UX Designer & Researcher · 2021–22 · 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.

RoleUX Designer & Researcher

TeamCross-functional IKEA and partner teams

Rollout context40+ markets

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

01 · Shared problem

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. Research pointed to a simpler framing: begin with a room and a recognisable moment, then reveal the technology only when it helps a decision.

Low confidence

Make the first step reversible and explain what will happen.

Uneven ability

Let the experience work without prior smart-home knowledge.

Abstract value

Demonstrate a lived outcome before listing specifications.

Focused workshop board showing persona work leading into a customer journey, prototype and MVP — Workshop decision: organise the work around customer journeys and testable outcomes, not a catalogue of connected products.

Workshop sequence from persona work through customer journey to prototype and MVP — Workshop decision: organise the work around customer journeys and testable outcomes, not a catalogue of connected products.

Chapter one · IKEA.com

A responsive demonstrator built around rooms.

The web experience moved from inspiration to configuration without forcing customers into a separate technical world. A room remained the organising context while product controls appeared only when needed.

IKEA smart-home demonstrator shown across desktop, tablet and mobile — One room-led experience adapted across breakpoints instead of becoming three separate products.

The flow in three decisions

The original flow board was useful in the work but too dense to communicate here. These three focused frames preserve the decision logic.

01Low-fidelity decision frame

Discover a room

Lead with an environment and a familiar use case before individual products.

02Low-fidelity decision frame

Explore what changes

Keep the room visible while customers try light and sound controls.

03Low-fidelity decision frame

Continue with context

Carry the chosen room and products into a clear next step.

Annotated IKEA web demonstrator with room hotspots and connected-product controls — The room acts as both explanation and navigation: hotspots reveal capability without overwhelming the first view.

IKEA room demonstrator with product hotspots and a scene selector — 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.

Focused component states for speaker and light controls — A small set of explicit states covered play, pause, power, colour and dimming.

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

Chapter two · In store

Scenes made connected products easier to imagine.

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.

Wake up

Light and sound rise together instead of exposing separate device controls.

Focus

A work-ready room state that can be understood before it is activated.

Dinner

Warm light and music framed around a familiar household moment.

Movie night

One choice coordinates lighting and sound for a shared activity.

Party

A high-energy scene makes the benefit of connected products tangible.

Wind down

A calm evening state closes the day without technical setup language.

IKEA in-store tablet interface for selecting and previewing smart-home scenes — The tablet starts with a scene, shows the coordinated result, then lets a customer inspect the products behind it.

In-store tablet sound and product controls — The tablet starts with a scene, shows the coordinated result, then lets a customer inspect the products behind it.

Scene matrix connecting customer moments with light and sound settings — The matrix aligned scene names, sensory settings and product behaviour.

Scrollable scene matrix connecting customer moments with light and sound settings — The matrix aligned scene names, sensory settings and product behaviour.

What validation changed

Less staff dependence. Participants could move through the scene-led concept without needing the technology explained first.
Clearer names. Familiar activities travelled better across age groups than feature-led labels.
More legible partnership value. Light and sound felt like one outcome while IKEA and Sonos products remained identifiable.

Reach and rollout context

100K+

Web pageviews

First two weeks

125K+

In-store footfall

First month

40+

Markets

Rollout footprint

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.

Reflection

Make the benefit visible first.

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.

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.