Scaling climate impact
Redesigning a climate SaaS platform to support businesses on their net zero journey with actionable insights.
UI.UX
Michelle Murvai
Role:
UI/UX Design, Strategy, Competitive Analysis, Visual Identity
Scope:
10 months
Toolkit:
Adobe XD, Illustrator, Photoshop
Founded in 2011 as a spin-off from the University of Oxford, Pilio is a UK-based climate tech company that empowers businesses with the tools and expertise needed to achieve their energy and carbon goals. For over a decade, the company has delivered industry-tested solutions, helping organizations track, manage, and report energy consumption and carbon emissions.
UX Challenge
My challenge was to enhance an already established product, built on solid analytics and academic research in environmental and carbon accounting.
Pilio’s original dashboard had significant usability issues and a fragmented user experience. My redesign aimed to simplify the user journey by connecting energy and carbon insights with fewer clicks, while modernizing the UI for a smoother, more intuitive experience.
I worked with a cross-functional team of engineers, researchers, internal stakeholders, and a product manager to implement a complex roadmap of software upgrades, expanding impacts to include transport fuel, agricultural land use, biodiversity, and procurement across international supply chains.
Redesign
By reimagining the user experience with a customizable, card-based interface, I created a more intuitive way for businesses to track and manage their energy and carbon data. Users could easily adjust settings, rearrange, or remove key insights and metrics based on their organization's needs.
Inspired by the dynamic, grid-style UI of Pinterest, this approach was a departure from more standard, linear energy dashboards, setting Pilio apart in a competitive energy analytics market.
Outcomes
Modernizing Pilio's core product offering created new opportunities to expand the company’s services, enabling the introduction of premium software tiers alongside larger, more complex consultancy projects.
This led to a major contract with Lush Cosmetics, deploying Pilio's energy and carbon management software across a global portfolio of almost 1,000 retail stores, manufacturing sites, and offices.
A Green Future
In 2024, climate tech leader Green Future Project acquired Pilio's software based on my UX/UI design. By integrating these tools into their existing services, they are expanding their capabilities to help businesses track energy use, reduce emissions at scale, streamline reporting, and improve their bottom line.