Dakota Lithium
Intro
Dakota Lithium makes sustainable energy products for people who want to explore nature beyond the power grid. Their customers care about quality and want to understand their equipment, not only use it. The company calls them prosumers.
I joined in late 2021 as PM and designer for Power Gauge, an app that lets owners monitor their batteries from a phone. My work covered stakeholder workshops, desktop research, user flows, information architecture, UX/UI design and taking the project into production.
I joined in late 2021 as PM and designer for Power Gauge, an app that lets owners monitor their batteries from a phone. My work covered stakeholder workshops, desktop research, user flows, information architecture, UX/UI design and taking the project into production.
Challenge
One screen needed to work for two very different levels of interest.
A weekend boater wants one answer. Will this battery get me back? A prosumer wants voltage, cycle count and temperature history, and stops trusting an app that hides them.
Designing only for the simpler case would have put off the customers Dakota Lithium built its reputation on. Designing only for the prosumer would have made the app unreadable at a glance, which is when it matters most, out on the water.
A weekend boater wants one answer. Will this battery get me back? A prosumer wants voltage, cycle count and temperature history, and stops trusting an app that hides them.
Designing only for the simpler case would have put off the customers Dakota Lithium built its reputation on. Designing only for the prosumer would have made the app unreadable at a glance, which is when it matters most, out on the water.
Design
Power Gauge is built as a drill-down. A few main screens answer the immediate question, with detailed views of the battery’s data one level below. The overview stays readable for everyone and the depth is there for anyone who wants it.
Notifications carry more weight here than in most apps. These batteries often power vehicles, fishing boats among them, so a warning that State of Charge is getting low is not a nicety. It decides whether you motor back or paddle. I designed the alert thresholds and the wording around that.
Dakota Lithium also needed to analyse user behaviour and run marketing campaigns inside the app, so I designed a separate admin system for that, shown below.
Notifications carry more weight here than in most apps. These batteries often power vehicles, fishing boats among them, so a warning that State of Charge is getting low is not a nicety. It decides whether you motor back or paddle. I designed the alert thresholds and the wording around that.
Dakota Lithium also needed to analyse user behaviour and run marketing campaigns inside the app, so I designed a separate admin system for that, shown below.
Result
When my engagement ended in 2022 the app was still in development. A reference group of over 100 power users had been recruited for the beta, with a feedback round planned after a few weeks of real use.
The work also answered a strategic question for the company. A battery that reports on itself is a different product from one that does not, and moving into connected batteries put Dakota Lithium ahead of competitors still selling a sealed box.
The work also answered a strategic question for the company. A battery that reports on itself is a different product from one that does not, and moving into connected batteries put Dakota Lithium ahead of competitors still selling a sealed box.
Creative Direction
Antonio Afonso
PM & UX/UI Design
Eric Jacobson
Frontend Development
Adin Ehnsiö
Backend Development
Remi Puig