I worked on the whole project alone, from researching to designing and prototyping the app. I adopted and implemented the double diamond methodology to produce the final product.

In this day and age where plastic and waste is produced every second and consumers have the responsibility of disposing it all correctly. This responsibility has becomes quite overwhelming when there’s conflicting information. Not all plastics are made the same and they aren’t all recyclable. This causes consumers to ‘wishcycle’. This is the act of disposing of seemingly recyclable waste in the recycling bin which contaminates it, resulting in the rejection of the whole truck load.

• Scanner - Allows users to quickly identify the product they’re trying to dispose.
• Reminders - Send the users a notification to remind them to take out the bins as well as other products they intend on disposing at a certain location.
• Resources saved - Understanding the amount of resources saved by recycling or switching to alternatives.

The research techniques we adopted in this projects were:

• Desk research
• Competitor analysis
• Surveys
• Interviews

Sorting through 5 competitor apps and websites, I could see what common features users would expect to see. I was able to conduct 5 interviews and received 30 survey responses from young adults. This was an important demographic as Gen Y and Gen Z are reported to be the most aware and strongest advocates for the environment.

Results show that participants:

• Want to recycle properly and be more environmentally conscious
• Struggle to understand the waste system
• Are busy and don’t have time to dedicate themselves to learning about recycling

Thoughtful Tina was the persona formulated from all the data collected from the discovery phase.

• Tina is a young adult who has a busy work schedule
• She cooks a lot resulting in a lot of packaging waste
• She wants to be a good role model for kids.

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I want my kids to grow up with the same planet as I did

The most common point for consumers to drop off and lose interest in figuring out how to recycling would be right as they’re about to dispose of the items. The solution for this could be implementing an app with a scanner to give clear actionable steps for the users for disposal.

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I’m glad to have a reliable source that will makes looking after the planet easier.

Sketches

I undertook the crazy 8’s activity and came up with numerous ideas that could be implemented into the app and how it may look.

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MVP

Using the ideas generated, I plotted them on the matrix to dictate what would make it onto the product design. The main features included are:

• Scanner
• Waste management and location database
• Council specific information
• Tips on upcycling

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Wireframes

The wireframes I designed focused mainly on understanding how to integrate the scanner as it is the key feature.

Thoughtful Tina starts off by scanning the product to understand the procedures needed to dispose. There is subsequently the alternative flow for products that can’t be scanned.

• Set up a product database and/or allow users to add their own options to be reviewed by the team
• Build out a database of all the different drop of locations and what they accept.

• This project has taught me that framing the question correctly when doing surveys and interviews will really set the project up for success.
• The hierarchy of the Home Screen is so important and it can’t be too cluttered
• All users said they would use this app if it was finished.