Service reliability · Cross-platform experience

When the power goes out, clarity becomes infrastructure.

A connected web and mobile experience for reporting an electrical problem, understanding urgent safety guidance, and following restoration from submission through crew response.

Role
UX and interaction design
Focus
Safety, reporting, and status
Platforms
Responsive web and mobile
Outage dashboard with selected address, report-an-outage action, nearby outages, map, and restoration information

At a glance

One journey for a high-stress moment.

Challenge

Customers need to report the right problem, recognize immediate danger, and understand what happens after submission.

Design response

Connect problem selection, address confirmation, communication preferences, review, and restoration status in one consistent model.

Result

A cross-platform experience that keeps safety guidance, report details, and crew progress visible at the moments they matter.

01 · The challenge

Urgency changes what good UX means.

People need to know what is happening, what is dangerous, and what comes next—without decoding the interface first.

The experience brings reporting and restoration into one connected system. Customers can identify the electrical problem, confirm the affected address, choose how to receive updates, and review the report before submitting it.

After submission, the same experience carries the customer from confirmation into active outage status, including crew progress and an estimated restoration time when one becomes available.

01

Separate danger from disruption

Keep downed-line guidance visually distinct from standard outage reporting.

02

Confirm every critical detail

Make the problem, address, contact preference, and submission state easy to verify.

03

Turn waiting into progress

Show what the utility knows, what crews are doing, and when the next meaningful update may arrive.

02 · Report an outage

Ask only what the response depends on.

A four-step flow turns a stressful report into a sequence of understandable decisions, with safety guidance present at the moment it matters. Select any screen to view it at full size.

01Identify the problem
Problem step with complete outage, flickering lights, dim lights, other electrical problem, and downed-line safety guidance
02Confirm the address
Address step for selecting and confirming the location affected by the outage
03Choose update preferences
Contact step for choosing text or phone updates about the outage
04Review before submitting
Review step summarizing problem, address, contact preference, and safety information

03 · One system, multiple contexts

The same mental model, carried into mobile.

The channel changes. The questions, safety boundaries, and status language should not.

Mobile preserves the report structure and critical states while adapting the presentation to a smaller screen: address context first, concise review, clear confirmation, and restoration progress that can be checked away from home.

Three mobile screens showing outage map, report review, and report confirmation
Mobile outage reporting screens showing contact preferences and final review

04 · Restoration status

Replace a blank wait with a visible sequence.

Confirmation answers “Did you receive my report?” Active status answers the harder question: “What is happening now?”

Outage report confirmation with report number, address, update preference, and path to status
Report received

Confirm submission, preserve the report number, and set expectations when a restoration estimate is not yet available.

Active outage status showing crew assignment, estimated restoration, progress timeline, latest update, map, and safety guidance
Active status

Connect crew progress, restoration timing, latest updates, map context, and safety information in one place.

Mobile confirmation and active outage status screens with restoration progress and text updates

05 · Outcome

One service model, from first report to restored power.

01

Safer decisions

Downed-line guidance remains visually distinct from standard outage reporting, helping urgent hazards stand apart from service disruption.

02

Fewer unknowns

Clear checkpoints confirm the problem, location, communication preference, and submission state before the customer begins waiting.

03

Continuity across platforms

Shared language, states, and progress patterns reduce re-learning as customers move between desktop and mobile.

Next project

Guide a complex move without making customers manage the complexity.

Start ServiceGuided customer journey Back to selected work