A mobile app empowering new mothers to balance energy efficiency with their baby's health and well-being.
ROLE
Interaction
UI design
UX research
Prototyping
Testing
DATE
October - December 2023
This project aimed to design a mobile app to help new parents balance energy-saving goals with their baby's health and well-being through smart meter integration.
The Problem Space: UK Household Energy Use by New Parents with a Newborn Baby
Over 75% of new parents reported a noticeable rise in their electricity consumption (Smart Energy, 2023).
Almost a third put on ‘significantly more’ loads of washing (E.ON energy, 2023).
According to Ofgem, the average British household has 2.4 people living in it and uses 2,700 kWh of electricity and 11,500 kWh of gas.
Peak electricity hours, usually from 7-11 AM and 5-7 PM, often rely on fossil fuels or imported energy, increasing carbon emissions and costs.
I chose an assumption which is about new parents developing new habits to create a how might we statement:
'How might we design a mobile app that utilises smart meter data to encourage families with a young baby who lack time to change behaviours so that they can use less energy in their homes and feel reassured they are taking good care of their babies?'
Our target users are busy and active new parents who have recently welcomed their newborn, Oliver. Through this app, I aim to solve the problems Sarah faces by using a smart meter to reduce the negative impact of energy consumption while she takes care of Oliver, making the app become her daily assistance.
"I want to be the best mum I can be and make sure Oliver is always safe and well-cared for."
Pain points
Sarah's pain point is that being a new mother without sufficient childcare experience, especially in establishing bedtime routines at night, she often faces disruptions in sleep due to the baby's crying during sleep. This frequent interruption can lead to frustration, as she may not understand the reason for the baby's crying.
Key insights
Mothers always want to take good care of their children and feel a sense of responsibility and unconditional love towards them. Therefore, if the child encounters some health problems, mothers often feel self-blame and lack confidence in the capability of looking after children. Additionally, this will affect her physical and mental condition.
She needs advice or help to relieve her pressure.
Temperature is one of the factors in having good sleep. Focusing on adjusting the optimal temperature for the baby to maintain their physical health and reduce the frequency of disturbances to the mother's sleep.
Oliver is 3 months old and Sarah is trying to set a bedtime routine as she will soon return to work. It's December and the weather is cold at night. She is worried about if Oliver is warm enough but not overheating.
It’s 7 pm David baths Oliver and changes him into his night time baby clothes and nappy.
Sarah breastfeeds Oliver and records this in the app which is used to log Oliver's feeds and sleep.
Sarah reads a bedtime story and sings a lullaby to make Oliver sleepy.
Sarah turns on the sleeping mode, adjusting the temperature from 16 to 20 degrees. The lighting is set to warm and soft to create a calm atmosphere.
Sarah and David settle down in front of TV to eat their evening meal.
Oliver starts to cry and Sarah checks the app.
It suggests Sarah adjust the temperature from 20 to 18 degrees. They try to find Oliver's right sleeping temperature.
Sarah checks the app and starts the washing machine and dishwasher, activating the noise-cancelling mode.
Based on the persona's pain points, I refined the initial problem statement into a new UX vision statement.
'I believe, there is an opportunity to design a mobile app for a new mother lacking experience in childcare that encourages them to adjust energy usage, and overcomes their worries about the baby's health and household energy consumption.
The experience of using this app will be reassuring, trustworthy, and empowering, with the following key features:
I chose the baby's sleep temperature adjustment as the main user flow and created a low-fidelity prototype.
'As a new mother, I want to be alerted if my child is too hot or too cold so that I am reassured that the room temperature remains optimal for my baby’s health and use energy efficiently at the same time.'
