Noah Hadley Portfolio | UX/UI Designer

Creating a new way to control your home

Overview

Smart home systems give users powerful control and insight into their homes, but many platforms feel overwhelming, confusing, and spread across too many places. Users want one simple space to manage lighting, temperature, devices, and home activity without the usual frustration.

Homify is designed for adult homeowners and smart home users who:

Want to easily understand their home environment at a glance

Need simple but powerful tools to control and monitor devices

Feel overwhelmed by scattered systems and confusing dashboards

Role: UX/UI Designer
Timeline: 5 weeks
Tools: Figma
Project Type: Concept project

User Needs

Users need a clear summary of what is happening in their home, what devices are active, and what actions to take next, without technical expertise.

Pain Points

Most users struggle to understand scattered device controls, unclear settings, and confusing interfaces, which makes managing smart homes difficult.

Behaviors

Users often check devices multiple times a day to adjust lighting, temperature, and media, wanting quick updates without complex menus.

Market Insights

Most users responded positively to simple layouts, friendly visuals, and clear organization, which helped them feel more confident managing their home.

Pain Points

Most users struggle to understand scattered device controls, unclear settings, and confusing interfaces, which makes managing smart homes difficult.

Behaviors

Users often check devices multiple times a day to adjust lighting, temperature, and media, wanting quick updates without complex menus.

Market Insights

Most users responded positively to simple layouts, friendly visuals, and clear organization, which helped them feel more confident managing their home.

Research

To understand how users interact with smart homes, I reviewed existing dashboards, studied competitor platforms, and gathered feedback from active users. Many people shared that managing devices feels powerful but not always simple, and important controls are often hidden behind layers of navigation. Research confirmed that users wanted clarity, organization, and reassurance rather than complexity.

The Problem

Smart home technology gives people powerful control over their homes, but the experience of managing it is not always intuitive. Users are forced to navigate multiple apps, learn different systems, and constantly work to understand what’s happening in their home. Instead of feeling confident and supported, the experience can feel fragmented and overwhelming.

As a result

Users struggle to see important information clearly

Basic controls take more effort than they should

Smart home technology can feel intimidating and complicated

Managing devices doesn’t feel streamlined or efficient

Users struggle to see important information clearly

Basic controls take more effort than they should

Smart home technology can feel intimidating and complicated

Managing devices doesn’t feel streamlined or efficient

Process

The design process focused on simplifying smart home management while preserving depth and functionality. I explored layout systems, interaction patterns, and visual hierarchy to ensure that essential features stayed clear and approachable.

Wireframes, iterations, and feedback helped shape a dashboard that balances control, simplicity, and confidence.

Design Goals

Make smart home information easy to
understand at a glance

Support quick actions while allowing deeper device control

Create a visual system that feels friendly,
modern, and approachable

Help users feel confident managing their
home technology

Make smart home information easy to
understand at a glance

Support quick actions while allowing deeper
device control

Create a visual system that feels friendly,
modern, and approachable

Help users feel confident managing their home technology

User Feedback

Feedback showed that users appreciated having everything in one organized dashboard instead of multiple applications. Being able to access all smart home aspects such as lighting, temperature, and devices was very helpful to users. They responded well to simple navigation, clear controls, and visual separation between features. Insights from feedback helped refine spacing, hierarchy, and component clarity.

Solution

The final dashboard gives users a clear understanding of their home while making control simple and intuitive. Key features like lighting, temperature, media, and system insights are easy to access, visually organized, and designed to reduce complexity. The experience feels reliable, approachable, and supportive.

Solution

User Feedback

Comparison

The first iteration was created in 2024 as a student project. I then revisited it a year later and revised the visual design, along with how the interface functioned for users. For example, I added an interactive temperature gauge, removed unnecessary colors, and improved the graphs with clearer and meaningful information.

Before

After

Impact & Reflections

Performance Against Objectives

The design improved clarity, reduced confusion, and helped users feel more comfortable interacting with their smart home systems. It successfully created a structured and understandable dashboard experience.

Impact on Users

Users now have a single space to monitor activity, manage devices, and understand what is happening in their home. The experience supports everyday tasks and helps them feel more aware and in control.

Lessons Learned

Designing for simplicity requires careful decisions about what to highlight and what to reduce. Clear hierarchy, thoughtful structure, and visual communication play a huge role in user confidence.

Areas for Future Improvement

Future opportunities include expanding personalization, improving automation features, and offering deeper insights into performance and energy use to support smarter home management.

Thank You!

This project strengthened my approach to designing clear and supportive dashboard experiences. It was an exciting challenge to turn complex technology into something intuitive, friendly, and meaningful for everyday users.