inclusive experiences

Even though smart homes are a well-known phenomenon, it is still very exclusive and especially for the people who are typically excluded from decisions at home.

My challenge was to put together an internal UX Team from scratch, including research, design, content and exploration. We faced many challenges but learned together with the team.

inclusive experiences

Even though smart homes are a well-known phenomenon, it is still very exclusive and especially for the people who are typically excluded from decisions at home.

My challenge was to put together an internal UX Team from scratch, including research, design, content and exploration. We faced many challenges but learned together with the team.

inclusive experiences

Even though smart homes are a well-known phenomenon, it is still very exclusive and especially for the people who are typically excluded from decisions at home.

My challenge was to put together an internal UX Team from scratch, including research, design, content and exploration. We faced many challenges but learned together with the team.

IKEA Home smart products in a studio setting with the DIRIGERA Hub and New App 2.0. Smart Lighting, Smart Sound, Smart Windows and Smart Air.

Studio photo of DIRIGERA Hub and the new IKEA Home smart App.

power duo easy & flexible

We know that everyone, regardless of wallet size, ability or tech knowledge deserves the benefits of a smart home.

Our latest pride and joy is the combo of DIRIGERA Hub and App 2.0 that were made in-house with love and respect towards the end users. Their reality is what guided us through the process.

power duo easy & flexible

We know that everyone, regardless of wallet size, ability or tech knowledge deserves the benefits of a smart home.

Our latest pride and joy is the combo of DIRIGERA Hub and App 2.0 that were made in-house with love and respect towards the end users. Their reality is what guided us through the process.

Home photo of new IKEA Home smart App in a person's hand showing the screen to adjust the light color and intensity exactly like the bulb it controls..

a system made out of real life

We believed that Smart Homes, which has typically been an exclusive concept, can actually be inclusive.

That's why we became obsessed with understanding the real needs of real people from all around the world. After meeting and observing hundreds of people, we identified a number of common themes.

Colorful and easy to use UX and UI of the new IKEA Home smart app depicted as screenshots on mockup phones as an array.

as you see in real life

We discovered that users had a hard time equating the abstract representations of their homes and products in the app with reality.

as you see in the app

That's why we made the elements in the app represent reality as much as we can while keeping just the required level of abstraction in small symbols.

3X Process (Explore Experiment and Execute)as devised by me and my team

3X process that guided us

We have created a process which is a healthy mix of Design Thinking, Lean Startup and Agile. Following this process helped us address needs of users even without a live product that we can tweak.

An overview of UX Principles for IKEA Home smart.

principles that helped us learn

So many insights and learning. Yet so little time to consolidate all of it. A great alternative that we found is turning learning and mistakes into commonly understood tenets and principles.

Some members of the amazing UX Team of IKEA Home smart depicted in a collage of names and a group photo. Love you all!

it's the people

No one can create anything by themselves. I have had immense help in creating this world-class UX Team at IKEA Home smart. They made my job as a leader easy every day. Thank you all. You are amazing!