Energy Management and Control
Company:
MBA FIAAP 3UX Strategy design
Timeline:
1,5 years
My Role:
Design student
Responsabilities:
Benchmarking, Research, Interaction design, Prototyping, Usability test, Pitch, Branding.
OVERVIEW:
In November 2020, seeking to deepen my understanding of usability and gain formal certification, I enrolled in the third cohort of FIAP's MBA program in Usability and Strategic Design. The final project required us to develop a product or business concept that could later be scaled into a startup. My initial idea revolved around providing residential customers with visibility and control over their energy expenses through a combination of hardware and IoT software.
Thus was born EMC "Energy Management and Control". Two classmates liked the idea and joined my project. Over the course of about a year, we crafted the brand identity, including the brand book, logos, approach, tone of voice, and various other aspects. Through extensive research, we identified that the Brazilian audience considers the electricity bill to be the heaviest burden on their wallets, yet they lack visibility into their energy consumption. In other words, in a scenario of rising prices, we are all forced to look at our energy consumption through a rearview mirror, being charged for what has already been spent.
So, our challenge was conceptualized as follows: to help identify scenarios for reducing energy expenses in the most transparent and accessible way possible through a user-friendly interface, where one wouldn't need to be an electronics expert to understand what's going on.
Value proposition:
According to our research, it wouldn't make any sense for customers to adopt our product if it were expensive. Some people in Brazil pay less than $10.00 for their electricity bills, so for the service to gain traction, it should be affordable and easy to install. We aimed to change the situation regarding knowledge about energy expenses in the country, so it should also provide consumption tips and savings advice, as well as alert users about energy tariff flags.
And for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, we would like to be able to help them price their services and products more accurately by indicating equipment with high energy consumption and generating comparisons.
Prototypes!
While researching possible hardware options to implement the hardware prototype, I came across the ESP32, a kind of low-cost ARDUINO. With a few resistors and a non-invasive sensor (the blue ring in the photo above), it could measure how many watts are passing through a wire and send this information to a remote database for analysis, storage, and transmission to customers via the app. With the help of a friend from my workplace at the time, I managed to run the prototype connected to my laptop's power supply, and the measurement was highly consistent. Subsequently, we developed various wireframes and interface prototypes to test with users.
Market benchmark
While conducting market research, we discovered several solutions very similar to ours. It was evident that many had encountered the challenge of accurately measuring energy expenses, not only in Brazil but also internationally. However, within the country, we identified only XP Energy, a startup based in the north that initially targeted only businesses. Their billing model involved renting the equipment, resulting in a monthly cost for the customer, which, in our opinion, was not feasible.
Business proposition.
While conducting market research, we discovered several solutions very similar to ours. It was evident that many had encountered the challenge of accurately measuring energy expenses, not only in Brazil but also internationally. However, within the country, we identified only XP Energy, a startup based in the north that initially targeted only businesses. Their billing model involved renting the equipment, resulting in a monthly cost for the customer, which, in our opinion, was not feasible.
Framer 2023
Amsterdam