Case Study
Effortless energy management that puts the power in your hands
In 2022, home energy was top of mind for everyone, utility bills were skyrocketing and saving energy had become a necessity for both financial and environmental reasons. At the same time, interest in smart home technology was surging, the global smart home market was projected to grow over 600% in the next decade. Yet despite a proliferation of “smart” thermostats, most households still lacked real insight or control over their heating.
Haylo emerged as an early-stage startup determined to change this by bringing a new level of intelligence to home heating, inspired by a simple idea of putting the power in the homeowner’s hands. The vision was to make it effortless for anyone to save energy and money by showing them exactly where their energy goes and using AI to help them prevent waste.
Making Energy Saving Effortless
As the Founding Product Designer, I helped define a few key product design goals. From the start we agreed that Haylo’s success would hinge on clarity, simplicity, and user trust, with our goals including:
Easily accessible: Design the experience so that anyone could use Haylo without confusion. Advanced AI technology would be hidden behind a simple, friendly interface, so that an average homeowner (not just tech enthusiasts) could grasp it.
Both automated and actionable: Translate complex energy data into actionable insights for users, and considerately balance meaningful suggestions with AI automation, to make energy saving effortless without taking away users' autonomy.
A service, not a gadget: Differentiate from other smart thermostats by removing the usual techy complexities and turning the focus to outcomes. Many existing solutions saved little and demanded too much from users, Haylo’s needed to do the day-to-day heavy lifting in the background, showing increased value over time.
Build Trust: Earn users’ trust and make them feel good about using the product by being transparent about results and changes, in a confident yet considerate way.
These goals shaped every design decision, from the tone of our copy to the layout of the app.
Designing Smart Without the Complexity
Designing Haylo meant balancing cutting-edge tech with real human needs. My approach was highly user-centered and iterative, working closely with the wider team to align what could be built with what people actually needed, with each decision made in alignment with the goals.
Delivering on the Promise of Smart Simplicity
The outcome was a system that took the complexity out of home energy management. From the moment you opened the app it offered a clear, reassuring view of how your home was performing and how it could be improved. At its core was a real sense of intelligence working quietly in the background, the app sympathetically made decisions automatically, and provided helpful nudges where more appropriate. Rather than just presenting the user with raw data, Haylo used plain, human language to explain what was happening and why, building trust through transparency and making the user feel like they were still in control.
A Smart Solution, Even Without Market Launch
While the Haylo product ultimately did not reach a public launch due to funding challenges, the outcomes of the design work were incredibly positive in many ways. Internally, our prototype and beta received enthusiastic praise from stakeholders, the founders and team were thrilled to see the vision come to life so clearly. More importantly, in focus group tests, homeowners responded with intrigue and excitement for potential savings, the participants consistently reported that Haylo’s was easy to use and understand, even for those with no smart home experience. This feedback was strong validation that we had achieved our core goal of making energy tech approachable and effective.
