Introducing a sustainable smart battery that will pioneer a new era of energy storage.
April - August 2021
Lead UX / UI Designer
Energy storage can be an intimidating topic for people who don't know anything about it. Ample information exists on the web, but it's difficult to know where to start reading, let alone what to even search.
Create an educational, friendly experience for energy newbies to learn more about Blip's smart battery value proposition, and sign up for updates to eventually purchase the battery.
I redesigned every page on the site but will focus on my improvements to the Home and Product pages below.
Our interviewees barely knew about electricity and were not used to spending time or money on energy. To ensure that they understood exactly why our energy storage product, blipOne, should be a household staple, we had to educate users in a digestible, clear way.
My designs for Blip's site were well received by both the blip team and users alike, who felt that the site was easier to navigate, had a clearer brand identity and voice and solved the MVP's problems.
The team conducted 104 interviews with renters across the country with varying socio-economic backgrounds. I analyzed their executive summaries of the interviews to learn more about the user Blip was targeting.
Customers don't know how much about their electricity bill aside from when to pay it
People didn't know how to be more environmentally conscious with their energy usage aside from just using less electricity and turning unused items off
People didn't spend money on energy products so were unfamiliar with this type of device and how blipOne would logistically and aesthetically fit in their home
Establish a baseline of energy knowledge so that they understand blipOne's value proposition
Show how the device integrates seamlessly into their lifestyles with no added hassle or behavioral changes
Emphasize blipOne's low barrier to use and thoughtful hardware design (e.g. the aesthetic, size, and mobility)
With all of the interviews and surveys conducted, I created a user persona, Katie, to help hone in on who the target customer was for our product and how we might best communicate our value proposition to her.
I critiqued the existing MVP website through Katie's perspective, identifying obstacles that prevented her from achieving her goals while brainstorming potential improvements and additions.
To start, I conducted a content audit to quickly identify what was useful and effective versus what could be eliminated. In doing so, I noticed that the hierarchy of information on the MVP was not aligned with what users expressed was most important to them. Users had asked questions during their interviews that were not being answered by the site.
Customers don't know how much about their electricity bill aside from when to pay it
Users don't see any information on the product itself or how it works
Users don't understand Blip's value propositions based on the existing information shown
Reduce redundancy with clarified information architecture and messaging
Include product details section with information about its hardware design (e.g. color, size, portability)
Add sections about backup power since this is the most universal use case
I also researched competitors in the energy storage space to learn about what content others featured and how successful they were at marketing their products. This was a helpful exercise that helped me gain inspiration for how we might present our value propositions.
For the Product page, I focused firstly on the structure and content with respect to blipOne's value propositions and what users wanted to know about the device.
While sketching, I asked myself, "What are the users going to do on the website? What are their goals?" which helped me narrow down my priorities:
After wireframing, I collaborated with the CTO and CEO to review my sketches and existing and new content proposals.
Key Takeaways:
I started designing the copy and layout of each section based on the feedback I received. I worked with the Graphic Designer to engage users with consumer-friendly graphics to complement the approachable messaging.
I conducted five usability tests consisting of 3-5 tasks asking the user to navigate the site and describe their understanding of blipOne. As my time at Blip was coming to a close, I passed along the analyses to the designer who was replacing me so that he could iterate on my designs to eliminate any user pain points and create a more enjoyable experience.
I walked the developers through the component library and passed off finalized components and exported assets.
I conducted a case study retrospective for blip to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities of my design process and skills.
One major opportunity would have been to connect with the go-to-market team and the CEO sooner to align on their goals for messaging to implement their learnings and strategy while I designed the site. Also, aligning with the CEO on SEO strategy earlier in the design cycle would have been helpful as well in framing my perspective.
"Justine is a very talented UI/UX designer who really understands the balance between research and design, and gets stuff done. Justine and I worked together at Blip, a smart battery startup, where I supervised her in an ever-changing environment.
Her biggest strengths are her ability to strategically think about a problem and solve it creatively, while keeping the nuances and details in mind. She is a true self-starter who works quickly and thoughtfully — while she was at Blip, she overhauled our website, mapped out complex user flows and designed our onboarding and user dashboard products. Justine is a wonderful person to work with and would be a great asset to any company!"
- Thibaut Feremans, CTO + Co-Founder at Blip