Evaluation and Reflection

With the benefit of hindsight, we feel that we should have made a bigger deal about our unique selling point – pre-paying customers. Although this was included, and complimented the government backed schemes, we found ourselves concentrating more on the gamification (as it was a lot of work to create such a short video), and really getting the brand of the app consistent. All of these are important factors, but we feel this may have let us down a little if we wanted to stand out from the crowd.

We feel our final designs work well with npower’s existing brand, but with a slight change to give it our own touch. Our development has shown how we have considered usability and utilised feedback. We are also very pleased and proud of our gamification and the final video – as it is clear, clean and well explained.

If we were to do this project again we would research more into existing smart meters, as we felt we focused mostly on existing energy apps.

If we were to carry on with this project, we would demonstrate how the user can unlock features when being energy efficient and possibly incorporate the gamification into the smart meter.

As a group, we feel we were a little slow to get started as we weren’t fully sure of what was expected from the brief. However, once we had worked out who’s strongest skills belonged to who, we managed to work successfully and smoothly with little complications.

Overall, we feel we have created a successful project which meets requirements. We are very pleased with our final designs and promotional video.

 

The script for the video

 

To create a pleasurable viewing experience, we decided it would be best to create a voice over recording for the video. This would allow the user to watch the video of the prototype whilst listening to the dialogue.

Hilary created a script to describe and explain what our app does and how it works with the smart meter.

 

log in:

“The new app for npower enables you to take control of your energy usage.”

 

settings:

“With the ability to create budgets and track your spending, saving money with npower couldn’t be easier.”

 

summary screen:

 

“If you are a prepaying customer you can now easily keep on top of all your spending and review your previous deficits”

eco schemes:

“Energy saving hints are at your fingertips, as well as the ability to check your eligibility for government backed schemes.

Meaning you could qualify for energy saving improvements in the home for free. “

 

eco schemes bottom screen: 

 

“Checking your eligibility is simple, enter your details within the app, to see if you qualify for a free government backed scheme. “

Smart meter shot (lights):

“npowers smart meter has been designed to automatically sync with the app and smart meter in your home.

allowing you to effortlessly keep an eye on your current usage and spending.”

 

Game:

 

choose from environmental themes, save the ice caps or save the rain forrest. unlock features the more efficient you become. 

 

The new npower app allows you to compete against other npower customers in your area.  

The most energy efficient customers will receive discounts and rewards as a thank you for not being wasteful. 

 

Splash screen with logo:

 

“npower – you have the power to conserve.”

We feel this worked well, editing it in after effects to make sure the balance of the voice over was correct and the background music wasn’t too loud.

Final changes

We added the new “my Npower” logo to some of the feature screens as we decided that we wanted the app to appear more personal to users and calling it “my Npower” would help to achieve this.

Storyboarding our final video

We created a storyboard to work from to film our final video. We have tried to walk through the apps features quickly but efficiently to keep viewers entertained whilst still showing clearly what the app does and how it is used alongside all of the apps features.

Hi-fidelity MockUps

This is a rough idea of how we would like our screens to look. We have kept npowers colour scheme and their geometric shapes as we think it is an aesthetically pleasing design to keep. Their colour scheme is slightly incorporated into their original app design but we wanted to really involve it in our design to push the brand and make it obvious that it is npower.

The first design demonstrates the Energy Tracker page where the user will be able to see their energy usage. The navigation menu will neatly slide in and out, tucking away so’s not to take the attention away from the important information.

The second screen is an idea for the Energy Saving Methods or “Tips” page. This page will show users how they can save money if they change to different energy saving methods. Barometers each side show how an average of how much money they can save (over 3 years) and how much it costs for the user to install into their homes.

App Content

we decided we first needed to add a registration screen to the app so that users would be able to input their information from power such as their account number to retrieve their information. We also added a settings page enabling the user to perform tasks such as changing their password and email and, crucially, setting up their budget. Prompts are included above each field to make it explicitly clear to the user what information to input into the fields.

After working on the gameification side of the app we completed screens to be viewed by users. These screens show the user their ranking within their local area to put into perspective where they stand and perhaps create a sense of competitiveness. The icons added at the bottom of the screen are an option to view information on the game, which will open a pop up menu containing extra information for the user. The icon in the bottom right hand corner shows the user whether their energy consumption is high or low.

The iceberg is the main focus of the game and is directly affected by the users energy consumption. This helps keep the game fairly ambient with little to no user participation necessary. The higher the users energy consumption, the more the iceberg will melt and vice versa. The aim is to keep the iceberg from melting. It provokes the user to think about their energy consumption in relation to the environmental impact it will have.

Energy Saving Methods

Example prototype of the different energy saving methods the user can acquire to attain an energy efficient home. Npower provides government backed eco-schemes to eligible households, so we included a link to the form to check their eligibility. The barometers are example prototypes (incorrect values) displaying roughly how much the method would be to install into a home and how much the user can save over three years – to demonstrate how the user can save money and be energy efficient.

We kept in with the colour scheme and the geometric shapes that npower already have to keep their branding.

Summary Page

This is our completed summary page for the power app. We decided to use this as the main page of the app as it holds all the information we found people wished to know. The first screen contains the buttons which will allow the user to navigate around the app alongside their current energy usage and their budget and if they are currently on target. The user will then scroll down to the next page (something we included as with touch devices it is a very natural motion to use) where they can view their account information, bills, a breakdown on their spending week by week and their average spend.

The final page is an added extra we decided to add for all prepayment users. We found that people on a prepayment plan didn’t know just how much of their deficit they were paying off each time they topped up and wished to have more information regarding this. We added their current credit, how much emergency credit they have and the option to top up their credit as this has recently become possible to do over the internet. Alongside this is their deficit total (or credit if applicable)  – a comparison of this month from last and the previous three months and how much of an impact this has had on their current deficit in percent to show the user exactly what is going on.

After feedback from our previous designs we decided to create a cleaner look with less buttons pages to click between. The homepage now acts as like a dashboard where they can see their budget and kw/ph, and the navigation is 3 simple symbols (summary, eco-shemes & the game) to reduce steps to get to where the user wants to be. We now feel the colour scheme and branding is a lot stronger than our previous designs.

Smart Meter Screens

We mocked up the screens for the smart meter taking elements from the app to give users an easy way of seeing what sort of energy they are using when about the house without the need to keep opening the app – with this being particularly handy for times when their device is not at hand.

We took elements from the summary screen of the app, showing how much of the users budget has been used and their current usage in kilowatts at a glance.

The second screen is a breakdown of the household energy usage, allowing users to see where the most energy in the home is being used and rectify this if necessary.

The third screen will be available to prepayment users which shows them at a glance how much they have left in credit, allowing them to avoid the gas or electricity ever going off in the home without their knowledge.