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Web, tablet and in-store

Making smart-home value feel like everyday life

I helped turn connected lighting and sound from a technical product story into outcome-led experiences that could work on IKEA.com and in physical stores.

Through frog. Our team tested with 30 people across iterations; I planned and ran the sessions and defined success and failure for each test.

Relevant for: UX research · Accessibility · Cross-platform rollout

Role
UX Designer & Researcher
Year
2021 to 2022
Channels
Web · Tablet · In store
Team
Cross-functional IKEA and partner teams
Outcome

What changed?

A room-led smart-home demonstrator shipped on IKEA.com and in store

  • ShippedLaunched in store in Sweden, then Germany and the Benelux. An improved version later rolled out to most IKEA markets.
  • Reach100K+Web pageviewsFirst two weeks.
  • Reach125K+In-store footfallFirst month.
  • Reach40+MarketsRollout context.

These figures describe launch reach, not a causal measure of my individual design contribution. My contribution was the research synthesis, interaction model, responsive behaviour and accessibility detail that helped the experience ship coherently across channels.

IKEA.com smart-home demonstrator: a living room with product hotspots and a speaker controller open at the bottom
The web experience moved from inspiration to configuration without forcing customers into a separate technical world.
Problem

What were customers actually shopping for?

People wanted the outcome, not the protocol

Smart-home pages often asked customers to understand compatibility, connectivity and setup before showing why the products mattered.

Our team tested with 30 people, recruited through IKEA's research agency, in small groups across iterations of the physical and online experience. I planned and ran the sessions and defined success and failure for each test.

Four remote research sessions, each with a participant and the smart-home prototype on screen; faces are blurred
Remote user interviews, anonymised. 30 participants across iterations.

What if the room did the explaining?

Begin with a room and a recognisable moment, then reveal the technology only when it helps a decision

Workshop board: user persona work leading into a customer journey workshop, then a prototype and MVP
Workshop decision: we organised the work around customer journeys and testable outcomes, not a catalogue of connected products.
Decisions

What had to work for someone with no smart-home knowledge?

I defined success and failure for each test before each round.

  1. 01

    Low confidence

    Make the first step reversible and explain what will happen.

  2. 02

    Uneven ability

    Let the experience work without prior smart-home knowledge.

  3. 03

    Abstract value

    Demonstrate a lived outcome before listing specifications.

Where should the technology show up?

A responsive demonstrator built around rooms

Choice
A room remained the organising context while product controls appeared only when needed. One room-led experience adapted across breakpoints instead of becoming three separate products.
Annotated web demonstrator: a dining room with product hotspots, a scene selector, and notes on the room selector, interaction button and info button
The room acts as both explanation and navigation: hotspots reveal capability without overwhelming the first view.
Close view of product controls layered over an IKEA room
Controls stay attached to the room and product they affect.
Component states for speaker and light controls
A small set of explicit states covered play, pause, power, colour and dimming.

How do you sell a feeling in a busy store?

Scenes made connected products easier to imagine

Choice
The in-store concept grouped IKEA lighting and Sonos sound around moments customers already understood. A scene previewed the combined effect before exposing any individual control.
Experience set board: what a scene is (light, sound, air and blinds set for one activity), six pre-set scenes with icons, and photos of the scenes in a home
Pre-set scenes: Waking up, Focused, Relaxed, Party, Bedtime and Dinnertime.

Which scene names do people understand?

Familiar activities travelled better across age groups than feature-led labels

Choice
The matrix aligned scene names, sensory settings and product behaviour.
Scene matrix: Focused, Relaxed, Dinnertime, Party, Waking up and Bedtime, each with brightness, colour temperature and sound settings for different rooms
Scene matrix.

What does accessible mean for an interactive room?

Accessibility was a design constraint, not a final compliance pass

  • WCAG 2.1 AA colour and contrast checks
  • Keyboard and visible-focus behaviour
  • Screen-reader labels for interactive room elements
  • Responsive layouts tested at content breakpoints
Looking back

What changed?

A room-led smart-home demonstrator shipped on IKEA.com and in store

  • ShippedLaunched in store in Sweden, then Germany and the Benelux. An improved version later rolled out to most IKEA markets.
  • ObservedLess staff dependenceParticipants could move through the scene-led concept without needing the technology explained first.
  • ObservedClearer namesFamiliar activities travelled better across age groups than feature-led labels.
  • ObservedMore legible partnership valueLight and sound felt like one outcome while IKEA and Sonos products remained identifiable.

What would I measure next?

Make the benefit visible first

If I extended the work, I would measure where customers move from inspiration to product consideration and test whether the same scene language survives local merchandising differences.

The strongest design move was not a new control. It was changing the unit of explanation from a device to a room, and from a feature to a moment.