"What if we provided a simple and intuitive user interface that displays energy data designed specifically for residential, commercial, and industrial VPP owners?"
This project was designed and developed as part of an academic bootcamp program.
Client
Massif Energy
Founded with the goal of changing Alberta's energy landscape, Massif Energy's mission is to provide Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) of individual batteries that act within an aggregated network, providing their clientele with affordable, clean, and resilient energy.
Problem
Our client had a vision for an on-the-go digital interface that users could access in order to monitor their energy usage and behaviour, as well as their VPP performance and status over time.
Some features were conceptualized, but without market validation and extensive user research, there was no clear indication for how specific these features needed to be, or if they were needed at all.
ROLE
UX/UI Designer
UX Researcher
TEAM
1 UX Designer/Researcher
1 Product Marketer
3 Product Managers
SKILLS
UX/UI Design
UX Research
Prototyping
Cross-functional collaboration
TOOLS
Figma
Google Suite
Slack
Proto-Persona
During project kickoff, discussions with our client provided us with a deeper understanding of our likely end-users. At the time, our client was targeting a residential market, with homeowners being the primary audience for the launch of their product. From here, the intention was to branch out, if not simultaneously cater, to the commercial and industrial space.
With this information, research was conducted within the target demographic of our client. From a sample size of 14 respondents, we were able to generate a proto-persona that would likely reflect the end-users for our client in the residential market. This user would have likely been an individual established in his professional career; an environmentally conscious homeowner within a threshold of income that could ideally sustain a VPP system if installed. This, combined with our research data, was paramount to the development of our product hypothesis.
Outcome
After a month of hard work and collaboration, our team was able to successfully design and present an early working prototype for the client, which fulfilled their requirements and provided a solid foundation for a solution to the problem. This prototype was eventually passed on as a point of reference for a new cohort of designers, project managers, and marketers to be further iterated upon.
RETROSPECTIVE
Outside of a strictly academic setting, this project was the first in which I was immersed within a cross-functional team, where I was able to experience the workflow and expectations that would reflect industry standards. Being the sole UX Designer, I was faced with many challenges and felt intimidated at first. I walked away from the experience with the realization that:
✅ Working with other individuals with diverse skills and expertise to that of my own provided me with extensive insights, and opened me up to perspectives beyond my own that I would not have otherwise considered.
✅ I was able to hone my skills in determining the difference between findings versus insights, and how to obtain the latter from the former.
✅ My confidence as a designer was re-instilled as I took charge of my designs, and was able to justify them based on the research our team conducted, which was ultimately well-received by our client, mentors, and peers.
