AlterNative app design

My Design Process.

The problem:

As a society, we are becoming progressively 'eco-conscious' and, as a result, users want to know what they can do to improve their environmental impact.

Finding this information can be difficult, especially when it is easy and quick to consume from big corporations.

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The goal:

To create a platform where users can find and order eco-friendly alternatives to their usual products.

Research study details: 

I conducted interviews in order to create empathy maps. This identified the primary user group to be adults ranging from 18-40 who wanted to take control of their carbon footprint.

My initial assumptions were that the people concerned with being eco-friendly would be a very small and like minded group, however, my research completely proved my assumptions wrong. A wide range of people with differing interests and backgrounds wanted to be more eco-friendly, but needed some more incentivising!

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Key Challenges: 

After conducting user research and creating user personas, it was clear that the main user pain points were: 

1) How difficult it is to find Eco friendly products.

2) How opportunities to buy eco products are predominantly online.

3) Eco-friendly products are often more expensive and as a consequence there is a reduced incentive to buy them.

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Initial concepts:

Prior to creating the app, I believed a reward system for purchasing products could be used to encourage users to buy Eco products. However, after initial testing of my wireframes it became clear that this did not incentivise people enough to return to the app.

I began thinking of ways in which I could encourage people to ditch their 'big-brand' products for more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. Though a reward system was helpful, I felt that the app needed more of a 'community feel'. As a result, I drew up the idea of a 'reviewing' system in which people could see how their friends had rated different eco-friendly products they had purchased.

Including a social media aspect into my designs, allowed users to both see their friends reviews, as well as what they’re swapping, for a bit of friendly competition.

Conclusions and next steps: 

All in all I was really happy with how this project turned out. I do think however, that the points system on the app needs to be further refined both in design and implementation, to make it as attractive as possible for users.

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