WindStax
A mobile app that helps wind turbine owners to visualize energy usage and manage energy modules
Scope
UX Research
Product Design
Prototyping
My Contribution
Domain Research
Prototyping
UX Flow
AR Feature
Introduction
WindStax Energy® is a Pittsburgh-based company, specializing in manufacturing and installing vertical wind turbines. It is a full-service developer of integrated renewable, alternative energy solutions. However, it fails to keep its consumers engaged for its lack of competitive edge.
The objective of this project is to design a mobile app that utilizes data and native smartphone capabilities to improve service and bring innovations to WindStax. My team explored the problem space and designed a series of services that enhance the connection between customers and the company. The app gives its users an easy way to monitor their used and produced energy and seek maintenance. It offers users incentives to scale up their systems by displaying the potential value that WindStax products can bring. It also enables users to envision the installation by augmented reality feature.
Research
We set off to understand WindStax by conducting domain research through its website, LinkedIn, social media, and other online sources. Windstax is a full-service developer of integrated alternative energy solutions. The company is a pioneer in large vertical wind turbines and microgrids that are changing industry’s perspective of energy as a commodity to energy as an opportunity. The company is in charge of the full process of designing, engineering, and manufacturing these vertical wine turbines in order to optimize through distribution and sharing.
Key findings from Domain Research
The biggest advantage is that WindStax are scalable—unique in the industry, multiple WindStax can be clustered and share central electronics.
WindStax has small size and small number of competitors.
The current operation of Windstax collects performance data from all of their systems, which provides the team an opportunity to utilize those data in our design.
WindStax invented the prosumer—customers who generate and consume their own energy.
Stakeholders map
After completing our domain research, we began to identify WindStax stakeholders and their respective goals, needs, preferences and key attributes. This allowed us to get a better understanding of the different players and their relationships to one another.
Once we identified our stakeholders and outlines their needs, we arranged them in a way that illustrates the value that flows between them. We mainly focused on the values exchanged between the Windstax executives, their clients, and the on-site wind turbine installers. From this, we were able to identify a lack of information flow between clients and executives.
Key insight
Traditionally, clients must contact contractors and submit zoning documents before they are able to order their stack or scale up their product. Existing clients are motivated to purchase additional wind stacks to add to their micro-grid while the amount of energy they are consuming exceeds the amount of energy that their grid is producing.
Opportunity
How might we address new and existing clients to remedy this gap by making information regarding current products and scaling up more transparent to the end user?
Ideation
Design concept
Visualize energy usage
We visualize these data in an aggregated form to make the renewable energy journey more transparent to the customers, bridging the gap between the company and its customers. We also utilize this data to calculate the amount of money customers have saved using energy produced by their WindStax products. By showing the benefits both to the environment and to themselves, we motivate continued customer engagement with WindStax.
Scale up energy modules
We use the current customer data to predict future energy production and money saving if the customers were to purchase additional WindStax product, “stack up”, to potentially boost sales for the company. By stacking up, we also emphasize the portable and stackable nature of WindStax products. During the stack-up process, we utilize Windstax data to help customers with envisioning their new products in their environment, also feeding those placing to on-site installers to create better clarity and efficiency for installation.
Brand voice and tone
We want to educate people in an informative yet provocative manner so that users can feel good about their green practices. That way, users can continue using them. Our voice should sound confident and well-intended to convey that this is a product aimed at taking steps to save the planet. At the same time, we want to come off across as trendy to make our product the “it-product”.
Wireframing
Our initial focus was to create target users who are interested in installing solar but don’t have enough information on the actual installation process and solar product. Our product would bridge this knowledge between solar providers and potential consumers.
In our low fildelity wireframes, we made sure to include a location and camera feature which would provide data to WindStax and assess feasibility of installation for users. Based on the explicit informaton that the user provides, they are then shown different alternative energy practices (i.e. wind and solar) best fit for them. The user can then view specific offerings from which they can configure to their liking. This page was made to be simple and intuitive. We made sure to also include a screen that showed positive affirmations (i.e. “You can help battle pollution”) to make users feel good about their environmentally-friendly decision. Our initial focus was to create target users who are interested in installing solar but don’t have enough information on the actual installation process and solar product. Our product would bridge this knowledge between solar providers and potential consumers.
Mid-fidelity Prototype
We maintained the majority of the flow of the low-fidelity prototype while addressing the clarity of location and on-site image data collection.
The flow of this prototype is still very linear, where users start from putting in their location and installation site images, proceed to view recommendation of products in the order of best-fit according to their situation, and configure their product to send the order information to Windstax.
Critique
Through the peer critiques, we received some very constructive feedbacks, primarily:
1. Why should this take the form of native smartphone app?
2. How could potential users know this app and why they use it?
To address the first question, we decided to implement an AR feature that helps users envision a new Windstax system. Users can place virtual 3D models of wind turbines in their backyards or solar panels on their rooftops. With this feature, it is necessary for our users to bring the smartphone and look for appropriate spaces within real world settings.
The second question posed greater challenge for the team. After consideration and discussion, we realized that a single-use mobile app that target new customers does not make much sense. Potential users could easily order their systems by phone or contacting Windstax online, such that they don’t have the incentive to download and use a mobile app that only helps them place one order. To address this problem, the team went back to our initial research and stakeholder map to identify potential new value creation that would lead to greater customer engagement to make the mobile app make more sense. In our research, we identified “stacking up”, combining multiple Windstax systems together, as a competitive advantage of Windstax, and further research revealed that most users acquire their systems through multiple purchases rather than a single one.
As a result, we changed our target users from first-time buyers to customers who already made their initial purchase. With an existing purchase, users are more likely to download an app for Windstax. The new focus of our app is helping users to scale up, as well as helping them monitor and maintain their current systems. This new focus allow us to highlight the stackable nature of Windstax products, create more sales for Windstax, enhance customer engagement by using the performance data that Windstax is already collecting to motivate customers and provide better recommendation for additional purchases.
Solution
Landing Page
Welcome customers to the app, collecting their product information to draw corresponding data from WindStax. Redesigned logo to provide a modern look to the brand while highlighting the stackable nature of WindStax.
Homepage
Visualizes the renewable energy journey of the users, with blocks that summerizes the energy production and savings they get from each of their WindStax module, and an interactive line graph that visualizes their energy production and consumption over time to showcase how Windstax products are covering their energy usage, based on data collected from Windstax. By clicking on the blocks, users can see the individual performance of each module, and see the additional money and energy savings they can get from stacking up.
AR Stack-up Feature
AR feature native to mobile helps them plan the position of a new system in their environment, and sharing this data with on-site installers for clarity. The selection and configuration of products come after to help the users send a stack up order to WindStax.
Maintenance page
Users can search for common maintenance issues and reach out to WindStax for more questions. All the maintenance requests would also be archived for users’ future references.
Final Design
Due to the change in focus, for our high-fidelity prototypes we incoporated the passive data collected by the Windstax units to create a dashboard for the user that would allow them to monitor their units, schedule maintenance, and view savings and energy generation over time.
Reflection
We are inspired by Windstax’s vision of bringing accessible renewable energy solutions to residence and small businesses, and we understand that customer experience is undoubtedly a core value at Windstax. Our app is designed to make that experience more satisfying and motivating. From the customer’s perspective, the app gives them an easy way to monitor their systems performance, easily stack up their systems, and seek maintenance. We motivate them by showing them their energy saving journey, and we provide them a more satisfying experience by timely solving their problems.
From this project, I have gained a better understanding of creating a solution that targets the right audience in order to create value. When switching our focus during our mid-fidelity, we realized the importance of addressing the problem first before jumping into the solution and will take this lesson with us in future projects. Throughout our process we had a huge shift of focus, which taught us the importance of reflection and discussion as a team, as well as the value of research, such as domain and stakeholder map, in assisting design decisions.