphical DisplayView Forecast
Graphical DisplayGo to Scheduler
Toggle to “Home Now”
Go to all home stats
Graphical Feedback DisplayGo to set or edit Goal
View Stats View Stats View Stats View StatsControlPlugs
ControlPlugs
ControlLights
ControlTemp
The user interface includes a set up wizard (1), global controls (shown vertical), feedback displays (shown horizontal), and only one level deep for each area of the interface.
PAPER PROTOTYPING
InteractionDesign
PAPERPROTOTYPES:WHATWELEARNEDIf we don’t put up some parameters, this device could be anything. Time to simplify!
People don’t want to stand at the wall for very long.
Several people wanted a supporting mobile app.
We need a very shallow interface.
People are interested in exploring interfaces that look nice. Not everything needs to be face up.
InteractionDesign
CONCEPTS
SCHEDULER
InteractionDesign
NOVEMBER 2012
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Data must be measured, captured and stored.
Information delivered to individual in an emotionally relevant context.
The information must illuminate one or more paths ahead.
Recalibrate behavior, make a choice, act, and evaluate.
Learn behaviors
Provide tips
Quick away options
Flag milestones
SCHEDULER
InteractionDesign
Goal: $60 // You have spent $42 so far
13DEC1:00 P.M.
o F
Away
60o OUTSIDE
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InteractionDesign
COMMUNITY CHALLENGESCommunity percentage
Challenge your neighbors
Compete for titles
Social gaming
Sponsored challenges
Power in numbers
SMART PLUG
InteractionDesign
$2.30xx Kw/h
Living room
Garage
Ben’s room
Goal: $60 // You have spent $xx so far
15DEC7:00 P.M.
o F
Away
60o OUTSIDE
PLUG CONTROL
InteractionDesign
SCENARIO DEVELOPMENT
InteractionDesign
FORM DEVELOPMENT
InteractionDesign
FORM DEVELOPMENT
InteractionDesign
FORM DEVELOPMENT
InteractionDesign
HOME ENERGY CONTROLLER
InteractionDesign
HOME ENERGY CONTROLLER
InteractionDesign
SET UP WIZARD
InteractionDesign
F
WELCOME
Tell us your goal
Your daily energy consumption should be $2.24
Now, you are ready for the challenge
05DEC10:00 a.m
05DEC10:00 a.m
$7210:00 a.m
o
WELCOMEAccount number
According to our system your average bill is $95Tell us your goal
05DEC10:00 a.m
$
Goal: $60 // You have spent $xx so far
05DEC10:00 a.m
o F
Away
60o OUTSIDE
Goal: $60 // You have spent $xx so far
13DEC1:00 P.M.
o F
$1.00$1.50
$1.50
$0.50 $0.25$2.30
Away
60o OUTSIDE
FEEDBACK LOOP
FEEDBACK LOOPDECEMBER
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Away
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DesignManagement + InteractionDesign
Improving the Consumer-Facing Strategyand Innovating the System User Interface
DESIGNTOREDUCEENERGYUSEINTHEHOME