Greenbin
Two-day mobile product design challenge
THE CHALLENGE
Design an interface of your choice that would help middle-class families reduce their daily amounts of trash and recycling
Challenge requirements
The challenge consisted of designing an interface that helps users manage waste disposal. The prompt encouraged establishing how hardware and software can coincide to solve the problem.
Process scope & constraints
Technology should exist today or be viable for the market within six months.
This can be completed in a low fidelity design, wireframes are fine.
Research insight
A typical middle-class American family wastes over 4M pounds of materials to keep up with their lifestyle. A majority of this waste is what they throw away or recycle daily.
The User
Assumptions
The user has a smartphone
They create daily trash and recycling
Users will provide information such as their delivery address, payment, and email
Pain Points
Throwing compostable waste into the box
Closing the box
Scanning the code
Problems with pick up or delivery time
Requirements
Reliable and accurate information
Easy to use
Minimal steps
Location tracking
Provides for a family
Constraints
Can only provide groceries that can come in compostable packaging
Available technology
Trade-offs
Compost measuring
Gamification features
Push notifications
Information on how they save the planet
User goals
Reduce trash and recycling
Reduce time taking out the trash
Contribute to saving the planet
The user is…
Busy, doing chores, but wants to contribute
Dealing with normal day-to-day tasks
Values the environment and social causes
The user wants to…
Minimize trash
Easily dispose of trash
Minimize time spent taking out the trash
Feel like they contributing to environmental causes
“A shopper from the upper and middle class will be more attracted to elements such as quality, innovation, features, or even the “social benefit” that they can obtain from the product.”
- marketingdiscussions.wordpress.com
Brainstorming udeas
After understanding the user, I began to brainstorm ideas that would address all of the user’s needs and goals. Here are the ideas I came up with:
Smart trash and recycle cans that connect to an app
Itemized receipt with waste indicators
Scannable Tupperware or bags
Scannable products with QR codes and tells you what products are sustainable or not
Compostable food delivery service and re-usable return box
Design direction
I decided to go with the compostable food delivery service because the idea addressed user goals and provided these services:
eliminated trash
decreased time taking out the trash
combined software and hardware
provided an environmentally friendly service
User story
I sketched user stories to understand the user’s feelings while interacting with the app and box.
In this scenario, the customer uses a mobile application, compostable box, and QR code to purchase groceries and return the compostable items.
Findings
Delivery needs to have tracking
The app must notify the user when the bin is picked up or dropped off
Pick up and delivery can happen at the same time
User flows
I think about all the ways a user could achieve a goal, then cross off unnecessary steps to simplify the experience.
Original flow
Simplified flow
Hand-drawn wireframes
I sketched wireframes to lay out and order information.
Using the hand-drawn wireframes, I developed screen flows to understand how the user would interact with the mobile application.
Mockups
Mobile mockups included a design system, icons, data, and several stages of the interaction flow.
Prototypes
Prototypes provided insights on how the user would interact with the mobile application.
I created prototype demonstrations for picking up and re-ordering the bin.
Picking up and re-order prototype
Picking up prototype
Screen flows
I provided screen flows to show how the prototype interaction works.
During engineer hand-off, I will provide screen flows, prototypes, and documented mockups.
Take-aways
Final designs help users achieve their goals of:
Reducing trash and recycling
Decreasing time taking out the trash
Contributing to the planet
If I had more time I would explore…
More user scenarios, especially the scenarios when things go wrong
More user testing
The ordering experience