Glen Dimplex.
Giving a smart fire an interface people actually want to use.
WMP led UX research and UI design for Flame, Glen Dimplex's IoT solution for controlling Smart Electric Fires over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, designing an app built to appeal to every customer demographic and strengthen the group's position as a market leader.
Sectors
Expertise
Solutions
Background.
A new category of product, with no established playbook for the app behind it.
Glen Dimplex needed an app that felt effortless to every kind of customer, not just the technically confident ones.
Glen Dimplex Heating and Ventilation, a global leader in sustainable heating and ventilation solutions, saw an opportunity to create an IoT solution that would let customers control Smart Electric Fires across the group's brands via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Their objective was to deliver a user-friendly app that appeals to all customer demographics, enhances the customer experience, and boosts sales, positioning the product as a market leader.
The Solution.
A design shaped by users, not assumptions.
Shaping the vision through collaboration and research.
To align the project's objectives with users' needs, we facilitated a vision workshop with key stakeholders, helping identify the business goals and establish priorities for app features. To confirm our assumptions, we conducted user interviews across the UK and Germany, complemented by quantitative surveys, giving us a detailed understanding of user preferences and pain points. These insights shaped the app's core functionality, ensuring a solution that genuinely served its users rather than one built on guesswork.
Testing and refining every journey until it felt effortless.
The user flow design process was central to a frictionless experience for every user. After an initial low-fidelity prototype, we ran both low and high-fidelity user testing to pinpoint breakpoints where users hit friction or frustration, then fine-tuned the design choices to ensure intuitive navigation and an interface that felt natural to operate. Users went on to complete tasks with minimal errors, with the few remaining recommendations limited to minor design adjustments and copy improvements, showing how much impact small refinements can have on usability.
Let's work together
Let's partner to create brand, product, and experience solutions that move people and markets.
Letting real feedback shape the app's most personal features.
Some of the app's most appreciated features were refined directly from user testing. The ability to control the flame, fuel bed, and lighting to create a personalised fire effect was one of the most appreciated features. Users could save their favourite settings for easy recall, making the app highly adaptable to different moods and occasions. Feedback from user testing affirmed the ease of this feature, with many participants noting that having this flexibility added significant value to the experience.
Allowing effortless shareability.
The Guest Access feature, allowing temporary access for others without compromising security, was particularly valued by users in shared spaces like hotels or family homes. However, the majority of domestic users indicated that they would prefer a more straightforward method of allowing guest access without overcomplicating the process with passwords or restrictions. The feature was refined to allow guests to control basic functions like on/off and temperature settings, which eased concerns and enhanced user satisfaction.
Creating a personalised experience.
The schedule feature allowed users to set daily or weekly timers to adjust flame effects and heating schedules. The inclusion of a countdown timer displaying when the appliance would switch off was well-received. However, the initial feedback on the schedule feature was mixed, with some users finding the restrictions on controlling the fire during a scheduled period frustrating. By addressing these concerns and integrating the option to pause the schedule, we enhanced the feature’s usability, resulting in a more intuitive experience.
The impact.
A long-standing partnership that keeps growing.
User feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with participants consistently highlighting the app's simplicity, usability and flexibility. Flame has been one of WMP's longest-standing projects, working alongside Glen Dimplex's IoT development team for five years across two app branches and eight releases, continuously improving the experience using real user data and new product features.
