UX/UI DESIGN
Methods:
Researching, Lo-fi and Hi-fi Prototyping, Usability Testing and Evaluating, Wireflow and Wireframing, Concept Sketching, Storyboarding, User Persona and User Journey Mapping, Walk-through Promotional Video
Tools:
Adobe Illustrator, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Proto.io, Procreate, Marvel
Team:
Alannah Frankel, Khaveer Narsai
Creating R.E.X – Recycling Express
This group project is a continuation of my research report on the benefits of recycling. Gathering insights from the report, we researched, prototyped, tested and designed a screen-based interface to help integrate better recycling habits and attitude in public. A brief proposal was also created for future steps with the interface. Scroll down to view the full process report.
Why recycling?
These were the key insights from our individual research. Recycling was chosen as our problem scenario as it presented the most potential.
User Persona
Our target audience was Generation Y (millennials) as they were found to be contributing the most to personal carbon footprint.
Problem
Australia’s poor waste management system and its immense use of single-use items, are causing substantial damage to the environment. The burning of excess waste releases greenhouse gases, filling the atmosphere and causing climate change. This is severely damaging to not only all aspects of the environment, but also to all of the animals living there. Not enough people are contributing and recycling properly. There is a growing need for immediate change, not just in individuals but in communities.
Objective
We aim to design a solution that addresses the issues that hinder individuals from implementing better recycling habits in their daily life. Our goal is to create a product that utilises positive reinforcement to make these habits long lasting. The interface should be consistent, efficient and aesthetically pleasing (Nielsen, 2019). Through user testing and a thorough design process, we hope to achieve this goal to the best of our ability.
Introducing REX
REX stands for Recycling Express. It is a screen with two bins, one yellow and one red. The yellow bin is split into four shapes, similar to that in Kahoot to allows users to answer fun trivia questions by throwing away their rubbish. Users are also able to throw away their landfill rubbish, to avoid recycling contamination, into the red bin. As a reward, users can donate their recycling money to an eco-friendly charity or leave a comment on a digital community tree. The bins build on the idea of Ballot Bins, which use trivia questions as a motivator to reduce cigarette litter (Ballot Bin, 2019). Read about our process below.
A Timeline of our Design Process
We went through numerous iterations before achieving our final design.
1: Choosing the Products
After consulting verifiable government sources for information about recycling products, we concluded that the items above were the products most used in the food industry.
2: Ideating the Process
Ideating the process enabled us to establish a colour scheme and layout for our product. It also allowed us to incorporate symbols and imagery that would evoke strong responses from our users, such as a digital tree with leaves that change colour to indicate the amount of products that were recycled on a particular day. Click here to view a quick paper prototype that later helped visualise this process.
3: Sketching & Lo-fi Testing the Wireflow
The items were then broken down into parts that could or could not be recycled. For example, not all coffee cups can be recycled due to their material, so this item had to be separated from the lid and cardboard sleeve – items which could be recycled.
The breakdown of items was then loosely converted to a wireframe click-through for lo-fi testing purposes using Adobe XD. This testing was crucial in identifying functional errors early and also recognising whether users were openly engaging or confused.
4: Hi-Fi Prototyping & Testing
The sketches and results from lo-fi testing were then translated into a hi-fi prototype. As shown above, the final screens for our interface were created using Proto.io.
An infographic was also created to help better raise awareness and provide knowledge about our purpose to encourage positive recycling. Click here for a quick walkthrough.
5: Mapping the User Journey
To provide further clarity on the process of using REX, the benefits it provides and the ways in which it fulfils our design criteria, data was collated into a user journey map. Specifically, this map depicts Rick’s journey before, during and after he uses REX.
The Final Product
Future Propositions
In the future, REX could be improved with the addition of a washing station, to quicken the process of recycling. A leaderboard aspect where users could create an account and compete with the amount of recycled items could also be added to add friendly competition as motivator. Another additional feature that could be added is an interactions counter, in the form of a small number count on the home screen. This would record and display how many people have recycled, not just those who used the interaction.
References
Nielsen, Jakob. 2019. “10 Heuristics For User Interface Design: Article By Jakob Nielsen”. Nielsen Norman Group. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/.
“Ballot Bin”. 2019. Ballot Bin. https://ballotbin.co.uk/about/.
[1] “Banerjee, Mritunjoy. Organization behaviour. Allied Publishers, 1995.