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AMI JHARNA
AMI JHARNA
MIZBAH PATLA
My Role: User Researcher
Research Method: Ethnographic Research & User Testing
Project Type: Team
Project Timeline: 10 Weeks
Background
We all understand the value of sustainability and know what a grave impact it has on our environment. However, although people are conscious, not much is put into practice resulting in large amounts of waste. We, as a team decided to take upon this problem and truly understand the drawbacks and shortcomings individuals face in order to lead a sustainable life. The solution - a holistic platform built for your community that helps you closely understand sustainable practices and collaboratively helps reduce the waste without much effort.
The Challenge
Our planet can only produce a finite amount of resources that must be used prudently in our everyday lives. However, with the current growing consumption, in spite of people's consciousness, not much is put into action resulting in loss of ecological balance with the environment facing severe consequences.
The challenge here was to provide tools to educate members of your direct community, by taking action to ensure that individuals understand the benefits of sustainability and that they can do their part to help the environment, the community, and the future of the planet.
Purpose of Study
Target Audience
Why Millennials?
Millennials comprises the most ethnically diverse generation. This cohort is open-minded since they were raised in a networked world. They are connected through the use of mobile apps and social media websites. They are optimistic about a sustainable future because they are a digital generation that believes in technology.
The millennial generation is conscious at all levels. They want to save their money and invest in a socially responsible manner because they believe in changing communities.
Millennials have been described as the most educated and knowledgeable generation in history. They have access to higher education, and they are motivated to learn.
The Umbrella Question
HOW MIGHT WE USE DESIGN THINKING TO EDUCATE AND IMPLEMENT TECHNIQUES OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING FOR THE MILLENNIAL COMMUNITY?
The Research Process
The goal of our primary research was to deeply understand the behavior, needs, and pain-points of our main target audience i.e. millennials towards leading a sustainable lifestyle. Over a course of 10 days, we conducted our primary research via the following methods given below.
Online Survey
1:1 User Interviews
Empathy Maps
Cultural Probe
1
Online Survey
We carefully constructed an online survey to further understand our study. Most of the questions were based on our secondary research to gauge insights and to have more of a general idea of what millennials think about our subject. We distributed the survey on online platforms, university group chats and amongst people we personally knew, having 143 people take the survey. The results of the survey are as follows:
1/6
2
1:1 User Interviews
Although we got a great response from our survey, we wanted to understand our audience in a more comprehensive format and hence conducted 1:1 interviews that had more of an open-ended approach. Amongst the many we interviewed, these were the insights from the following interviews.
Once we concluded our personal interviews, we gathered all of the insights and plotted them to form our empathy maps. This helped us understand our target audience better and more so, streamlined the design process that eventually would lead us to our solution.
3
Empathy Maps
4
Cultural Probe
One of the most exciting parts of our research was conducting a cultural probe. Not only did we enjoy the process of conceptualizing and creating it, but we also got the opportunity of interacting with people in an unconventional format that helped with our research.
In order to make it interactive, we constructed a working wheel on our board and asked the individuals to answer questions with respect to the part they land on. We carried on the probe for 3 days and got 97 participants to take part in our research.
We mapped the responses i.e. how our participants felt about the given parameters from the cultural probe on a chart that helped us assess what they were most comfortable with as well as their pain points.
Research Offerings & Framing Insights
With all the data points now collected from our primary research, we started organizing our research findings to frame actionable insights. We affinitized all of the data points that were similar in nature and grouped them under one category that later evolved as our design criteria as well.
Once our primary and secondary research was concluded, we evaluated our value proposition which helped us prioritize who are we truly designing for and how are we going to achieve it. This further laid as a foundation for our solution framework as well.
Key Insights
Sanitation
"I guess you just use your judgement to know what is wearable and what is not, I do not trust the sanitation of the item."
Lack of Organization
"There needs to be a better way to organize clothes than just pile them up together."
Lack of Awareness
"I don't generally know what is recyclable and what's not. For instance I always thought pizza boxes were recyclable until you mentioned they weren't"
Convenience
"Convenience is very important to me. Anything that’s super quick, I would personally go for that option."
Incentivization
"I think incentivization is great because you’re asking people to be conscious without them having to think about it"
Accessibility
"I think having more options as to where to recycle on an everyday life can promote people to recycle"
Value Proposition
Concept & Prototype Development
From the insights gathered earlier and keeping our value proposition in mind, we brainstormed a couple of ideas which eventually were filtered down to the three solutions given below:
Sharedrobe
Sharedrobe is a concept that entails secondhand clothes and furniture pop up stimulated by the people for the people making the process of secondhand shopping experience accessible, convenient and tangible.
Digital App
An informatory app that connects consumers to their local secondhand stores builds a neighbourhood community facilitator and imparts insights that help with leading a sustainable and full life.
City Market
A holistic approach to secondhand shopping having everything under one roof with a centralized database and
systematic inventory managed city/school/community-wide.
But how does Sharedrobe work?
In order to better understand Sharedrobe's process, we made a simple 8 step cycle that explains the entire process in detail and with much ease.
An important feature, Sharedrobe is a part of the final app solution but the app would provide information on other activities and will also serve as a community engagement platform.
Solution Framework: Strategy Map
The Strategy Map was created to understand which of the solutions from above resonate best with our research insights and our value proposition. It also helped us in filtering out some of the earlier concepts and refine them so as to create a solution that is seamless and tangible.
Prototype Testing
As per the solution framework and criteria, we designed a mockup of our app and tested it amongst users. We asked them to give us feedback on the things they liked and didn't like and put them all out on sticky notes as per each frame. This process was extremely helpful and led us to integrate these changes in our final design of the app.
Suggestions
Interface
Thoughts
Final Solution
The final solution combines Sharedrobe with App support that would help individuals with information regarding recycling, selling, and swapping their old items within their neighboring communities with ease, hence reducing waste and help them lead a sustainable lifestyle effortlessly.
Not only does the application helps support and carry Sharedrobe events, but it also gives resourceful information on recycling and keeps the users updated helping them lead a green and sustainable life.
Recycle with Ease
The smart search button on this app will let you scan through the item and let you know if it can be recyclable or not. You can also scan through recyclable bin locations and the schedule of pick-up trucks in your vicinity.
Browse & Connect
While Sharedrobe events happen once every 2 - 4 weeks, The Neighbour lets you browse and connect with second - hand store items in your vicinity and gives you information on the seller, the quality of the product as well as ratings of the store.
The Sharedrobe Experience
The Sharedrobe feature lets you browse through the upcoming events, lets you add items to sell and set time/date for pick - up as per your convenience and also notifies you once your items have been approved.
Not just this, it would also recycle the unapproved items for you hassle-free.
Cha - Ching!
Every time you sell your items, you gain credit money to shop for the next Sharedrobe event.
It also incentivizes you with discount coupons every time you shop from a Sharedrobe event!
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