Designing Trust Into Home Security

Philips Hue, a global leader in smart lighting, expanded into the home security market with Hue Secure—a product ecosystem that introduced security cameras, sensors, and AI-powered motion detection. The goal: integrate these new capabilities into the existing Philips Hue mobile app without disrupting the trusted, intuitive experience that millions of users already knew.

Hue Secure also marked a major business evolution, introducing a subscription-based model and navigating heightened user expectations around privacy, transparency, and control.

The Challenge

Design a seamless mobile UX that supports:

  • Real-time security monitoring

  • AI-powered motion alerts

  • Customizable detection zones

  • Multi-camera management

  • Event history review

  • Subscription activation

The experience needed to scale across 30+ global markets—each with different privacy regulations and user expectations—and uphold Philips Hue’s brand promise of simplicity, emotional resonance, and user empowerment.

My Role

  • Led UX design for core mobile flows, including device onboarding, detection zone editing, motion alerts, and event history.
  • Collaborated with product managers, engineers, privacy/legal teams, and localization experts to align technical, business, and regulatory requirements.
  • Contributed to the Philips Hue mobile design system to ensure scalable, consistent implementation of security features across iOS and Android platforms.
 

Process Highlights

  • Emotional Mapping: Defined what “feeling secure” meant to users—not just through functionality, but through tone, transparency, and visual reassurance.

  • Journey Mapping: Developed cross-platform flows for setup, detection, alert handling, and shared access across households.

  • Usability Testing: Conducted validation tests to identify friction points in camera pairing, motion sensitivity setup, and alert management.

  • Localization & Privacy Collaboration: Worked with legal and regional teams to build transparent consent experiences tailored to market-specific privacy laws.

  • Design System Expansion: Introduced new patterns for camera previews, detection zones, motion event timelines, and AI-driven alerts.

Design Decisions

  • Developed a detection zone editor allowing users to define specific areas for motion sensitivity, reducing false alarms.
  • Implemented tiered alerting to prioritize important security events while minimizing user overwhelm.
  • Designed a real-time motion timeline, helping users easily review, tag, and save important security footage.
  • Simplified camera onboarding flows, improving first-time setup success rates from 68% to over 90% in user testing.
  • Created privacy-first opt-ins and clear in-app messaging to build trust around video recording and AI activity.

Outcome & Impact

  • Successfully launched across 30+ global markets.

  • Enabled the expansion into a new subscription revenue model while maintaining user trust.

  • Achieved a 40% decrease in time-to-event resolution and a 22% reduction in false alert fatigue during pilot testing.

  • Motion detection and security patterns are now foundational to future Philips Hue smart home innovations.

  • Recognized with major international design honors:

    • 🏆 Red Dot Design Award

    • 🏆 iF Design Award

    • 🏆 UX Design Award (Product)

    • 🏆 Spark Design Award