Home control system: Home care

The Challenge

For the "Homecare" project, my team and I were asked by WARP to design a smart home management system. The goal was clear: create a user-friendly way for families to manage their electricity, water, and gas costs in one integrated system. I was responsible for the heart of the application: the Dashboard.

Designing the Heart of the System

Because this project was highly visual, I spent my time prototyping and testing to find the best layout. The dashboard had to give users a quick overview of their energy consumption and easy access to lighting, security, and temperature settings.

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My process followed three main steps:

1. Paper Prototyping: I started with quick sketches and paper models (shaped like a tablet) to see what worked. Testing this with real users showed me that some features, like "persons present," were confusing and needed to be moved.
2. Lo-Fi Clickable Prototype: Using feedback about white space and navigation, I moved to Figma. I experimented with different layouts to see which one gave users the most clarity without feeling "empty".
3. Hi-Fi Final Design: In the final stage, I applied a style guide we built as a team. We chose a calm beige background with high-contrast colors like orange and blue to make important information pop.

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Turning a "Stiff" Start into Team Success

Not every project starts perfectly. In the beginning, our team collaboration felt a bit "stiff" (or stroef in Dutch) because we didn't know each other well. We were all working on our own islands.

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I decided to help change the vibe. We did a "names round" to get to know each other and started communicating more openly about our progress. By the end, we were checking each other’s prototypes in Figma to ensure the whole system felt like one product. My teammates even mentioned they appreciated how I kept track of tasks and helped everyone stay on schedule.

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What I Learned

This project taught me the power of iteration. By creating multiple wireframes and testing them early, I could make design choices based on facts rather than just "feeling". It also showed me that a design is only as strong as the team behind it. When we started helping each other, the quality of our individual screens—and my dashboard—improved significantly.