Smart home app

Client: SkyBell
Role: Product designer (UX, UI, research, writing)
Collaboration: Pairing with another product designer, working with client leadership, marketing, and design.

Overview

I partnered with SkyBell, a leader in home IOT and security, to research and design a refresh of their mobile app. They were on a tight schedule to complete development, but needed design support to verify usability, user experience, and interface design of the project. There was a wide range of new features to consider, from motion tracking and video call interfaces, to onboarding flows and activity libraries. The end result needed to be easy to use and look amazing.

Discovery

The first step was to deep dive into the SkyBell product and their competitors. The product allows you to use, customize, and manage your home's SkyBell devices: cameras, video chat, sensors, door bells, and more. Its powerful video tools let you see what's going on around a property and interact with it in real time. With user permissions, you can even access the networks of other users. I iterated through options to find just the right controls and sequence for these powerful features.

End-to-end design support

I tested the existing app from every angle, looking for areas of opportunity to improve the user experience. One of the primary tasks that I looked at was managing the large amounts of recordings and archives a single user may have. How do we make it easy to find a specific file quickly, and also maintain a detailed library of content. As the user flows and functionality was coming together, it was time to ensure the look and feel was consistent and polished. We partnered with SkyBell's brand team to create a design system, including a full dark/light mode UI kit.

Results

Our strategic partnership allowed SkyBell to meet their development deadlines, and greatly improved the user experience of their app. The new designs clarified their vision, established feature goals, and paved the way for future releases.