Henderson
Delivered Digital Twin Solution

Henderson, a renowned Hong Kong property developer, aimed to digitalise its iconic building, The Henderson, by implementing an all-in-one smart building management system. The goal was to enhance both the resident experience and operational efficiency through a digital twin – a real-time, interactive representation of the building that allowed users to manage facilities directly from an app.

I was responsible for designing the account management and car park management solutions, delivering both a mobile app for residents and a desktop dashboard for building management.

  • Both APP and Web design for the Building Control
  • 7 designers + 3 project managers + 20 engineers (shared for different part of the building features)
  • Automated digital control for the Henderson building .

Challenges

This project came with a few significant hurdles. We initially faced no clear design direction, as stakeholders lacked specific requirements and were hesitant to invest in research due to budget and tight deadlines. Leadership changes also caused internal disruptions, leading to miscommunication that impacted key decisions. On the technical side, we had to address constraints in integrating real-time facility control seamlessly within the app.

My Role

As the UX/UI designer, I was responsible for evaluating existing wireframes and user flows to boost usability. I then designed and presented high-fidelity mockups to stakeholders, consistently collaborating with them to align design solutions with business needs.

Research

Key Insights

Design Critics through Current Design

I review the current design with the other senior designer with heuristic evaluation to identify the possible issues from the interface and user flow.

I compared the results with the other senior designers to know which issues we should address

Review and Analysing the Requirement

I joined the project at the middle of the design. To save the project, I reviewed what has been left by the previous design team. Those included some historical data about interviews and information architect.

I realised the gap of the communication lies in the change of stakeholders.

Manage the Stakeholders

The most challenging part in this project is about managing the stakeholders, who refused to accept the results from research. To make the project move into a better direction, I made a stakeholder management map and presented to the internal design team and project manager. We need to talk to the right people to move it forward.

Ideation

Key Actions

Established Touch Points in the User Journey

The goal for the project is  to make users control the physical devices with simple clicks on the app. I revised key features accordingly with service blueprints.

Worked with Engineers

Instead of sitting on my designer seat, I worked with engineers on the design with each screen handoff and provide details for the responsive design.  It also helps me to find out the work in the backend to make the design connected with the physical world.

Quick Prototype with Mid-fi Wireframes

To advance discussions with stakeholders, I prepared a quick prototype using mid-fidelity wireframes of the mobile pages. This allowed them to simulate precisely how residents would control and access building features, providing a clear visual and interactive representation of the proposed experience.

This enabled them to simulate how residents would interact with building features and, importantly, defined design boundaries to focus ideation away from unfeasible directions.
gif for low-fi app control
(Low-fi and quick prototype to simulate the
use case of lift control)

RESULTs

Feedback

The app is now live and available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in Hong Kong. Please feel free to explore it via the links below:

Reflection

Working on a large-scale initiative like The Henderson project, I had the privilege of collaborating closely with design leads from both Australia and Hong Kong. Our combined efforts were crucial in redefining the project's structure and providing timely, accurate guidance during what were often challenging stakeholder meetings.

This experience significantly sharpened my ability to be assertive with stakeholders regarding requirements, helping me to firmly manage requests, such as minor colour changes that offered no functional difference from our previously agreed submissions.

Unfortunately, the project was ultimately terminated due to internal contract violations. This meant we couldn't proceed with usability testing, which was a real shame, but it certainly underscored the importance of solid preliminary visualisation. It also highlighted my skill in providing quick, impactful visualisations, a capability that was particularly valuable before AI tools became readily available for rapid ideation.

This project was a profound lesson in resilience, strategic collaboration, and effectively managing expectations within a truly complex and dynamic environment.

Final Key Pages Design

Web Design

APP Design

Henderson App landing page Henderson app lift
Henderson car park app
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Client details has been modified according to NDA