Product Design, AI-Native Design
Energy Management App
A mobile app that finally pulls meter readings, bill payment, and outage schedules into one place for Ukrainian households.
Industry
Energy, Utility, FinTech
Duration
2 weeks
Services Provided
Product Design, AI-Native Design
Deliverables
Competitor analysis
Multi-meter data model
Billing flows
Competitor analysis
Multi-meter data model
Single page
Billing flows
Single page
Competitor analysis
Multi-meter data model
Billing flows
The brief came from a quote I heard twelve times in research: "I forget. I always forget." Ukrainian households deal with electricity across a paper bill, an SMS reminder, a Telegram bot for outages, and a website that aged in dog years. Every channel has a deadline. Miss it and you pay for the privilege. My job was one app that holds all the deadlines, without making people feel bad about losing track of them.
The brief came from a quote I heard twelve times in research: "I forget. I always forget." Ukrainian households deal with electricity across a paper bill, an SMS reminder, a Telegram bot for outages, and a website that aged in dog years. Every channel has a deadline. Miss it and you pay for the privilege. My job was one app that holds all the deadlines, without making people feel bad about losing track of them.
Three deadlines (read your meter, pay your bill, brace for the outage) live in three different places.
Multi-rate meters with day, night, and peak zones confuse almost everyone. "Which one is the night zone?" is the most-asked question at every utility, possibly ever.
A real household has more than one address. Flat in the city, country house, parents' apartment. The app had to know that.
Three deadlines (read your meter, pay your bill, brace for the outage) live in three different places.
Multi-rate meters with day, night, and peak zones confuse almost everyone. "Which one is the night zone?" is the most-asked question at every utility, possibly ever.
A real household has more than one address. Flat in the city, country house, parents' apartment. The app had to know that.
Design for indifference. Most people open this app once a month for two minutes. They want to know if they're fine until the 5th, and that's it. If the answer takes longer than three seconds, the design is failing.
Design for indifference. Most people open this app once a month for two minutes. They want to know if they're fine until the 5th, and that's it. If the answer takes longer than three seconds, the design is failing.
A deadline-first home screen with three cards (read by, pay by, outages this week). Colour shifts from green to red as days run out, which works better than a number for the half of users who don't read numbers anyway.
The multi-meter, multi-account model knows your zones and rates so you don't have to. The Pay screen looks like a receipt rather than a form, because you should read what you're paying for before tapping. Notifications mirror the home cards, so the lock screen tells the same story as the app.
A deadline-first home screen with three cards (read by, pay by, outages this week). Colour shifts from green to red as days run out, which works better than a number for the half of users who don't read numbers anyway.
The multi-meter, multi-account model knows your zones and rates so you don't have to. The Pay screen looks like a receipt rather than a form, because you should read what you're paying for before tapping. Notifications mirror the home cards, so the lock screen tells the same story as the app.
Empathise
Twelve interviews, six in-home sessions watching people actually submit readings. The home visits surfaced the country-house pain (no LTE, late submissions) that the calls had missed completely.
Define
Mapped the regulatory windows (1-5 of the month for readings, 7 days to pay) as walls you can't move. Everything else flexes around them.
Ideate
Tested three home screens: list, grid, deadline-first. Every session opened with "what do I owe and when", so deadline-first won by a landslide.
Prototype
Built the multi-meter flow in React with Tailwind, shadcn/ui, and Recharts. Mock data shaped like a real utility API, so the UI won't need a rewrite the day the backend shows up.
Test
Five sessions, three remote and two in person. Caught a contrast issue on gradient buttons and a wrong default for the zone picker. Both small. Both expensive if shipped.
Empathise
Twelve interviews, six in-home sessions watching people actually submit readings. The home visits surfaced the country-house pain (no LTE, late submissions) that the calls had missed completely.
Define
Mapped the regulatory windows (1-5 of the month for readings, 7 days to pay) as walls you can't move. Everything else flexes around them.
Ideate
Tested three home screens: list, grid, deadline-first. Every session opened with "what do I owe and when", so deadline-first won by a landslide.
Prototype
Built the multi-meter flow in React with Tailwind, shadcn/ui, and Recharts. Mock data shaped like a real utility API, so the UI won't need a rewrite the day the backend shows up.
Test
Five sessions, three remote and two in person. Caught a contrast issue on gradient buttons and a wrong default for the zone picker. Both small. Both expensive if shipped.
One app replaces a paper bill, an SMS reminder, a Telegram bot, and a clunky utility website, for the 80% of households who just want the "you're fine" sentence.
The 20% who actually love consumption charts still get them, and the charts didn't slow down the simple path. Designing for the boring case turned out to be the most caring move.
One app replaces a paper bill, an SMS reminder, a Telegram bot, and a clunky utility website, for the 80% of households who just want the "you're fine" sentence.
The 20% who actually love consumption charts still get them, and the charts didn't slow down the simple path. Designing for the boring case turned out to be the most caring move.
4 account types
supported in app
Apple Pay, Google Pay
and saved cards, all under 3 taps
17 households tested
14 said they'd drop their current channels for it
3 deadlines unified
on one home screen
4 account types
supported in app
Apple Pay, Google Pay
and saved cards, all under 3 taps
17 households tested
14 said they'd drop their current channels for it
3 deadlines unified
on one home screen
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Get expert guidance to align your product vision and make confident design decisions. Together, we’ll create practical solutions that drive measurable results for your product, team, and business.