Blink Camera System

UX Redesign App

Case Study by UX Designer Demi Ramos

Role

UX Designer

Duration

4.5 weeks

The Blink camera system, owned by Amazon, offers a range of smart home solutions with notable features that keeps your home safe such as

Wireless Designs
High-Definition Video
Motion Detection and Alerts

The purpose is to redesign the blink app to enhance users experience such as creating an easier access to quickly disarmed/armed through a widget, and input a community section to gain insights within the neighborhood.

Role and Responsibilities :
My role in this project included UX Researcher, UI Designer, usability testing, wire-framing low to high fidelity, prototyping, and user interviews, etc

The Challenge

The Blink app needs to be redesigned to improve its ease of use, enhance real-time security feedback, and offer personalized, seamless control, ultimately creating a more intuitive and reassuring user experience.

Problem Statement

Our user is someone who prioritizes safety who needs faster loading time to view live footage and easier way to access the disarmed option in order to have a positive experience and feel at ease in their household whether they are away from home or from the comfort of their couch.

Solution

Redesign the mobile application that provides an easier access to quickly disarmed/armed through a widget, and add a community section to gain insights of what is happening in the community that has the same blink system.

The Design Process

1

2

3

4

Research & Discovery

Ideation & Design

Testing

Results

Phase 1 - Research & Discovery

I conducted user interviews to start the process with 3 candidates.

Here is what I discovered,

USER PERSONA 1

Richard has been married for 15 years and a father to two boys who has been in the photography industry for 10 years. He travels often for work so he relies on home security camera to watch and communicate with his family back home when away. He is an outgoing person and loves communicating with people.

Richard Gonzales

35 years old

Photographer

Married

Los Angeles, CA

GOALS

  • View live video right away in real time with no dilemma or no more than wait time of 5 seconds.

  • Receive a text message notification for any emergencies from the security system app, not through the app.

  • An inexpensive security system that offers a cloud and back-up storage.

FRUSTRATIONS

  • When viewing live footage from motion detected notification, it buffers for way too long so it prevents from seeing real time footage.

  • Wish to view recent footage without needing Wi-Fi, or have it already loaded.

  • Price is too high to be able to afford the pro that includes back-up storage and offline usage.

“I travel for business sometimes, and it’s a great feeling to know I can view my home from my phone anytime, anywhere and know my family is safe.”

USER PERSONA 2

Faith is a cake decorator that does life insurance on the side to have extra income. Has 3 grandchildren who she adore and babysits them sometimes at her house, but her neighborhood is not the best so having a camera system makes her feel safer. Loves to do karaoke, and host dinner/parties at her house to spend time with family.

Faith Johnson

54 years old

Cake Decorator

Married

Jacksonville, FL

GOALS

  • Be able to view any live footage or recordings from the app in real time with no wait for more than 3 seconds

  • An option to have the disarmed button on the phone home-screen for quicker access

  • Capture moments on the security camera app through motion detection when posting parties

FRUSTRATIONS

  • It takes more than 10 seconds for live feed to load and view footages on the app

  • Too many buttons to go through and loading time from the app to disarmed the system right away

  • Sometimes the motion detection does not capture every moment if its armed, or catches irrelevant recordings of animals or the wind which causes false alarms

“It is essential to own a security system due to the kind of neighborhood I reside at considering I babysit my grandkids sometimes...”

MoSCoW

Must Have -

  • Back-up storage you can view playback videos when offline, no need of wi-fi

  • Camera system in app includes disarm/armed button on mobile homescreen page for quicker access

  • Quick view of the live feed from the main home screen of the mobile device

Should Have -

  • Camera system in app includes a quick button to 9-1-1 incase of emergencies

  • Authentication process every time you open the app

  • Receive a text notification through messages AND in-app notification for any alerts

Won’t Have -

  • An option to view live feed shared publicly by neighbors/local users

  • Get an AI call for alerts

  • Get an AI to analyze false motion detection before alerting

Could Have -

  • An option to send link your live feed to friends and family

  • View weather in the camera system app

  • Have a community chat/alerts in app for nearby incident reports

User Flow

Richard’s User Flow

Faith’s User Flow

Research & Discovery

Ideation & Design

Testing

Results

3

1

2

4

Phase 2 - Ideation & Design

These are my finalized low fidelity wireframes I did on paper to showcase the beginning of the ideation and design process. I have done a few sketches on paper and I have chosen these 5 main wireframes to get the process started.

From paper sketches to digital

low fidelity wireframes

  • Homescreen V.1

    This is the homescreen version 1, which is what the users will see after logging in to the app.

  • Clips List Page

    List of clips that collects previously recorded videos from motion detection to updated photos.

  • Clips Page

    When clicking a specific clip recording, this is what the users will see and be able to interact with the recordings such as saving the video, playback option, or live feed.

  • Community Post Page

    A whole page for the community to post and share events that has occurred on their property that they'd like to share from funny moments to raising awareness on criminal acts such as burglary and stealing unattended packages. Community helping the community.

  • Homescreen Widget

    The Idea of being able to see updated photos of live feed hourly to users being able to disarmed/armed their system from their homescreen widget without the need to getting on the app.

Mid Fidelity Wireframes

  • Homescreen V.1

    Mid fi version of the home screen prior usability testing,.

  • Clips List Page

    Pictures included, followed by seeing different footages from the property that were recorded from motion detection to photo updates.

  • Clips Page

    Here is a midfi version of a specific clip recordings of the 'patio' where pictures are now included into the screen.

  • Community Post Page

    I have included a text header per post for users to share any information worth posting to raise awareness of any crime or events in the community.

  • Homescreen Widget

    Mid fi version of the homescreen widget with pictures included and the disarmed/armed option for quick access.

High Fidelity Wireframes

  • Homescreen V.1

    Users are able to disarmed and armed with a right/left motion, and grey/black color for disarmed and off option. I applied the option to read any notification such as motion detection or battery percentages when opening the app.

  • Homescreen V.2

    Another view of the homepage where user has armed the system and motion detection ON. I have learned using the color red helps users remember better if they have armed the system.

  • Live View

    When users press the play button on one of the properties feed on the home page, it will show the live view of the property.

  • Clips List Page

    High fi version of list of clips that collects previously recorded videos from motion detection to updated photos.

  • Clips Page

    Final look of a specific clip recording (Patio).

  • Community Post Page

    This page features a community feed where users are able to communicate by posting events in their neighborhood such as someone stealing a package, or home invasion to raise awareness.

  • Community Post

    An in-depth look at what it might look like when viewing a post from someone sharing an experience of a thief stealing a package. One of the ways to protect your home as well by being more alert about your neighborhood.

  • Homescreen Widget

    Users can now quickly access blink on their mobile widgets to disarmed/armed system with one swipe when needed to do so quickly.

Research & Discovery

Testing

Ideation & Design

Results

1

2

3

4

Phase 3 - Testing

Usability Testing

I have conducted usability testing with 3 candidates

and here are the results

Originally, I followed the same format as the original blink app, and had it placed like this, however after usability testing, 2 out 3 interviews agreed they do not like the empty space in the middle.

Before usability testing

“It helps fill up the screen better and helps me pay attention more to what I’m watching” - User 2

AFTER usability testing

Users would rather see the video played in the middle of the screen.

It also makes it easier for them to press the middle button (microphone) to talk into to the screen.

I have indicated the running man as as the logo for motion detection, the same as the original blink app.

All users have agreed that it is better to use the eye logo since using an ‘eye’ logo makes it more known and obvious that the camera is watching for any movements.

This change helps users pay attention more and remember that the motion detection is on.

Research & Discovery

Ideation & Design

Testing

Results

2

1

3

4

Phase 4 - Results

Throughout this case study, here are couple of things I learned.

Users are into color scheme relating to security and privacy. I have concluded that red associates with

Alertness and Awareness

Red is often associated with warning signals, making users more alert and aware of potential dangers. This can heighten a sense of vigilance.

Urgency

Red can create a sense of urgency or prompt immediate action, which may be beneficial in contexts like emergency alerts or critical notifications.

Before

  • User finds it annoying when the app does not load fast enough to disarmed/armed system

  • User is clueless what is going on in their community when incidents happen.

  • User is annoyed with the long wait time for the video footage/live footage to load.

  • User 1 prefers to see armed/disarmed option on front home screen of her mobile device for easier/faster access when leaving the house so no need to wait for app to load.

  • User sometimes forget if they have armed/disarmed the system.

After

  • User finds it easier and faster to armed the system by having that option on a widget on their homescreen.

  • After implementing the community page in the app, users are now able to share any incidents that happens to their property to raise awareness and feel safer with having more knowledge about their neighborhood.

  • After changing the armed/disarmed visuals, user are more prone to remember if they had armed the system due to the color scheme of the button.

“As someone who is older who wears glasses 24/7, seeing the color red when arming my system, makes it easier for me to remember and see better.”
— User 1

Interactive Prototype