Greenify
Team Project
Company Overview
Greenify is a mobile app for users to conduct their shopping objectives while allowing them to choose environmentally conscious options during their experience.
Project Brief
" How might we transport goods from retailer to destination in a way that is compatible with diverse retail systems, delivers ease and convenience for customers, and reduces environmental impact? "
The challenge presented is from the design company IDEO which prompted the challenge called Beyond the Bag to create a solution to help users reduce environmental impact while providing ease and convenience for customers at diverse retail systems. There are many approaches to solving this challenge and my team created a solution for a digital as well as a physical experience.
Problem
The problem presented by this challenge is figuring out how to incentivize and encourage shoppers to "be green" without having to sacrifice convenience and ease. For most shoppers, the advantage of being able to shop online is due to its efficiency in saving time otherwise spent commuting to the store and picking out what they want to purchase. Shoppers are usually not conscious of finding methods to be sustainable even when it is something they would ideally like to do. The challenge then is to construct a bridge between convenience and sustainability.
Solution
My team's solution was to provide users with environmentally friendly options during their shopping experience that doesn't require extra effort. As billions of plastic bags are manufactured and used every year, offering shoppers a sustainable bagging option for checkout can help shoppers who forget to bring their reusable bag as well as for delivery or pick-up orders. Devising a delivery system to be made by those in close proximity to each other also help to reduce the use of gas emissions by eliminating single deliveries by car.
User Interviews
In order to generate ideas that could solve or improve the concerns that users had with sustainability and how it affected their experiences, user interviews with 6 individuals from across the United States were conducted. Having a broad and diverse selection of shoppers helped to highlight different aspects of sustainability and perspectives that shoppers have while shopping.
Key Takeaways
01.
Users typically forget to bring their own bags when shopping
02.
Most users did not have any personal incentives to be more sustainable
03.
Convenience played a big role in whether users were likely to be environmentally sustainable
The data obtained from the user interviews led the team to conclude on important features and a basic structure of how the solution would look like.
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It was noted that when sustainability was mentioned in questions pertaining to shopping, shoppers tended to give a response and association with grocery shopping in particular.
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This led the team to undergo an analysis of the different kinds of platforms that offered grocery shopping and delivery as a service.
Competitive / Comparative Analysis
Deciding the specific features to include in the app, a competitive and comparative analysis of popular brands was conducted. This helped us because we could see what our competitors did well and what they lacked in. Using existing apps the team was able to decide how to make certain features more intuitive or easier to use for our own users. The analysis also led us to conclude that many brands that offered similar services did not provide their users with an option to be environmentally friendly.
Competitive
Comparative
Affinity Map
Synthesizing the information obtained from the user interviews, an affinity map was produced to narrow down the four main pain points that users had when it came to practicing environmental sustainability.
Personas
2 user personas were created to reflect target users for the app to be designed. Personas help the team visualize who our users will be and figure out what else they might need in the app that we are creating.
Ideation
To kickoff the ideation phase of deciding what features to include and how the user would utilize the app, the team put together sketches and a user flow to map out the expected path of what actions the user would take.
User Flow
The user flow was created to understand the steps users would go through while using the app. It also mapped out possible paths users would follow for completing objectives which is useful to plan out the wireframes that need to be created.
Lo-Fidelity Wireframe
Lo-fidelity wireframes were constructed following the user flow as a blueprint. These frames were designed prioritizing the main features that needed to be implemented so the user can accomplish their tasks.
Usability Testing
Usability tests were conducted with several target users using the lo-fidelity wireframes. The responses of the users as they navigated the app while completing specific tasks revealed aspects that were lacking that could be improved upon. The data collected helped the team bridge the gap between the app we created and what the users actually needed for it to be functionally useful and efficient.
Key Takeaways
01.
Text size was a bit small and needed to be readjusted for better readability
02.
There needed to be more explanation for what certain options and buttons did
03.
Some options didn't make sense for the user and needed to be removed
High Fidelity Prototype
After taking the suggestions and data gathered from the usability testing, a high-fidelity prototype was built. This prototype included features such as:
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scanning the reusable bag that shoppers brought to earn a discount on their groceries
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an option to purchase and use a reusable bag when making an online grocery purchase for pickup or delivery
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deliveries being sent to users based on distance between each delivery to reduce gas emissions
Reflections and Next Steps
The solution that my team and I created was a way to help users be more environmentally sustainable in their everyday activities. Taking ideas from user interviews, we found viable and easy solutions for users to make their experience as effortless as possible. Accomplishing this task and seeing that our users would like to have such a product implemented in real life makes me feel motivated to discover more avenues to help users with everyday functions. Navigating the journey of turning an idea into a physical design can be difficult when there are so many paths to take, but my team and I were able to guide each other and troubleshoot the problems we encountered and it was very stimulating for me working in a team setting.
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Although the project was completed, the next steps for where this project could be taken include but are not limited to:
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more usability testing to fine tune the high-fidelity prototype to understand its ease of use
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develop the delivery system and figure out how it would work in the physical space
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simplify steps for users so there is less clicking and looking for things