GreenerU

OVERVIEW

GreenerU is a mobile application designed for students to raise awareness and be more mindful of their environmental impact on university campus.

This project was created as part of Prodigi’s Product Innovation Program which I joined outside of university to gain more experience in product design and collaborative teamwork. Our team scored 1st place.

Timeline | March 2023 - May 2023

BRIEF

“Our current lifestyles, characterised by overconsumption and environmental degradation, are simply not sustainable in the long run. Universities are one of the largest energy consumers, with buildings and transportation being the main sources of energy use”

So, how might we help universities effectively promote sustainable living practices among university students, and encourage them to adopt more environmentally friendly behaviours and habits?

BACKGROUND RESEARCH

• Students expressed uncertainty about what they could do at an individual level, a feeling which was at times overwhelming and affected their confidence that they could make a difference (Abbott et al., 2019)

• Inaction of governments and organisations, worsening of natural disasters in the AusNZPac region, many university students experience high levels of eco-anxiety (Kelly, 2017)

• Include climate knowledge into all courses and provide accessible ways that staff and students can learn about climate change and what ways the university is promoting climate action

USER RESEARCH

After completing some background research, we identified a gap between students’ sustainability knowledge and their actions. We also discovered students generally have low engagement in sustainability because university’s do not prioritise such education.

RESEARCH METHODS

We conducted user surveys to uncover insights towards students’ knowledge, motivations and actions regarding sustainability. This was followed by semi-structured interviews to explore further.

DATA SYNTHESIS

In our affinity diagramming process, we used a bottom-up approach, allowing themes to naturally emerge from key quotes.

KEY INSIGHTS

OUR PROBLEM STATEMENT

After the user research, we worked as a team to define the problem statement:

“Most students exhibit apathy towards their capacity to influence future environmental outcomes, resulting in reduced participation in sustainable practices and ultimately harming the environment”

So, how might we encourage apathetic students to be more mindful of their environmental impact and to take additional steps beyond their routine in adopting environmentally friendly behaviours on campus?

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

To better understand our market landscape, we have identified various existing solutions that share an emphasis on sustainability or tailor their product offerings exclusively for university students as their value proposition.

USER PERSONA

Based on our research, we created this persona which reflected the key attributes and behaviours identified within our target audience.

CONCEPT IDEATION

Our team held brainstorming sessions and employed the crazy 8s technique which generated a wide array of imaginative ideas. We then separated the ideas into different categories. After an in-depth discussion session, our team had a clearer direction we wanted to follow so we decided to integrate the most compelling aspects (red post-its) from several ideas to form our app that would inspire users to become aware of their actions.

SKETCHES AND MOCKUPS

At this stage, we developed some quick sketches to establish the basic layout for the interface. Our focus was on designing the navigation bar, different pages and the positioning of other essential elements.

Next, we turned our rough sketches into wireframes in Figma. The designs were more refined, consisting of the main features we wanted to include.

As we finalised our branding style guide, we filled in the wireframes with consistent colour, imagery, font styles and UI elements. Throughout the process of creating mockups, we iterated based on user testing feedback, refining and improving the designs in alignment with the initial wireframes.

USER TESTING

During our iterative prototyping process, we consistently sought valuable feedback upon completion of our sketches, wireframes, and mockups. Overall the feedback was positive! A few changes we made:

• A community page was implemented to foster interaction and demonstrate how other students are completing the challenges

• Layout of the designs

• Replacing generic symbols with more contextually appropriate options e.g. Points to EcoBuds

We also conducted A/B testing to evaluate the time and clicks taken to navigate from the Challenges page to redeeming a reward. The ‘More’ button increased clicks as users assumed they were able to click anywhere on the box for further information. Users also found the tiles more aesthetic and spacious than the single rows.

FINAL CONCEPT

GreenerU encourages users to be more mindful of their environmental impact. Through interactive campus maps, incentivised challenges and community pages, our app design promotes gradual behaviour change, empowering individuals to take proactive steps towards environmental sustainability.