How do to keep pace when a product’s feature set grows faster than its usability? I redesigned their smart home app — transforming it into a true connected-living hub for a leading European real estate company - Bouygues Immobilier. My focus: reduce friction, increase adoption, and deliver value quickly under tight deadlines.
Impact
+9% in WAU within the first 3 months.
12 → 23% improved adoption rate of scene/automation features.
-8% in support requests for device control issues.
My Role & Team
PO
2 Dev
Product Designer (Me)
Timeline
2020 - 2021
The company’s digital strategy was to evolve its app into a centralized hub for smart home devices. But as the ecosystem expanded, the app’s usability lagged:
Analytics showed that only 28% of residents used the app weekly, preferring switches or manufacturer apps.
Advanced features (automation, scene creation) were used by <10% of users.
The challenge wasn’t just about design quality — it was about driving adoption in a fragmented, underperforming product while working under tight delivery constraints and no time for formal usability testing.
As the sole Product Designer, I owned the end-to-end experience — from discovery to developer-ready prototypes.
Partnered with the Product Owner and engineering team to balance usability with scalability.
Collaborated with external IoT partners to ensure designs supported a wide device ecosystem.
Advocated for a fast, outcome-focused UX process: focusing only on flows that directly impacted adoption.
My process included:
Facilitated workshops to map user journeys, uncover friction points, and prioritize the key user flows
High-Fidelity Prototyping
Designed high-fidelity prototypes for user testing to support multi-device control
Adjustments & UI Mockups
Iterated final mockups and refined UI components for consistency and visual clarity
Our primary users were residents of new-generation smart apartments, typically between 25 and 55 years old, with varying levels of tech familiarity. They expected the app to make everyday tasks : like adjusting lighting, heating, or opening shutters — more convenient, not more complex.
Through customer feedback, app reviews, and support tickets, I uncovered three
key adoption blockers:
Inconsistent device interactions
Users struggled with inconsistent layouts and unclear navigation.
Poor onboarding
New users abandoned the app entirely after failed first attempts to add their device.
Hidden advanced features
Automation and scene creation were difficult to find and set up.
These insights reframed the problem: the app wasn’t just inconsistent —
it was failing to demonstrate value early enough to retain users.
To address low adoption and reduce user friction, with PO we focused on three high-impact user flows that reflect everyday smart home interactions. Each flow was rooted in real user insights and tested iteratively to improve clarity, ease of use, and discoverability:
Multi device control
For each smart device type, I designed a consistent, unified layout to make navigation intuitive and reduce user confusion, including:
Clear visual feedback for device states (e.g., on/off, temperature, position)
Standardized component patterns to reduce cognitive switching across devices
Onboarding Flow
To reduce drop-off during onboarding, we designed a guided setup experience using motion design and step-by-step feedback to help users easily pair their smart devices.
Contextual help was integrated (e.g., “Where is my QR code?”) to reduce confusion and support users of all technical levels.
Scene Creation Flow
I designed a progressive, step-by-step flow for creating scenes, breaking complex logic into approachable actions.
This flow helped increase the discoverability and usability of high-value features that were previously underused.
Following the redesign early analytics measurable improvements:
+9% in WAU
within the first 3 months
12% → 23%
improved adoption rate of scene/automation
-8%
in support requests for device control issues
This project also taught me an important lesson: even under tight delivery, lightweight usability testing loops would have surfaced key issues earlier and likely accelerated adoption gains.
