Role

Product Designer, User Research, Prototyping and Testing

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Duration

4 months (Aug.2023 - Dec.2023)

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Team

Joanne Liu, Leesan Sun, Kathleen Yang, Shuning Yang

An Overview 👀

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Joule is a utility management application designed to simplify the process of tracking and paying multiple utility bills on one platform.

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"Did I pay my bills?" 📆

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For many college students, moving into independent living introduces a range of new responsibilities—one of the most daunting being utility management. From selecting the right providers to ensuring bills are paid on time, the process can feel overwhelming. This project focuses on enhancing the utility management experience for students, helping them navigate these financial responsibilities with ease and turning what is often a stressful task into a seamless part of their independent journey.

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Meet our User 🎩

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Joule: One-Stop Solution for All Utilities 💻

Joule is a comprehensive platform that consolidates various utility services, transforming the once fragmented process of managing and paying bills into a seamless experience. By bringing all utility payments under one roof, users can easily keep track of due dates, payment statuses, and consumption levels—all in one place.

What sets Joule apart is its gamified incentive system, featuring virtual pets that grow and evolve based on responsible energy consumption. This unique feature encourages users to make eco-conscious decisions while turning routine tasks into an engaging and enjoyable experience.

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Utility Payment 💳

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Usage Tracking 📊

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Your Utility Pet 🐇

My Approach 🔦

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To tackle the challenges faced by college students managing utility payments, my project team and I conducted in-depth user research. Our goal was to understand how students currently handle utility management and where they experience the most friction. We employed two primary research methods: surveys and interviews.

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Survey 📑

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We began by conducting a survey with over 50 college students, both undergraduates and graduates, who live independently. Of those surveyed, half were responsible for paying their utility bills directly through provider websites, making them the target users for Joule. This survey helped us gather broad insights into the common challenges and behaviors related to utility management among students.

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Interview 📝

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To dive deeper into the pain points and behaviors highlighted in the survey, we conducted four in-depth structured interviews with students aged 21 to 25. These participants were selected from the pool of survey respondents and represented both undergraduate and graduate students who currently handle their own utility payments. Through these interviews, we explored their day-to-day experiences, frustrations, and needs in greater detail.

The Process 🎢

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Ideation 🧭

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‍After analyzing the survey and interview data, we identified two core tasks that users frequently perform: making payments and tracking usage. To better understand these tasks, we developed Heuristic Task Analysis (HTA) diagrams for each, breaking down the steps involved.

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Our team then held a brainstorming session to generate potential solutions. Each member pitched ten ideas, and we used colored dot voting to select our favorites.

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After voting, we narrowed down the top ten ideas and sketched them out. To further refine the concepts, we rated each on a scale of 1 to 5 across several design criteria, ultimately narrowing our focus to the top two concepts: a centralized payment platform and a rewards/gaming system.

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Concept 1 - Central Payment System 🎯

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The centralized payment platform concept, available on both mobile and web, consolidates all utility providers in one place, making it easier for users to access their bills and track payments. The platform includes several key features:

• Calendar & Notifications: Tracks upcoming payment deadlines with reminders.
• Usage Charts: Visualizes personalized utility usage data, helping users track and manage their consumption.
• Autopay Functionality: Automates bill payments, ensuring users never miss a payment.

This solution addresses both primary user needs—payment and usage tracking—efficiently. Our team rated this concept highly because it streamlines utility management and simplifies the user experience, offering a one-stop solution for all tasks.

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Concept 2 - Bills Master Game 🎠

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The Bills Master Game adds a layer of fun to managing utility payments by introducing a rewards system. Key features of this concept include:

• Earn Points: Users accumulate points by paying bills on time and adopting energy-saving habits.
• Unlock Rewards: Points can be redeemed for fun, user-specific rewards, incentivizing good behavior.
• Leaderboard: Users can engage in friendly competition with friends, motivating them to stay on top of their bills and save energy.

This approach aims to make the routine task of paying bills more engaging, especially for college students, by gamifying the process. It motivates users to adopt responsible energy practices while fostering a sense of accomplishment and competition.

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Evaluation of Concepts 📝

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‍Both concepts—the Central Payment System and the Bills Master Game—were highly rated by the team, but each serves different user motivations. The Central Payment System excels in simplicity and efficiency, while the Bills Master Game focuses on user engagement and motivation through gamification. These two ideas form the foundation for our next phase of design and prototyping.

The Making of Joule 🔌

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What if we combined both concepts into one solution? Our team decided to integrate the strengths of both the Central Payment System and the Bills Master Game, creating a holistic utility management solution that is both efficient and engaging.

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Wireframing 📋

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We began by developing a rough wireframe that outlined the user flows for both key components:

• Payment Logic: Covering setup, payment tracking, and notifications.
• Gamification Feature: Integrating the rewards system, leaderboard, and progress tracking.

The wireframe mapped out the full journey, ensuring that the system’s functionality—both the practical and the fun—worked together seamlessly.

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Prototyping 🎨

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Once the wireframes were complete, we transitioned to prototyping the full experience. This step involved creating detailed screens for all interactions, ensuring that both the utility management and gamification features were intuitive and easy to use.

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Style Guide 📘

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To ensure visual consistency across the platform, we developed a comprehensive style guide. This guide defined key design elements, such as:

• Color palette: Reflecting the simplicity and efficiency of the payment system, with playful accents for the gaming features.
• Typography: Balancing readability with modern aesthetics.
• UI Components: Buttons, icons, and navigation elements designed to be user-friendly and visually engaging.

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