OUR CHALLENGE
Water scarcity is a serious concern to the pacific northwest and Seattle Public Utilities. Greater conservation and efficiency in water usage has been determined a priority in combating this issue. Seattle already has some of the most expensive water in the country due to the costs of transportation and purification. Attempts to conserve will be most effective in by households and businesses. The public needs further education and information reading water loss as SPU has noted a number of areas for improvement including resolving leaks. Leaks are a major cause of water loss, implementing smart technology and providing a companion application that can watch and alert users to water loss will help create a more water conscious public.
MEANINGFUL IMPACT with new tech
Smart meters are a new technology that are in the process of being implemented. Issues like leaks continue to go unnoticed by users who pride themselves on conservation and environmental responsibility. This has provided an opportunity inform the public with the smart meters to be better stewards of Seattle's shared water resources. With out mobile app work users and the city of Seattle can work together on the environmental plan to increase sustainability over the coming years.
MY ROLE ON THE TEAM
Collaboratively Researched developed and USER-tested a mobile application to achieve the needs of the customer and goals of the utility
Sketching, Storyboards, Navigation, User Flows, Organizational Research, Heuristic Evaluation, Task Analysis, Affinity Diagrams, Personas, Wireframes, Layout, Design modules, and Prototyping.
The Solution
To educate and inspire Utility users on how to reduce water consumption manage the information from his mart meter and be more aware of where water is lost. This was accomplished through a persona hypothesis based on research and surveys.
Background
We utilized in-depth demographics on water usage population growth, present population levels and overall consumption patterns. This was expanded to water processes and present cost breakdowns, enabled us to gain a holistic understanding of the issues and capabilities of the present system and the needs of those who depend on it.
Visibility of system status:
Water watch would need to demonstrate an organized breakdown with clear search navigation. From surveys users requested a system with menus for easy search. Overall experience would be intuitive and follow users needs in understand usage. Our reasoning was due to the varying user experience with mobile technology. The simpler the process the more widely adopted the technology . This was confirmed in user interviews.
Match between system and the real world
The application takes into account the diverse number of people that could utilize this product. The importance of conveying water usage in useable increments was noted and we included timeframes in days, weeks, months, and years. The backend of the application provides specific user information to application and also allows for the utility and customers to have more meaningful interactions. With the data collection utilities can also gain greater insight into users behavior.
User control and freedom
From the interaction the application was noted in testing as being easily navigable. Information is structured in an accordion with important topics being expanded in conjunction with the users needs. At any point the user can also return to the main menu by closing the drop down. No pop up windows were included due to concern that it would break the user flow. Users noted interest in savings and ways to gain rebates. This was included and integrated into savings and challenges as a way to emphasize the importance of conservation.
Consistency and standards
The application uses a home page with specific colors, information, and language in a visible search menu . The knowledge that water usage covers a diverse base of users has guided the design to be specific in scope with graphs helping to communicate needed information to the user.
UX Research
Our team found more opportunity for conservation with homeowners as a number of study participants in apartments had water bundled with rent. This made understanding conservation levels and overall water consumption more difficult. Half of Seattle residents own property per the last government survey conducted by the City of Seattle in 2012 and this fit with our persona hypothesis .
Design
User Research
Users surveyed cited areas of improvement to reduce water usage as being shorter showers, less laundry. None of those surveyed or interviewed thought of leaks as being a possible driver of water loss and a way of improving conservation. Users noted in heuristic review that a number of issues with other applications were limitations of option or information. A number of applications were
Considerations/Influences
money, and conserve water, Time, level of experience with technology
Subtasks
Utility Users defined their needs specific to providing information on water usage. Most important was saving money and having information to make household decisions regarding ways to conserve.
- Users found Mobile Application provided the expected information regarding their utility bill and all other usage
- The timeline was found acceptable for breakdown of information of usage. Additionally all headers were easily navigated and were found logical.
- The users did have difficulty with the challenges header. Most users were uncertain whether the topic related to anything pertinent for water usage and rebates or conservation.
RESULTS
User Testing Feedback
Testing feedback found that the applications interaction was efficient, though many users tested did not move through all menus provided. The title of challenges were seen as a barrier and the flow of the product was periodically difficult as users looked for specific information.
Overall Usability
The users who tested the product found it usable, though greater tests are needed especially regarding integration of smart meter tech, which is still being implemented by the utility.
Methods for Moving Forward
The persona was broad as the number of users for a utility is large. Providing more personas and multiple paths to better address the multitude of different users needs would provide a more accurate assessment.
refelections
The Take Away
The teams plan is to follow up with further user research to define more personas. This will help provide greater depth to what the app can do and how the user flow is both dynamic and responsive to utility user's needs. We would streamline some processes and drop downs so that the experience was intuitive and enjoyable. We would also test the aspects of smart tech and determine more exactly the needs of those customers that utilize that tech as it becomes more market ready.