PROJECT OVERVIEW
Energy Management Dashboard For Manufacturers: Enhancing Visualization of Complex Energy Data to Save Up On Energy Bills
A live energy management dashboard designed to help plant managers easily interpret complex energy metrics, gain insights, and make decisions faster. This was my first time working in the energy sector, and I enjoyed the challenge of navigating it. The dashboard was designed as part of an IoT business innovation class in collaboration with the client, Energy Insights.
Role
Project Lead
Team Members
UX Designers * 2
UX Researchers * 2
Timeline
Jan 2024 - March 2024
Problem
Many plant managers, lacking a technical background, struggle to interpret energy data and optimize operations, despite their desire to reduce energy costs. The key challenge is presenting complex energy data in a simplified, intuitive format without losing essential details. Additionally, each plant has unique needs, raising the question: how can we create a customizable solution that adapts to these specific requirements while still providing actionable insights?
Business Goals
1. Customer Acquisition
2. Sustainability
3. Valuable Insights
User Needs
1. Energy Cost Reduction
2. Operational Efficiency
3. Customized Solutions
Target Users
1. Plant Managers
2. Medium-Scale Manufacturers
SOLUTION
Granular Component Breakdown: Provide Detailed Insights into the Consumption Patterns of Individual Components.
Our solution utilizes the Energy Insights Starter Kit and collects data from IoT devices across the plant. Applies machine learning to transform this data into clear, intuitive visualizations. By doing so, it breaks down the plant’s peak energy load for the month and identifies which utilities contribute to that load. Furthermore, the system customizes real-time electricity cost tracking based on each plant's specific pricing plan. This tailored approach ensures that plant managers, regardless of their technical background, can make informed, data-driven decisions to optimize operations and reduce energy costs.
Before
After
Process
Understanding Users
User & Stakeholder (developers) interviews to understand pain paints
Business Needs
Understand product goals through stakeholder interviews & market research
Define
Prioritize issue & identify features for MVP. Align user needs with business goals
Design & Prototype
Deliver design components & prototype within 2 weeks
User Feedback
Think-aloud user testing & iterate on design
01 UNDERSTANDING USERS
Lacked an Understanding of User's Needs
The client had developed the dashboard from an engineering perspective without conducting user interviews. To bridge this gap, I conducted interviews with five integrators—energy partners who work closely with plant managers and supplemented it with secondary research. We then used affinity mapping to identify key themes.
Overwhelmed by Metrics
The volume of data, combined with a lack of technical understanding, makes it difficult for them to pinpoint the most critical information
Unable to Customize
A key challenge for many managers is the inability to tailor dashboards to meet the unique needs of their plant.
Want to Save Up
Reducing energy costs is a priority for most plant managers, but achieving this goal requires clear, actionable insights from their energy dashboards
" How can we compare energy data from machine a vs machine b?" - Interviewee 3
"The manufacturers don't have any background in energy necessarily, so they don't know what they’re looking at?" -Interviewee 2
Major Findings:
02 BUSINESS NEEDS
Why do we need Granular Component Breakdown?
In today's competitive business environment, it’s essential for product solutions to not only integrate advanced technology but also promote sustainability for customer acquisition. A granular breakdown powered by machine learning empowers decision-makers by providing a clear visualization of core issues, enabling them to identify inefficiencies in their plant and gain valuable insights.
Business Goals
User Needs
Features
1. Customer Acquisition
2. Sustainability
3. Valuable Insights
1. Energy Cost Reduction
2. Operational Efficiency
3. Customized Solutions
1. Peak-Load Breakdown
2. Electricity cost calculation basis pricing plan
3. Seasonal Overview
4. Utility Health Overview
Current Scope
Future Scope
03 DEFINE
Should we Design Tab View first? What is our Visual Design Language?
From our research, we discovered that many plant managers felt overwhelmed by large screens filled with too many metrics. To address this, we decided to design for a tablet view, making our data visualizations more concise and interactive. Prioritizing clarity and user engagement, we focused on building the product right from the start. This meant establishing a solid style guide with minimal colors, while concentrating only on the MVP features.
1. Too many colors
2. Key insights not highlighted
3. Failure to comply with miller's law
Energy Insights Dashboard on-site
03 DESIGN & PROTOTYPE
Visualizing our Ideas through Sketches
We explored many ideas for component style & data visulizations. I took leadership on designing the MVP feature screen peak-load breakdown.
Explorations
Final Screen- Monthly Load Overview
Final Screen- Peak Load Breakdown
04 DESIGN & PROTOTYPE
Sketches to Wireframes
Monthly Load Overview
Login Screen
Peak Load Breakdown
Settings Screen
Soothing Colors & 3D icons
We chose blue for its association with trust and focus, and red to highlight critical information that requires attention. Additionally, we incorporated 3D icons to enhance recognition over recall, making it easier for users to quickly understand utility information.
Utility Health Card
Navigation
Utility Connected Card
05 USER FEEDBACK
Iterating Based on User Feedback
I had the opportunity to attend Indiana's Manufacturing Road Show, it was a golden chance to finally meet our target audience and validate our design. Determined to gain insights, I actively engaged with potential users—sometimes even chasing them down to our stall—ensuring we received the feedback we needed to refine the product.
1. Utility Information Hidden
In the first iteration, it wasn't clear which utilities are plugged into the dashboard. This information was hidden in the settings screen. The users felt confused while navigating the monthly overview screen.
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"Is this for the entire floor? or is it for one load?"- User 1
Setting Screen
Utility Information Shown Upfront
2. Visual Hierarchy for Monthly Overview Missing
This feedback made it clear that the design wasn’t focusing on the most relevant information for the user. In response, I iterated the design to prioritize and clearly highlight only the peak load for each month, replacing the bar graph with a trend graph.
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"What do the red bars represent? I’m only interested in seeing the peak load for the month."- User 3
Peak load overview
Highlighting the Peak load
Positive Feedback for Peak-Load Breakdown
I was thrilled to receive positive feedback for the peak-load breakdown screen from both the CEO of Opto 22 and our client. It was especially rewarding because I had taken full ownership of this screen, conceptualizing and leading its design from start to finish. Their recognition validated the effort I put into creating a solution that aligned with the users' & business needs.
"The utility demand visualization will be very helpful to the plant managers!"
Benson Houghland
Opto 22 CEO
"This visualization provides essential information, I want to use it in our product"
Rebecca Gillespie
Energy Insights Managing Director
Introducing...The Final Screens
IMPACT
Simplifying Insights for Manufacturers
The granular component breakdown transformed complex data into simple, digestible chunks, enabling manufacturers to gain clear and actionable insights from the dashboard. This approach, in contrast to the previous design, received highly positive feedback from both the client and users.
REFLECTION
Work with information at hand, iterate, and stay ahead!
We faced a significant challenge in recruiting users for interviews. To address this, I conducted scenario-based interviews with integrators who worked closely with our users and were familiar with their frustrations. We further validated our findings through secondary research. This experience taught me how to effectively work with the information at hand, a common reality when companies have limited budgets for user research
We accomplished this project within 2 months, prioritizing swift iteration, regular updates, and actively seeking feedback from potential users, stakeholders & design community.
Happy faces after a tiring yet satisfying design sprint, with our beautiful instructor Terri Wadda..
