Project Type: BrainStation Capstone Project
Timeline: 11 weeks May-July 2024
Roles: UX Researcher, UX/UI Designer, Content Designer, Branding Designer
Tools: Figma, Canva, Otter.ai
Method: Double Diamond Design Methodology.
This case study explores the design process behind Eco Fix, a mobile app designed to help busy professionals easily adopt and maintain sustainable habits. Through user research, I discovered that common barriers to eco-conscious living include perceived inconvenience, lack of knowledge, and the overwhelming nature of the "zero-waste" movement.
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To address these challenges, I focused on creating an intuitive, user-friendly iOS app that provides easy-to-follow repair guides, personalized recommendations, and a supportive community. By prioritizing convenience and emphasizing small, achievable steps, Eco Fix aims to reframe sustainable living as a positive and rewarding lifestyle choice.
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Guided by the Double Diamond Design Methodology's principles of convergent and divergent thinking, I embarked on an expansive exploration of ideas before narrowing my focus to actionable solutions. This structured creative process, divided into four distinct stages, provided a framework for my design journey, ensuring a thorough and innovative approach.
Take a Look
Creating Eco Fix
People want to reduce waste but feel overwhelmed
72% of people say that they actively try to reduce waste
Decisions
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Habits
40% of the actions people performed each day weren’t actual decisions, but habits
Problem Space
People want to reduce waste - 72% say that they actively try to reduce waste - but feel overwhelmed by the perceived cost, inconvenience, and all-or-nothing pressure associated with the zero-waste movement. This leads to frustration, a cycle of unnecessary purchases, and quickly discarding items. However, by focusing on small, achievable changes in everyday habits, we can make a significant positive impact.
One paper published by a Duke University researcher in 2006 found that more than 40% of the actions people performed each day weren’t actual decisions, but habits.
Secondary Research
We generate 2.12 billion tons of waste annually – enough to circle the globe 24 times if loaded onto trucks.
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Our consumer-driven society generates massive amounts of waste, with trillions spent annually on goods and services. This unsustainable consumption strains resources and fails to bring lasting happiness. A shift to sustainable living is possible through small, habitual changes. By understanding the "habit loop," we can replace wasteful behaviors with eco-friendly alternatives, ultimately reducing waste and fostering a more sustainable future.
$44 Trillion
We buy an astounding $44 trillion worth of goods and services annually
2.12 Billion
We generate 2.12 billion tons of waste annually
Habit Loop
The Habit Loop is a neurological loop that governs any habit - Duhigg, C. (2012)
Research Objectives
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Understand Barriers to Sustainable Habits
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- Impact of Consumerism
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Investigate Effective Habit Change Strategies
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Assess the Role of Budget Constraints
Assumptions
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People lack knowledge on how to reduce waste and live sustainably
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- Small, consistent changes are more effective for lasting sustainable behavior than major overhauls
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Finances greatly influence people's ability and willingness to adopt sustainable practices.
Hypothesis Statement
I believe people struggle to adopt sustainable habits due to uncertainty about the most impactful, convenient, and affordable actions. I'll be right if 2 out of 3 participants express feeling overwhelmed or unsure about integrating such practices into their daily routines.
HMW Question
How might we empower budget-conscious young adults living in major North American cities to easily adopt and maintain sustainable habits that reduce waste and save them money?
Data Collection and Analysis
Methodology
One-on-one decontextualized interviews with three target users, where I’ll gather qualitative and attitudinal data. Questions were prepared under the interview guide.
Participant Criteria
Age Group: Millennials;
Location: Residing in a major North American city;
Financial Status: Mindful of their spending;
Interest in Sustainability: They express a desire to reduce their environmental impact and waste, but may face challenges in doing so;
Affinity Map
To uncover deeper insights from my interviews, I used affinity mapping to organize and synthesize the collected data. This visual approach helped me identify patterns, connections, and overarching themes that emerged from my conversations with users. Complete Affinity Map
Revised HMW Question
How might we reframe sustainable living as convenient, enjoyable, and financially rewarding for budget-conscious young adults in major North American cities, enabling them to effortlessly reduce waste and save money through everyday choices?
Define
User Persona
Based on the insights gathered from my interviews and analysis, I developed a comprehensive user persona that embodies the target user group and aligns with the chosen theme.
Meet Emily
Emily, Age: 32; Location: Vancouver, BC
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Emily is feeling overwhelmed by the vast amount of information about sustainability.
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Emily feels that sustainable choices require too much effort and sacrifice.
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Emily Lacks the time and resources to research and implement sustainable practices.
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Emily feels guilty about not doing enough for the environment.
Ultimately, I think the biggest obstacles I face are time and convenience.
User Experience Map
To better understand our user persona, Emily, I created an experience map that illustrates her journey towards a more sustainable lifestyle. This map visualizes her challenges and frustrations with current eco-friendly options, highlighting opportunities to simplify and streamline her path to greener choices.
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User Stories & Epics
After analyzing my research findings and considering Emily's experiences, I transformed user insights into actionable user stories. These user stories were then grouped into four distinct epics, each representing a key phase in the user's journey towards sustainable living. This organization helped prioritize features and create a clear roadmap for the app's development. From these epics, I selected a core epic and translated its user stories into specific tasks, forming the foundation of my user task flow.
Enhancing Lifestyle and Habits
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As a busy professional, I want a subscription box for eco-friendly household products that are automatically delivered to my door so that I can save time and effort​
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As a busy professional, I want to access quick and easy DIY repair guides for common household items and clothing so that I can fix things instead of throwing them away
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As a busy professional I want to learn how to properly dispose of electronic waste so that I can avoid the impacts of e-waste
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As a busy professional I want a tool that helps me identify and prioritize the most impactful sustainable actions so that I can focus my efforts on what matters most
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As a busy professional I want a platform that allows me to easily donate or sell unwanted items so that I can so they can be reused or repurposed​
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As a busy professional I want a delivery service that prioritizes reusable or minimal packaging so that I can order the things I need without generating excessive waste
Chosen Epic
The chosen epic aligns perfectly with the "Convenience vs. Perceived Gain" theme, tackling the common barrier of perceived inconvenience in sustainable practices. By offering accessible repair guides, we aim to showcase the immediate benefits – saving money, reducing waste, and fostering empowerment – making sustainable choices more attractive and feasible for busy individuals.
Enhancing Lifestyle and Habits
As a busy professional, I want to access quick and easy DIY repair guides for common household items and clothing so that I can fix things instead of throwing them away.
Task Flow
After selecting a user story and task from my core epic, I developed a task flow for Emily. In this flow, she'll be accessing the Eco Fix app to find a repair guide for her malfunctioning coffee maker. She hopes to fix it herself to save money and reduce waste.
Legend
Ideate
Sketches
Guided by my task flow, I gathered UI inspiration images to explore design options for each of the app's five screens. I created 17 exploratory sketches, experimenting with various layouts and features to address user needs effectively.
Building on the most promising ideas, I refined my sketches into more polished solution sketches, incorporating feedback and insights gained from the exploration phase.
Home Screen
A personalized gateway to a more sustainable life. Discover inspiring stories, expert tips, and local events, all while easily accessing the tools the user needs to fix, reuse, and reduce your environmental impact.
Key Takeaways:
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The exploratory sketches helped to experiment with different layouts and content hierarchies.
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The solution sketches refined the chosen layout, focusing on improving visual clarity, navigation, and content discoverability.
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The final design incorporates elements from both initial sketches, such as a prominent search bar and a visually appealing news carousel
Prototyping & Testing
Building upon my UI inspiration and refined solution sketches, I created grayscale, mid-fidelity wireframes in Figma. This initial prototype served as a foundation for usability testing, allowing me to observe how users interacted with the app's core features and navigation. Valuable feedback from these tests highlighted areas of confusion and opportunities for improvement, guiding my iterative design process toward a more intuitive and user-friendly experience.
Round 2
Following the prioritization matrix, I strategically enhanced the wireframes and prototype. I began by implementing revisions identified in the High Impact, Low Effort category, maximizing improvements with minimal effort. Next, I tackled some changes from the High Impact, High Effort category, recognizing their potential for significant user experience enhancements. I still had time to apply a few changes placed in the Low Effort, Low Impact. The remaining items will be considered for future iterations as time and resources allow.
Home Screen
After
Before
With the revised prototype completed, I conducted a second round of user testing to ensure a human-centered design and identify potential usability issues. This round focused on validating the effectiveness of the changes made based on the initial feedback, observing how users interacted with the new features, and gathering additional insights to further refine the app's functionality and user experience.
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Home Screen
Before
After
Deliver
Brand Development
After revising the prototype based on user testing feedback, it's time to focus on the final visual design. The first step is to develop a strong brand identity that aligns with the desired user experience and emotions.
By carefully considering the brand's visual elements, I can create an interface that is both aesthetically pleasing and emotionally resonant, ultimately motivating users to adopt sustainable habits.
Adjectives
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Convenient
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Supportive
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Optimistic
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Forward-thinking
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Transformative
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Resourceful
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Sustainable
More A than B
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More motivating than guilt-inducing
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More convenient than demanding
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More supportive than preachy
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More optimistic than doom-and-gloom
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More forward-thinking than traditional
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More transformative than simply informative.
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More resourceful than wasteful.
Brand Name
The app's name evolved through brainstorming, exploration, and refinement. While several strong options emerged, 'Eco Fix' ultimately stood out for its ability to capture the essence of the app's mission and resonate with users on an emotional level.
EcoHabit
This name directly communicates the app's focus on fostering eco-friendly habits and is versatile across various contexts.
Eco Fix
The word "fix" implies taking action and solving problems, aligning with the app's emphasis on repair guides and DIY solutions. It also suggests positive change, motivating users.
SustainAble
This name cleverly plays on the word "sustainable," emphasizing that it is achievable and accessible to everyone.
Mood Board
During my initial mood boarding for Eco Fix, I gathered around 50 images aligning with the chosen adjectives and evoking the desired feeling of the app. From this collection, I curated a more focused mood board, refining the visuals to better encapsulate the brand identity and ensure a cohesive representation of Eco Fix's values and aspirations.
UI & Branding
Colour Extraction
After analyzing my mood board, I extracted a wide range of colors that reflected the desired brand identity for Eco Fix. To simplify the selection process, I grouped these colors into distinct palettes based on their shared tones and moods.
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UI Library
Now that I've shown you the brand development process, let's explore the UI library I created to streamline colour injection and final touches. This library will also make future updates and additions faster and more accessible to anyone on the team.
Using the Atomic Design methodology, I've organized the library into the following categories:
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Foundation: Grids.
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Atoms: Basic building blocks of the interface.
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Molecules: Simple groups of UI elements that function together as a unit.
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Organisms: More complex UI components composed of molecules.
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Templates: Page-level objects that place components into a layout.
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Pages: Specific instances of templates with real content.
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Let's explore each of these in more detail in the following slides.
Atomic Design Methodology
Atomic Design is a methodology for creating design systems that help manage the complexity of large projects with numerous components. The need for such a system becomes evident when the sheer number of elements becomes overwhelming, making it difficult to maintain consistency and efficiency in the design process. Let's take a look in how I organized the elements of my UI Library.
Marketing
Market Research
To successfully launch Eco Fix, I've begun exploring marketing strategies and discovered that a strong online presence is crucial. Studies show that 75% of consumers judge a company's credibility based on its website design. This highlights the importance of creating a visually appealing and trustworthy platform to encourage downloads and build user confidence.
A marketing website acts as a central hub for the Eco Fix app, providing a dedicated space to showcase its features, benefits, and value proposition. This website can effectively leverage various online marketing techniques, including content marketing, email marketing, social media promotion, and search engine optimization, to reach a wider audience and drive downloads.
UI Inspiration
Multi-Platform
Eco Fix for Tablet
To expand the reach of Eco Fix and enhance user engagement, I challenged myself to explore an additional interface beyond the mobile app.
Given the need for convenient solutions for sustainable living, I decided to focus on a platform that could offer a larger screen and more versatility than a phone. I determined that tablets presented a unique opportunity to create a more immersive and engaging Eco Fix experience, especially for activities like following repair guides or browsing through educational content.
Future Thinking
The Catalyst: Shifting Cultural Norms
Like the Catalyst card, Eco Fix aims to ignite a transformation in how we view consumption and waste. By empowering individuals with accessible tools and knowledge, we're fostering a cultural shift towards repair, reuse, and mindful consumption. As more people adopt sustainable habits, the ripple effect can influence social norms, inspire collective action, and ultimately create a more conscious consumer culture.
Smash Hit: A Vision for a Sustainable Future
Imagine 100 million people using Eco Fix: A global community of repairers, upcyclers, and eco-conscious consumers sharing knowledge and inspiring each other. We envision a world where broken items are treasures to be fixed, where resources are cherished, and where every small action contributes to a healthier planet. Eco Fix is more than an app; it's a catalyst for a sustainable revolution.
Closing Remarks
Key Learnings & Next Steps
In closing, my journey with Eco Fix has been an illuminating one, filled with valuable lessons. I've seen firsthand the power of iterative design, user feedback, and the importance of aligning design choices with the target audience's needs and preferences. The positive reception to the app's concept and functionality validates its potential to make a real impact in promoting sustainable living.
Moving forward, I'm excited to implement the valuable feedback received during usability testing. Key next steps include refining the navigation, adjusting button placement, and enhancing the feedback mechanisms to create an even more seamless and rewarding user experience. I also plan to explore adding features focused on preventative maintenance, as suggested by our users.
Ultimately, my goal is to launch Eco Fix as a comprehensive and accessible tool that empowers individuals to embrace sustainable habits and reduce their environmental impact. By making repair, reuse, and responsible consumption more convenient and enjoyable, EcoFix can help pave the way towards a brighter, greener future for all.