O-KAM Pro
An app redesigned for the Chinese security camera brand “Rraycom“
for 300,000 customers in the U.S.
#Industry Project #Team Project #Cultural Difference #Localization
Under the tide of globalization, GSCAM, located in Shenzhen, China, is an enterprise venturing into the overseas e-commerce market and seeking brand enhancement. The company’s security camera brand “Rraycom“ connects with an app named “O-KAM Pro“ and now wants to enhance its user experience to seek a larger overseas market.
Designers play an important role in this plan. Within a 8-week timeframe, a group of 3 redesigned the app, and tailored it to the 300,000 users in the U.S.
Roles
I led a team of 2 designing “main pages”, with the process of user research, ideation, prototyping and usability test.
Problems
It’s challenging for security camera customers in the U.S. to use the app directly translated from its Chinese version.
Techniques
Competitor Analysis, Questionaires, User Interview, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Test
Objective
An app redesigned for the security camera users in the U.S. to have a more flattening structure and simple visual style.
As for the workflow, I led the user research and helped the Product Manager define the strategies, then led the other 2 to redesign all the user interfaces.
The Team
01 Context
Localization of product design is challenging for users of different nationalities and language habits.
Unlike professional security systems that require a monitoring service, self-monitoring camerasallow users to monitor their own spaces through connected apps.
In the U.S., they are commonly used in homes and small businesses for real-time alerts, motion detection and remote control. Users receive notifications directly on their smartphones, check live feeds, store footage in the cloud without third-party involvement.
Professional CCTV monitoring
Current Version
Self-monitoring
By the end of 2027, 18 million homes in the United States will have self-monitoring security systems, which is a positively growing market.
However, the mobile app usability poses a challenge for Chinese companies seeking for more U.S. customers.
02 Primary Research
Questionnaire + Phone Interviews :
The current app doesn’t perform well for U.S. customers’ emotional needs due to the poor usability.
To better understand our customers, we designed the questionnaire together and sent them to 100+ U.S. customers through a link in text messages. The phone numbers were provided by the customer service manager from GSCAM.
20+ responses were collected after one week,
7 agreed to have a phone interview for further inquiries,
After analyzing the replies, we listed some important data as below：
We learned from the primary research that:
Most customers monitor not only their properties,but also their kids, pets and the elderly through our products, there are emotional needs beyond monitoring;
U.S. customers feel the current app is confusing with too many entries on each page. They spend more time navigating what they need;
U.S. customers would prioritize their cameras’ vision and related info upon launch, and the most expected feature is the wider angle adjustment.
03 Secondary Research
Cross-Cultural Research : Direct translation from the original Chinese version causes information overload for U.S. users.
Realizing that we are designing for U.S. customers and we all grow up in the Chinese social environment, I proposed to do a cross-cultural research on app design between China and U.S.
I mainly referred to the article and summarized key points as following:
“Why are Western apps more minimalistic than Asian apps?“ by Bas Wallet, posted on Medium on Nov 12, 2023, one month before our project.
And summarized key findings in a comparative way :
Competitor Analysis
Keeping the cultural difference in mind, we continued analyzing the app platforms of the competitive products, through Apple Store, Google Play and other online app stores :
We concluded that in terms of the camera app design, U.S. customers prefer :
Simplified information structure: help easily navigate and make an intuitive user flow;
Clear visual hierarchy : has better usability with one focus section on each page;
Real-time features : like two-way communication and customizable buttons for remote control are necessary;
but dislike :
interfaces with a fair proportion of each section, too many entries and no focus.
These findings reinforced our cross-cultural research insights.
05 Define
Problem Statement
🧶1. U.S. customers struggle with the intense information and weak visual hierarchy on the Chinese app interface ;
🧶2. U.S. customers’ emotional needs beyond security monitoring are not given much attention to in the experience design.
Design Strategies
🚀 1. Make U.S. customers master the app intuitively through redesigning the app’s visual hierarchy, especially the frequently used interfaces: Homepage, Livestream and Messages;
🚀 2. Improve U.S. customers’ stickiness with our product through highlighting interactive features to make it a medium for emotional connections.
06 Design & Iteration
Here I mainly show the process of most frequently used “Main Pages“ - Homepage, Livestream and Messages. And the rest followed the same design strategies and changes.
💡 1. Color Change
Add red for warmth
Reduce the cold machine vibe from the original brand color & camera itself.
New Color System: Square Color Harmony
💡 2. Redesign Visual Hierarchy
Reorganize the proportion of all sections.
Make one focus on each page + weaken others.
Less entries and lines for visual simplicity.
In the following 5 weeks, our design team weekly met with PM and engineers to compare design drafts and conducted 2 usability tests.
a. Home
b. Livestream
c. Message
💡 3. Redesign Components
Customizable buttons.
Emphasize communication and interactive mode.
07 Style Guide
08 Delivery
Then we applied the redesign strategies and style guide to other pages: onboarding, add device, mine, subscription and system settings, to keep visual consistency.
09 Reflection
This project deepened my understanding of how cultural differences shape user expectations and interaction patterns.
Compared to Chinese users, U.S. users tend to prefer clearer information hierarchy, and progressive disclosure. This required us to simplify the decision points and ensuring each screen focuses on a single primary action.
By aligning the experience with these expectations, the design not only improves usability but also reduces friction in key flows, supporting better feature adoption and long-term user retention.
10 Next Steps
• As AI detection evolves, the next step can be to expand message types and enable more personalized tone in AI summary, helping users easily understand messages and increasing feature usage.
• In the future, the app can introduce AI-powered photo recap features that automatically generate themed highlights, encouraging users to revisit content and strengthening long-term engagement and retention.