PowerPal

PROJECT OVERVIEW

PROJECT OVERVIEW

As part of my interactive design courses at Tulane SOPA, I created PowerPal, a website and application aimed at helping renters and homeowners monitor and understand their energy usage.

THE PROBLEM?

Energy bills continue to rise, yet many renters and homeowners and renters don’t understand what is driving the increase. Most energy monitoring tools show raw data without context, leaving users to guess instead of make informed decisions.

THE SOLUTION?

To create a smart, easy-to-use dashboard that demystifies energy use for homeowners and renters so that they can cut costs, save money, and be more eco-friendly.

EMPATHIZE

User Flow

I began by identifying the core user needs:

  • Reduce energy bills

  • Understand cost drivers

  • Lower carbon footprint

As well as identifying the target audience:

  • Homeowners

  • Renters

Research Goals

I want to understand what users prefer and the difficulties they experience with tracking their energy usage throughout the month. I will specifically focus on what users need to keep themselves motivated and aware of their energy usage throughout the month, not just when their bill arrives.

Participants

I tested five users that are either renting or homeowners between the ages of 21-45 via Zoom, with one in person. Each session lasted an average of 15-30 minutes and were done in each design sprint.

User Journey Mapping

I mapped the typical energy experience:

  1. Bill arrives

  2. User reacts to high cost

  3. Attempts temporary reduction

  4. Forgets to continue new energy saving habits until next bill arrives

Competitor Research

I analyzed existing energy monitoring platforms, including Loop, to understand how they:

  • Present consumption data

  • Understand what already works + what doesn't

  • Motivate continued engagement

  • Reinforce habit-building

This helped identify gaps in clarity, personalization, and behavioral motivation.


DEFINE

User Personas

By creating a user persona, I can better understand the actual users’ needs, goals, and pain points. This allows me to provide more meaningful user experiences based on the user personas.

User Flows

Creating this user flow helped show the user journey and their potential decisions when going through two tasks: viewing their dashboard to see their energy consumption, and creating an energy goal for the month.


Low-Fidelity Wireframes

I structured the app around:

  • Dashboard

  • Graphs

  • Devices

  • Energy Education

  • Energy Management (Goals)

Focused on:

  • Clear hierarchy

  • Multiple data visualizations (bar, line, bubble)

  • Device breakdown

  • Goal-setting feature

Testing & Affinity Mapping

I conducted user tests with:

  • 4 participants

  • Renters (20s)

  • Homeowners (30s)

  • ~15-minute sessions over Zoom

This helped to understand the functionality of the wireframe.

Key Findings

  • 50% of users struggled to find “Energy Consumed Today” outside the dashboard.

  • 50% showed little interest in energy education and preferred specific usage details instead.

  • Users preferred bar charts for quick comparisons rather than lines.

  • A correlation emerged between interest in Goal Tracking and higher frequent app use.

  • Three users recommended friendlier, more vibrant colors.

Affinity mapping helped cluster issues around:

  • Discoverability

  • Label clarity

  • Visualization hierarchy

  • Motivation

  • Personalization


IDEATE

New Changes

  • Added “View More” buttons for clearer navigation pathways

  • Made the Bar Chart the first visible visualization

  • Displayed Goals first on the Energy Management page

  • Renamed:

    • “Device List” → “My Devices”

    • “Set Up Device” → “Add Device”

    • and “Graphs” → “Graphs & Usage” for simpler, and friendlier language

  • Created a toggle button Line/Bar chart on the Dashboard

  • Updated “Energy Consumed Today” to include breakdown by device

  • Reduced emphasis on Energy Education (still accessible but secondary)

Testing (Sprint 3)

Testing the revised wireframes revealed a larger behavioral insight:

Users may not need extensive energy education because they primarily check the app near their billing cycle.

The goal setting was there to help but through testing it was discovered that it would probably not be utilized unless user was seriously struggling saving money with a specific device or with finances.

This raised a new challenge:

How can we keep users engaged consistently throughout the month?

This led to the introduction of gamification.

PROTOTYPE

Introducing Gamification: PowerPal

To increase engagement frequency, I introduced PowerPal, a gamified feature that transforms energy-saving into a rewarding experience.

Concept

A PowerPal turns energy saving into a rewarding journey. By completing personal goals or daily challenges, users earn Eco Points. With Eco Points, they can grow a virtual garden, forest, or energy-efficient city, while saving money and reducing their environmental impact in real life.

Core Mechanic

  • Goals became the primary way to earn points

  • Daily challenges encouraged consistent check-ins

  • Visual growth of the user's PowerPal garden reinforced positive behavior

Testing PowerPal

To test users and better know what the goal function could include, users were asked:

  • What do you think PowerPal is for?

  • How would you view your current goal?

  • How would you set a new goal?

  • How would you customize your PowerPal world?

  • What energy-saving goals would you set?

Findings

  • Users clearly understood that PowerPal was tied to progress

  • Goals were the strongest motivator

  • The virtual growth system increased emotional investment

Gamification successfully addressed the low mid-month engagement issue.

Branding

PowerPal's brand identity was designed to make energy management feel approachable, rewarding, and positive. Instead of presenting energy consumption as a technical or overwhelming, the visual system uses friendly design elements, vibrant colors, and clear and rounded typography to create an experience that feels encouraging. The branding supports the app's goal of helping users build sustainable habits while making energy tracking feel accessible.

Brand Attributes

  • Friendly

  • Motivational

  • Sustainable

  • Welcoming

  • Optimistic

  • Educational without feeling overwhelming

By working around these brand attributes, the logo was created with rounded shapes and a playful visual of a "smiling" cable plug reinforce the idea that energy management doesn't have to feel complicated or intimidating. 

Color Palette

The color palette draws inspiration from nature and sustainability while incorporating energetic accent colors to support the app's gamified experience.

  • Greens: Growth, sustainability, and nature

  • Blue: Clear skies, calm, and trust

  • Yellow: Electricity, optimism, and sunshine

  • Orange: Motivation, energy, and action

  • Brown: Earthiness, balance, and eco friendly

Typography Goals

  • Maintain clarity across data visualizations and dashboards

  • Create a friendly, approachable user experience

  • Establish a clear hierarchy for complex information

TEST

In the final sprint, I tested the high fidelity prototype.

Users were asked to:

  • Check live energy consumption

  • Identify appliances currently in use

  • Check energy usage by room

  • Add a device

  • View and edit goals

  • Access PowerPal

  • Their response to the branding

Results

  • Navigation labels were significantly clearer

  • Live consumption was easier to locate

  • Goal creation was intuitive

  • PowerPal added perceived motivation

  • Visual hierarchy improved data readability

  • Branding felt friendly and reflected the energy saving theme

Final Outcome

Sign In & Dashboard
Graphs
Devices
PowerPal & Goal Setting

The redesigned energy monitor transforms passive bill-checking into an engaging, goal-driven system.

Instead of reacting once a month, users are encouraged to:

  • Track daily usage

  • Identify cost drivers

  • Set meaningful goals

  • Earn rewards

  • Build long-term energy-saving habits

By combining smart data visualization with behavioral motivation, the app empowers users to reduce costs and their carbon footprint consistently, not just at the end of the month, ensuring that users are always up to date with their energy spending and remain conscious of the environment!

Smooth Scroll
This will hide itself!