Hive
Control, comfort and peace of mind for millions of smart home users.
IOS App
Role
Lead Product Designer
Work
User Research
Art Direction
UX/UI Design
Design System
Results
Reduced op costs by 3.5m
Increased satisfaction by 85%
4.4 Star App Store Rating
Hive the UK’s largest smart home provider saw huge success with the launch of their smart thermostat, setting them on a path of rapid expansion, scaling their smart home ecosystem across the globe.
With around 1 million customers using 2.6 million devices, users quickly trusted Hive. However the quick succession of new devices had come at the cost of design, with app inconsistencies and an ageing art direction and UX.
I joined the team to help reimagine the end to end digital Hive experience. I led the product design for device onboarding and setup, with a focus on humanising the technology to help users of all technical abilities. I contributed to modernising the art direction and overall app UX, designing and validating design system components and running workshops and user research.
Product Onboarding
At Hive, product onboarding is a set of sequenced activities users complete on and off-screen to set up their new devices. The smart thermostat was engineer installed, so self setup was not considered in the early days. But as Hive launched a number of new self install products (cameras, sensors, lights) clear digital onboarding journeys were required.
To establish and effectively communicate the problem's users faced I set up and conducted a mix of summative research methods so I could observe, understand and document onboarding insights, collating all feedback, pain points and technical issues into a customer journey map.
Research
Ethnographic observation of a user completing multiple device set-ups to observe behaviours in a natural environment.
Interviewed customer service agents and listened in to live support calls and web-chat support.
Mapped my personal experiences installing products, noting first hand frustrations.
Ran a team workshop with Product, Design and Development to capture internal views and ideas.
Conducted one-on-one user sessions to understand customers' perspectives and resolutions.
Key Pain Points
Abstract graphics and badly desinged icons.- Design needs to work for all technical abilities.
- Complex pharases and steps confuse users.
- Lots of support calls for non-tech problems.
Key Opportunities
Clear feedback states give confidence in setup.- Mirroring the state of hardware helps issues.
- Show users how things work don't tell.
- Modernise art direction & brand design.
- Use a familiar framework for all devices
Prototyoping
I created rapid and realistic prototypes for a few different device onboarding flows. Then, using a life-size living room, we invited new and existing customers to participate in a round of user feedback sessions.
This helped me quickly test assumptions and see how people of defined technical abilities dealt with the new designs. At the same time, it allowed other stakeholders to see firsthand how users reacted to and used the product.
After the sessions, I could make informed design decisions on the concepts and ideas that worked and those that didn't, helping Hive focus on creating the right thing, the right way, before going to development.
Shop Prototype
Art Direction
Working closely with a 3D render agency I storyboarded out various scenes and scenarios we wanted to include high quality renders within the app experience. The renders show perspectives and states reflecting how the physical device was behaving and helped user self identify and solve common issues.
Additionally to the renders I worked closely with the internal Brand team at Hive along with an external photographer to produce new lifestyle images of the Hive devices in homes with pets and people to bring the scenes to life.
Shop
A key focus of the rebrand and redesign was to increase product sales. Hive had relied heavily on Amazon in its early years. As Hive expanded into new regions, there was an emphasis to build a way for customers to buy products directly from in the app.
I led the design of the e-commerce experience, reworking the IA for product listings and simplifying the product display pages for a better mobile experience. The in-app shop was designed to support unique offers and sales targeted to specific users with tailored products to enable targeted campaigns so customers with existing products wouldn't receive irreverent promotions. The design brought the end-to-end purchase experience into the app, including the ability to use apple pay and delivery tracking.
Shop Prototype
