Approaching (Climate) Crisis Mode
Just kidding, we’ve already arrived. Now, what?
This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill.
We are in a Climate Crisis. Irreversible environmental damage is at our doorstep. Seriously. Can’t you feel it? The changing temperatures and extreme weather. Can’t you see it? The wildfire smoke or smog polluting the air. Can’t you hear it? The alarm, of course — the proverbial one.
Ok, now what?
Do You, Know How…?
Know How is a personal waste management application designed for an android mobile device. With Know How, the user understands how and why it is important to manage waste correctly, specific to their location.
Designed to rely on crowdsourcing knowledge, building community engagement, and gamification to reclaim consumers’ agency, as well as their buying power from multinational corporations.
When you “Know How,” you do better. You do better because you know better.
Case Study Overview
The devil is in the details.
My Role
Product Designer — User Research, Interaction, Visual design, Prototyping & Testing.
Timeline
February — May 2021
Understanding the Problem
All advocacy is, at its core, an exercise in empathy.
Hometown Glory
Living in Seattle, WA — considered one of the ten greenest states in the United States — my county offers residents multiple waste management options: recycling, composting, and landfill disposal. Hence, most Seattleites appear confident in their waste management. Yet, an alarming amount of residents remain uncertain — myself included.
The Problem
Why is waste management so confusing? Our (oftentimes silent and unanswered) questions and missteps end up costing not only time and money, they’re costing us our future on this planet. These missteps are an example of poor waste management coined, “wish-cycling.”
Wish-cycling — the practice of recycling items that cannot be recycled. It stems from the best intentions. You wish or hope that something you’ve bought or used regularly can be recycled.
The Goal
If my fellow eco-warriors and I regularly question our waste management practices, how are the residents of the remaining 49 states faring? What about the rest of the world — particularly developing countries, who may lack the infrastructure needed?
How might we disrupt the status quo by solving for a better solution? How might we demystify, educate, and support the existing waste management system and its users?
Gaining Insight
Research & Discovery
Secondary Research
My primary research highlighted five main reasons why waste management has become so problematic:
Complacency also plays a large role in the problem. The average consumer feels satisfied with their mediocrity, willfully passive to the crisis at hand; wholly unaware of how much power and change they can affect. However, none of us is as smart (or, impactful) as all of us. It’s also worth noting, our society currently operates in a linear economic model; shifting to a circular model is paramount for long-lasting, systemic change. In an effort to mitigate the climate crisis, guardrails have been constructed. On a local level, I am provided educational material, such as recycling brochures.
Institutions have also employed mascots with the intention of reinforcing brand identity and community engagement.
On its face, helpful if not horrifying (sorry, Totes). These tools do not solve the problem entirely. Despite these guardrails, poor waste management remains a financial, ecological, and public health burden on our planet. If anything, they give users a false sense of security, perpetuating wish-cycling. According to one publication, technology might be the solution:
The only way to ensure that your program remains functional is to step in with modern educational initiatives and tools to improve resident behavior. Despite this need, the industry has remained frustratingly averse to digital solutions.
Competitive Analysis
Several waste management applications are available for download, offering tracking methods for your garbage and recycling services. Or, help find accessible recycling venues, and recommends various ways to recycle materials.
Oftentimes clunky and outdated, these applications fail to provide a satisfactory user experience and interface. The majority of the applications lack updated material, poor user engagement, and most importantly, transparent education reinforcing why it is important to practice proper waste management. Before Greta Thunberg, all we had was Oscar the Grouch and Captain Planet. Let’s put it this way, garbage isn’t Fintech.
Primary Research
To gain further insight, specifically on my target audience, I conducted a screener followed by 1:1 interviews. I was curious to learn how much my users understood about waste management and how it was practiced at a locally. I settled on 7 participants ranging in ages 18–49, and whom reside across the United States. Since wish-cycling and the climate crisis is a global issue, it was important to speak to a diverse pool of users.
What was most important to me was understanding the person and their impulse, with regard to their environment. Why do they do the things they do? To that end, I circled back to the following three questions:
- Systems — what does your local and personal waste management system look like?
- Motivation — what prompts you to sort your waste?
- Pain Points — what types of struggles do you encounter when disposing of your waste?
Upon completion of my interviews, I created an affinity map to help organize their responses and identify several key categories:
I developed four personas and created corresponding empathy maps to guide my designs.
With respect to brevity, Carrie from the City, will be highlighted exclusively.
Scanner Results
You’ve got me feeling emotions…
Interview Highlights
What struck me the most were the emotional through-lines surrounding their pain points: a simple, physical act has attached to it such a profoundly deep emotional reaction.
Pain Points
- Immense sense of confusion and defeat
- Personal shame surrounding lack of knowledge and best practices
- How costly it can be to live greener, eco-conscious lives
So much so that all seven admitted to wish-cycling; users recognize the importance of proper waste disposal, they are quite literally wishing waste away.
How Might We
Targeting the afore mentioned points, the prototype needed to address the following:
- Empowerment — How might we provide support so that users feel empowered and adopt a positive mindset surrounding waste management.
- Education — How might we educate users correctly and consistently so that ambiguity and overwhelm does not cloud or inhibit best waste management practices.
- Equity — How might we make green living equitable and available to everyone at a reasonable, affordable cost?
Design & Ideate
Communicating my ideas through sketches.
I began sketching my ideas for possible solutions to my How Might We questions. Immersing myself in the research and interviewing phase provided a number of wild and crazy ideas that I was eager to sketch out.
Identifying my Most Viable Product
I had fantastical ideas for this product; how helpful and important Know How could be with respect to the climate crisis. I wanted every single one of my interviewees to feel heard and supported. I didn’t want to let them down, but I also wasn’t sure where to begin.
In order to capture the intentions of my personas, my next step was to develop my user stories. The user stories helped bring into focus my most viable product, MVP, which contains only the essential features an early customer would need to complete critical tasks.
Evolution of Screen Sketches
Slow progress is better than no progress.
The next phase involved rough sketches for my prototypes. Throughout the process, I conducted three rounds of usability testing with five different users each round. Consequently, my iterations evolved as I continued to refine each screen’s User Interface.
As you can see, my low-fidelity screen rendered on Figma didn’t even have a navigation bar. (Future Marie, here. Whyyy?!) My users constructive criticism was invaluable and at times, brutal. No matter, my skin toughened as did my resolve. I was determined to create a useful and engaging product that served the community.
Another comment from one user brought into focus my word choice, even for low-fidelity renderings. “Got It” as the Call to Action, (CTA) button was confusing to her. While I didn’t plan on using “Got It” in the high-fidelity prototype, her comment reminded me of the importance each component, no matter how granular, has on the overall user experience.
Branding & Design System
Design is the silent ambassador of your brand.
Mood Board
I’ve included some of my inspiration for the product’s personality and style. I wanted Know How to break away from the typical greens and blues associated with environmental-focused products. I drew inspiration from contemporary pieces of art, specifically, David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Roy Lichtenstein, & Piet Mondrian. Their similar graphic qualities and utilization of vibrant colors appealed to my vision for this product.
For the UI design, I was drawn to Headspace and the StoryGraph. Colorful without being jarring. Approachable yet dependable. Welcoming, playful, and calm; these traits are conveyed through their visual design. It was important for me to integrate a sense of play while still communicating credibility.
Brand Platform & Style Guide
I’ve also included some bits from the style guide I created. For my font, I went with Roboto, as the app was built for androids, per the Material Design guidelines.
Usability Testing
The killing field of cherished notions.
Testing Objectives
Through each round of testing, I wanted to find out if Know How addressed the, “How Might We” questions posed earlier in the study:
- Empowerment — How might we provide support so that users feel empowered and adopt a positive mindset surrounding waste management?
- Education — How might we educate users correctly and consistently so that ambiguity and overwhelm does not cloud or inhibit best waste management practices?
- Equity — How might we make green living equitable and available to everyone at a reasonable, affordable cost?
Did users feel confident and clarity from completing the MVP user flows? Would they turn to Know How instead of wish-cycling an item away?
Outcomes & Results
Final Thoughts
Testing Results
Overall, the product was well-received and successful in its logic, particularly in decreasing ambiguity surrounding wish-cycling. For example, the majority of users were happily surprised that the lids to this brand of peanut butter was in fact recyclable. Not only did users find the flows easy to use, they learned through engagement. As one user mentioned,
This would have been super helpful last night, I wasn’t sure how to toss my plastic packaging for my salad greens. I didn’t know all plastic can’t be recycled.
-Anonymous User
Additionally, the, “explore reusable ideas” feature reinforced equity by normalizing repurposing and upcycling. Several users hoped that feature was built out, as they were curious to discover clever ways to reuse packaging.
Sadly, the novelty did wear down quickly. Each round’s user majority inquired about the additional features for V2 of Know How. I could sense a strong desire for the social media/community-building aspect of the product. In this day and age, if it’s not posted online, your activities don’t exactly count…But, I think it’s more than that. Community-building through social media expands on the empowerment aspect of the Climate Crisis challenge. Sharing experiences and knowledge strengthens community ties, while maintaining the momentum needed to make lasting, impactful change.
Insights to Improve Screen Designs
The most significant UI evolution can be found on my Home Screen. Volleying back and forth through the three separate usability tests greatly impacted my overall designs.
- A navigation bar replaced the rows of categories/icons that was quite frankly, uninspired
- A tracking system to play up the gamification aspect
- Adding recently recycled or visited site cards increased efficiency
Next Steps
For V2 of Know How, I would like to tackle the following elements:
- Developing the social media tab to grow the Know How community
- Expanding the metrics capabilities on the Home Page in the hopes of providing users with alternative brands more in-line with their waste management efforts
- Integrating a market place for alternative brands to promote their products, with the hope of decreasing high costs associated with “green products”
