Acclimate
Problem Statement
Many people dread the thoughts of coming home to a cold, dark house.
Users & Audience
Families and workers, but can be use anyone.
Roles & Responsibilities
Research, Branding, Wireframing, Prototyping
Scope
Research, App prototype, Style Guide
Context
Overview
Acclimate is a smart home app that adjusts settings based on the user’s mood to help reduce decision fatigue. When the user comes home, it detects how they’re feeling and automatically changes the lighting, temperature, and other appliances to match their mood. The project was completed over three weeks and included user research, branding, and digital development.
Research
Since I had a short timeframe for this project, I started brainstorming ideas right away. I found that connecting two unrelated words was the quickest way to come up with concepts. By combining “mood” and “swing,” I developed the idea for a mood-based smart home app. I then carried out user research and competitor analysis to guide my design. Creating user personas, empathy maps, and user journeys helped me understand user needs more deeply.
Design
For the design, I sketched out wireframes on paper and brought them into Figma. I developed a brand based on my core value of warmth. I wanted to user to feel welcomed into my app. I brainstormed names and chose acclimate, another word for adapt because my app adapts the home to the user’s needs. I picked a colour, font and small graphic from this value. The graphic would then go on to form my wordmark. I then fleshed out my app design and turned the screens into mockups. I added some minimal animations while prototyping. This really made it feel like a functioning app.
Results and Outcomes
I am really proud of this project given the short timeframe. I think I achieved a lot over the three weeks. Had I more time, I would have spent longer developing the app and adding illustrations. I think that would have enhanced it. Overall, I am pleased with the final result and it taught me how to progress to each stage quickly to meet the deadline.
