Savee App
about project
Savee is a web app that promotes transparency in sharing electricity expenses within shared households. Developed as part of my master’s degree using the Challenge-Based Learning methodology, the project was carried out in collaboration between four team members.
Challenge
How can we raise awareness about responsible electricity use in shared households?
Solution
A web app that makes energy consumption transparent and helps college students fairly split electricity bills, with monitoring tools and practical saving tips.
New heating routine (hi-fi version)
My RESPONSABILITIES
I was heavily involved in preparing and conducting interviews, carrying out market research, defining personas, and developing low-to-high fidelity prototypes with usability testing.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Year
2022-2023
DURATION
9 months
Tools
Figma, VS code
Featured
Media Play 23
Partnership
oUTPUTS
2 students interviews
6 questionnaires
Market research
Benchmarking
Defining persona
Key features
Lo-fidelity prototyping
Hi-fidelity prototyping
Usability testing
How do young people live, and what motivates them?
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Market Research
According to the Plano Nacional para o Alojamento para o Ensino Superior (PNAES), in 2022, the number of displaced college students was:
18 M
Europe
Portugal
What solutions already exist on the market?
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Benchmarking
To position Savee effectively, we conducted a benchmarking study focused on two key areas: energy management and expense management. While I was not directly involved in this step, it played a crucial role in shaping our design decisions.
We analysed several existing solutions, including: EOT, Smappee, EDP Re:dy, Bosch HomeCom Easy and Splitwise.
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Insights
There are several energy monitoring solutions, but none has expense sharing.
Although there are market solutions for managing energy costs, none provide user profiles for multiple people sharing the same household.
Define
Who is our target audience and persona?
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explore target audience and defining personas
We created provisional personas to represent key user groups:
“Overwhelmed” – a 35–50-year-old secondary school teacher managing two households and daily logistical challenges.
“Adaptable” – an 18–25-year-old university student, socially active, environmentally conscious, and living on a limited budget.
Since most of our users are young university students sharing housing with strong environmental concerns, we focused on this group. Most of the features designed are also relevant to other audiences.
Our solution was tailored for Pedro, a 19-year-old second-year student at the University of Aveiro, from Covilhã, sharing a house with three roomates, and living on a tight budget.
Persona that guided the process
Ideation and Testing
How can we bring “Savee” to life?
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prioritize features and low-fidelity mock-up
To better understand and prioritise user needs, we translated our insights into actionable user stories using a Must / Should / Could framework. This helped guide the design of Savee, ensuring essential functionality was addressed while also identifying areas for enhancement and optional features.
Priorization framework
Usage:
Pedro creates the group "2ºdto" in Savee and adds his housemates. He sets the date of the last electricity bill. Each member adds the power of their appliances and manually records usage time. They can create routines to reduce manual input. Ideally, an energy monitoring device (like EOT) could further automate the process. When the bill arrives, the app calculates each person’s share based on their consumption. If Pedro disagrees with the calculated amount, he can contest it with the housemates.
Key features:
Create a group of housemates;
Add appliances;
Create and schedule tasks, organize into routines;
Track individual energy consumption;
Get alerts when monthly average is exceeded;
View and manage each person’s share of expenses;
Access history of payments and energy usage;
First paper mockups
Is this version user-friendly and simple?
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low-fidelity usability testing
For the low-fidelity prototype usability tests, we recruited five participants from our target audience. Each participant completed a 30-minute remote session via Zoom.
The sessions included five predefined tasks aimed at evaluating the product’s core functionalities. At this stage, the focus was on assessing usability and functionality rather than visual design.
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Tests Insights
Track only individual tasks; other tasks are shared among group members;
Remove contest value from the payments section
Use default average values for equipment instead of manual entry (e.g., 2000W for a hair dryer)
How to simplify and convey the brand image?
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high-fidelity development and prototyping
We simplified some of the functionalities and began integrating typography, colour, and design elements that define our platform’s visual identity.
Usage:
Pedro creates the group "2ºdto" in Savee and adds his housemates. He sets the date of the last electricity bill. Can add individual tasks (shower, cooking, hair drying). They can create routines to reduce manual input. When the bill arrives, the app calculates each person’s share based on their consumption.
Key features:
Create a group of roommates;
(x) Add appliances;
Create and schedule tasks, organize into routines;
Track individual energy consumption;
Get alerts when monthly average is exceeded;
View the amout each person must pay;
(x) Negotiate each person’s share of expenses;
Access history of payments and energy usage;
Homepage and Payment Flow: Low-Fidelity vs High-Fidelity Prototype
Are the interactions and visual feedback clear?
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high-fidelity testing
We recruited five young adults living in shared housing.
The test included four predefined tasks, using the Think Aloud protocol to understand participants’ motivations and pain points. Between tasks, we asked open-ended questions to gather further insights about their experience.
The platform scored 88 points on the SUS, placing it in the "Excellent" range (Class A), indicating a high level of perceived usability.
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TEST Insights
3/5 participants thought they had to add time before a task.
3/5 participants tried adding a routine via the task button.
2/5 participants liked seeing how the value was calculated.
Final remarks
While we developed the Savee web app MVP in React within the designated timeframe, working in a smaller team of all working students, we would recommend some improvements.
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Takeaways
IoT integration: would improve accuracy and easy of usage;
NFC Task Logging: We should allow quick task logging via phone tap (e.g., before shower) to reduce manual input.
Notifications: Currently only alert bill entry dates; apply to other scenarios could boost user engagement;
Personalised Tips: Improve relevance and accuracy of recommendations for users.
This was an engaging project with a promising idea that holds potential for further development. I hope it resonates with you as much as it did with me, and I welcome any suggestions for improvement.