This story starts in a graduate course of mine, The IoT for Business class became my favorite graduate course—second only to Psychology of HCI—because it merged two of my passions: problem-solving through design and grounding ideas in business reality. Unlike previous UX projects that ended at prototypes, this class pushed me to think beyond the screen. We partnered with a real client, Zentra, and started by dissecting environmental factors: industry trends, economic pressures, and competitors. This analysis revealed that maintenance costs and sensor investments were critical pain points in their sector—a revelation that directly shaped our product vision.

What excited me most was building the business case alongside the design. For Zentra, we crafted a freemium subscription model, mapped costs, revenue streams, and scalability. Finally, I could answer the question I’d always wondered: “How would my design survive as an actual business?”

Don’t get me wrong—I dove deep into user research and experience. But weaving business strategy into the UX process (before and after design) forced me to balance creativity with feasibility. It wasn’t just about solving a problem—it was about solving it in a way that could sustainably thrive in the market. This mindset didn’t constrain my creativity; it gave my work purpose and direction.

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