myhome
Smart Thermostat
Product Pitch Video
Product Pitch Video
Project Brief
My task was to design and prototype a tablet interface for a smart home thermostat.
This particular thermostat will have multiple sensors (in addition to the sensor in the thermostat box itself) that can be placed in different rooms of a home. The sensors will detect temperature and humidity. Different thermostat settings will be based on one or more of the sensors. The smart thermostat will be controlled remotely via a tablet.
Tools Used: Sketch, Craft by InVision Plugin
Duration: 1 Week
During this project, I split my process into 3 parts:
Discovery
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Identifying Requirements
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Gaining Inspiration
Design
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Sketching
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Select OS Pattern Library
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Design Interface
Prototype
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Prototype using Craft by Invison Plugin
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Finalize Look & Feel
Discovery
The thermostat app companion we design has specific functionality requirements provided by the professor.
From the tablet, users should be able to:
1. See the current temperature and humidity for each sensor
2. See and adjust the HVAC fan status (on/off/auto)
3. Adjust the current temperature and specify how the change interacts with a scheduled mode (e.g., hold for 1 hour and return to schedule, hold indefinitely, etc.)
4. See the current and forecasted outdoor temperature and humidity
5. Create a schedule for multiple modes (e.g., home, away, sleep, vacation, etc.)
6. Set geo-fencing parameters
With these requirements in mind. I looked to external, yet related, sources for inspiration.
There are a number of smart thermostats with app companions currently on the market. Additionally, there are a number of smart home apps and I looked at generic non-smart thermostats as well. I looked at these similar products to see how they visualize information and communicate all necessary aspects through design.
Nest Thermostat
Apple's Home App
My two largest pieces of inspiration were the Nest Thermostat and Apple’s Home app. From Nest, I admired the use of color to indicate heating or cooling. I also appreciated how the current temperature was front and center and easy to understand. From Apple’s Home app, I admired the look and feel of the application. It was very easy to understand what’s going on and appeared very organized through the use of tiles.
Design
At this stage, I chose to design the application for the IOS tablet, iPad. To begin designing, I started off with sketches.
Because we have strict requirements to follow, I sketched out each page based requirements. I was insured by the card/tile look, which is represented in these sketches. The following pages showcase this work. I have placed the numbered requirements below for easy referencing.
1. See the current temperature and humidity for each sensor
2. See and adjust the HVAC fan status (on/off/auto)
3. Adjust the current temperature and specify how the change interacts with a scheduled mode
4. See the current and forecasted outdoor temperature and humidity
5. Create a schedule for multiple modes (e.g., home, away, sleep, vacation, etc.)
6. Set geo-fencing parameters
Please view the sketches below
 Home Page |  Rooms page |  Outdoor Page |
|---|---|---|
 Modes Page |  Schedule Setup Page |
These sketches were then turned into Hi-Fi mockups using Sketch App for Mac.
Please view the mockups below
 Home Page |  Room Page |  Outdoor Page |
|---|---|---|
 Forecast Page |  Modes Page |  Schedule Set Up Page |
Prototyping
I then created a prototype of these screens using the Craft by InVision plugin in Sketch.
Click here to use the prototype
