Black & Decker

01 Overview

The app had been built without user research. We fixed that across five European markets.

Black & Decker's robotic mower launched with a mobile app designed around system logic rather than user behaviour. The core failure was prioritisation: the actions users needed most — stop, start, status — were buried behind the same UI weight as settings and diagnostics. I led user research and redesign across focus groups in five European markets and multiple languages, with usability testing confirming that immediacy and clarity were universal expectations regardless of market. The redesign put primary controls first and aligned the visual system with the premium hardware it controlled.

02 The Problem

High expectations, low usability maturity

Robotic lawn mowers function similarly to robotic vacuum cleaners, but introduce additional complexity through outdoor installation, boundary setup, and seasonal scheduling.

Research revealed several challenges:

• No clear hierarchy: The existing app lacked a clear hierarchy of primary actions.
• Buried features: Core features were not surfaced prominently, creating friction during daily use.
• Complex scheduling: Scheduling workflows were unnecessarily complex.
• Brand misalignment: Branding did not align with the premium perception of the new product line.

Users expected immediate control and visibility. Instead, they encountered unclear navigation and buried functionality.

Three needs emerged with complete consistency across every market and language tested:

The core issue was prioritisation. The interface was built around system features, not user intent.

03 My Role

Senior Designer

I led the research, interaction design, and prototype validation for the mobile application, working closely with product teams, engineering, and European market stakeholders.

• Conducting user research and competitive analysis
• Defining feature priorities and interaction hierarchy
• Designing end-to-end user flows
• Building and testing high-fidelity prototypes
• Aligning visual direction with updated brand positioning

This project required balancing hardware constraints, internationalisation, and evolving brand standards.

04 Process

From feature listing to action-first design

Research and insight generation

As robotic lawn care was a new category for me, I began by developing a deep understanding of the product ecosystem. I led focus groups across multiple European markets to explore user expectations, behaviours, and comparisons with existing robotic vacuum and mower apps.

• Persona development
• Competitive benchmarking
• Use case mapping
• Pain point categorisation and prioritisation using a 2x2 impact and feasibility matrix

From research, four core functional expectations were identified: a clear hardware status indicator, an accessible activity log, adjustable cutting height, and a weekly mowing schedule.

Wireframes were used not only to visualise solutions but to test prioritisation logic. Multiple flow iterations were reviewed with engineering to validate feasibility and performance constraints.

What surprised me: the priorities were almost entirely consistent across markets. Language differences surfaced in label clarity and scheduling terminology (German participants were significantly more precise about time specifications), but the core hierarchy — control first, status second, scheduling third — held across every session. One specific finding from a German-language session changed the scheduling interface: participants expected to set an end time for mowing, not a duration. "Mow for 2 hours" made no sense to them; "Mow until 14:00" was immediately understood. That change was adopted globally.

• "Mow Now" and "Stop" needed to be primary and highly visible
• Scheduling should be simplified and supported by intelligent recommendations
• The home screen required richer but clearer status visibility

Testing across markets confirmed that immediacy and clarity were universal expectations.

The Solution

The redesigned experience focused on action-first interaction.

• Prominent primary controls for instant mow and stop actions
• A simplified scheduling flow with recommended durations and frequency
• A redesigned home screen showing real-time status, battery level, and activity summary
• A refreshed visual identity inspired by outdoor environments, with surface textures and a warm colour palette that contrasted with the cold, utilitarian aesthetic of competitor apps

The design direction strengthened brand differentiation while maintaining clarity and functional simplicity.

Visual design rationale

The original app used a dark utility aesthetic that read more like a security system than a garden product. The brief from the brand team was to align with the new mower's premium positioning, but the real design problem was that the visual language was communicating the wrong emotional register. I moved to a warmer palette with natural material references — the intent was to make the app feel like it belonged outdoors, in daylight, not in a server room. The "Mow Now" button used a sun-ring motif that referenced the product hardware's control dial. These weren't decorative choices — they were intended to reduce the cognitive gap between the physical product and the digital control surface.

05 Results

Impact and measurable outcomes

The redesigned mobile experience improved usability, clarity, and perceived product quality.