GoGreen
One scan, one point, and one sustainable choice at a time—create a greener world!
Project Overview
Climate change, an issue prevalent worldwide, and its increasingly severe impacts have been exemplified by the extreme weather changes in the last few years. Climate change is mostly caused by the release of greenhouse gases, particularly by human activities. In order to mitigate climate change, we as humans must engage in sustainable practices, such as composting, recycling, and eating sustainable foods, in our daily lives. However, many people struggle to do this.
Problem
Climate change, an issue prevalent worldwide, and its increasingly severe impacts have been exemplified by the extreme weather changes in the last few years. In order to mitigate climate change, we as humans must engage in sustainable practices, such as composting, recycling, and eating sustainable foods, in our daily lives. However, many people struggle to do this for many reasons, including the ambiguity of what is and is not recyclable, a lack of knowledge and access to composting, and the higher cost of sustainable foods.
Solution
I created GoGreen - an app that uses a reward system to encourage users to recycle, compost, and eat sustainably at home. Users can earn redeemable points for coupons by buying sustainable foods, scanning recyclable items, and dropping off compostable scraps at nearby centers.
From busy environmental-conscious college students to parents doing weekly groceries for their families, GoGreen's image scanner allows to easily know whether an item is recyclable based on the user’s location.
GoGreen also includes a locator that allows users to find nearby facilities, events, and stores promoting sustainable practices.
Process
User Research
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Ideation
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UI Design
Prototype
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Feedback & Redesign
Role
Sole UX/UI Designer
Tools
Figma
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Adobe Illustrator
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Background
From my research, I’ve gathered that climate change can be attributed to natural phenomena, such as volcanic eruptions, fluctuations in solar radiation, tectonic shifts, and orbital variations. However, the main driver of climate change is the emission of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide and methane, into the air. The increase in greenhouse gases centers much around human activities—our ways of generating power for heat, electricity, and transportation, our industrial practices, our interactions with the environment, and our consumption habits.
While natural processes and external factors have historically influenced climate change, the current trends of global warming are primarily driven by human activities. Hence, for this project, I chose to focus on the human-driven causes of climate change, most notably the consumption of fossil fuels, and present solutions tailored to everyday people while engaging in UX design practice.
Secondary Research
A huge cause of climate change is burning fossil fuels, primarily natural gas and coal, leading to carbon dioxide emissions. The source of greenhouse gases could be attributed to energy consumption in homes and buildings, in addition to the factories themselves. The production and transportation of goods and certain foods involves burning through massive amounts of energy. In fact, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 23% of the 2021 greenhouse gas emissions came from industrial emissions.
Food waste is another significant contributor to climate change. When organic materials like food scraps, yard waste, and other biodegradable items end up in landfills, they produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. According to the EPA, food waste generates about 8% to 10% of global greenhouse emissions.
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One way to reduce the industrial sector’s carbon footprint is to rethink our perspectives on consumption, especially regarding recycling and reusing so that factories don’t have to produce so much in the first place. Similarly, one way to reduce food waste is to rethink our ways of disposing of food. By composting, we not only divert organic waste from landfills but also decrease the huge amounts of energy it takes to grow, process, transport, and package food products, further mitigating the industrial sector’s carbon impact.
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With this in mind, I have chosen to design a digital product—an app that encourages people to adopt sustainable practices at home.
Survey
I first conducted a survey to help me understand the key factors affecting whether or not people compost, recycle, and eat sustainable foods.
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My survey consisted of 7 closed-ended questions: To gauge the level of engagement with each of the sustainability practices mentioned above, I first asked simple “yes or no” questions as to whether users recycle and compost at home and for them to rank how often they eat sustainable foods on a scale of 1 (never) to 5 (always). Following each, to gain insights into the “true” problem, I then asked what the primary factor affecting their sustainability practice efforts was. Because I wanted to find the most prominent reason, I chose to ask this question in the form of multiple-choice instead of a check-all-that-apply, forcing participants to select their single factor. Finally, for the last question, I wanted to gain feedback on user preferences for 6 app features from initial ideation. For this reason, I asked them to rank these features in order of how likely it will motivate them to compost, recycle, and eat sustainable foods more often.
Data and Findings
After surveying 24 participants, I found that more than half (58.3%) selected “unsure of what to recycle” as the main barrier to recycling. Additionally, half of my participants do not compost, with the main concern being “odor or pests.” When asked how often they consciously choose sustainable foods, the average was 3.167 with 70.8% selecting “cost” as the primary deterrent. Furthermore, in terms of app features, “coupons” ranked highest (4.916. Below is a complete survey summary.
Interviews & User Stories
I then interviewed 5 participants to further empathize with my users and understand their experiences better.
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Recycling
Composting
Eating Sustainably
“I used to think takeout containers with hinges were recyclable but ever since receiving my city’s recycling guide, I’ve been confused what actually is recyclable because it’s really unclear based on the guide.”
"I live in college dorms, so I have no opportunity to compost because everything just goes to landfill."
“I try to buy organic foods often but the price is just a lot more expensive than non-organic foods.”
Personas
The target audience of my app is anyone who is seeking to reduce their ecological footprint, ranging from environmentally conscious students to parents who want to engage in eco-friendly practices. Based on the interviews, I created four personas to illustrate my target users.
Problem Statements
Based on my survey results and interviews, I then created 4 problem statements, where I proposed questions that address the above issues:
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How can we help users easily understand what to recycle?
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How can we get users to compost despite the odor and pests associated with it?
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How can we help users who have limited access to facilities and bins?
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How can we incentivize users to buy sustainable foods despite the higher cost?
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Ideation
For the ideation phase, I first created 10 sketches to brainstorm solutions and outline my ideas.
Sitemap
I created a sitemap with the purpose of organizing the content in my app.
Wireframes
I then created wireframes that illustrate the three main features of my app:
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My app centers around the Reward System, which allows users to gain points that can be redeemed as coupons at eco-friendly stores. Users can gain points by buying sustainable foods, such as organic or locally grown vegetables, at grocery stores and markets nearby. Additionally, users are automatically awarded points for scanning recyclable items or dropping off compostable materials at compost centers.
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For the Image Scanner, my main goal was to make recycling a less complex task than it should be. The image scanner enables users to easily know whether an item is recyclable based on the user’s location. Moreover, it allows users to scan food items, which then enables them to learn how they can be composted, while providing recipe suggestions. The “item” or “food” page (after scanning) provides tips and step-by-step infographics on proper recycling and composting techniques.
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The Locator feature in my app allows users to find nearby facilities, events, and stores promoting sustainable practices—recycling, composting, and sustainable foods. Users can easily locate compost gardens, drop-off centers for earning points, recycling centers and events, and local farmer’s markets and grocery stores that prioritize environmentally conscious products.
Brand Platform
For the brand, I chose the name “GoGreen” because I wanted to reflect my app's sole purpose, which is to encourage people to engage in sustainability practices.
Mission Statement: GoGreen empowers individuals to seamlessly integrate sustainable living practices into their daily lives. Our innovative image scanner takes the complexity out of recycling. Our reward system drives sustainable food choices. Our locator fosters a network of composters. One scan, one point, and one sustainable choice at a time—join us in creating a greener world!
Visual Identity
Hi-Fi Screens
Using the same colors, typography, and iconography in my mood board, I then created Hi-Fi screens for GoGreen.
Prototyping & Redesigning
Before
To simulate my app features, I created a prototype using Figma. I sent the prototype to people who participated in user research.
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From user testing, the main thing I gathered was that my landing page was too cluttered, creating visual congestion that overwhelmed users. Specifically, the long coupon button beneath the progress reward bar made it difficult for users to quickly understand the value and navigate the page
efficiently. Additionally, it wasn’t clear that the
“30 more” indicated the points needed for the
“Tesco 30% Off Coupon.” Furthermore, users
thought the “latest achievements” section
wasn’t necessary on the rewards page.
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To address these issues, I simplified the layout by repositioning the buttons and words to ensure a more intuitive flow on the landing page (see fig. 8). For instance, I redesigned the layout to have two big buttons below the progress reward bar with labels “my coupons” and “my points” and corresponding icons.
Redesigned
Marketing Campaign
To spread awareness of the impact of climate change, I then outlined a marketing campaign to encourage users to use my app and adopt sustainable practices. This campaign centers around social media engagement, involving two phases:
In the first phase, I created two informational posts, focusing on educating people on the importance of engaging in sustainable practices—recycling, composting, eating sustainably, consuming less energy, and driving less.
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In the second phase, I created three posts, focusing on marketing my app, including the three main features: the reward system, image scanner, and facility locator. I want to emphasize the benefits of each feature and how it addresses the problems I found in user research.
Conclusion
What we eat and don’t eat, in addition to how we dispose of food and items significantly affects climate change. In this project, as part of my final for my Design Perspectives class, I use a widening of design perspectives to tackle the wicked problem of climate change. UX not only creates a friendly user interface but also integrates broader concepts of the product to communicate the totality of the product from usability and function to branding and marketing. Therefore, in this project, I've engaged in UX practice in two ways:
Through the lens of design and technology, I first proposed a digital solution that addresses the pivotal role of human activities in driving climate change. I focused on the burning of fossil fuels and its consequences on greenhouse gas emissions. Following design thinking methodology, I first conducted research in the form of surveys and interviews, gaining insights into user perspectives and challenges. I then conceptualized an app that aimed to change individual behaviors in sustainable practices. The resulting app, which uses a reward system, image scanner, and facility locator to incentivize users to recycle, compost, and eat sustainable foods, was then tested, redesigned, and branded. Through the lens of design and business, I finally outlined a marketing campaign that combines educational content with a focus on my app features, aiming to build awareness and drive user engagement.
Ultimately, through a design-centric approach, this project advocates for individuals to reduce their ecological footprint in a collective effort to build a more sustainable future.
© 2023 by Jasmin Duong