Project Brief

My team and I were tasked with a challenge brief from IDEO called Beyond the Bag; to find a way to tackle retail bag waste and to redesign the way goods are transported home. We had to come up with a way to tackle the brief within a 2 week sprint. From the data that was conducted, collected and synthesized, we created a mobile app that incorporates tasks and functions to incentivize its users to be more environmentally friendly while shopping for products.

The Problem

Shoppers need a way to transport goods from retailer to destination that is convenient and environmentally friendly so that they can have a way to reduce their environmental impact while not sacrificing their own needs. Shoppers prefer relying on the convenience of what is readily available even though it is not environmentally friendly. So, is there a way to find a balance between accessibility and sustainability? Where we can gently direct shoppers to consider a more environmentally friendly option during their shopping process?

The Solution

Our solution was to create a way to incentivize users to try to be more sustainable. We wanted to provide options where the users can choose to use reusable bags during their shopping process along with setting up a delivery program for the users to reduce their carbon footprint and remove the middleman and deliver some items to someone nearby.

User Interviews – The Shopper's Perspective:

Since nearly every store front uses some sort of bag while checking out and paying for their items at the store, the team decided to conduct user interviews first so it could help us decide what kind of app to create.

So, we interviewed 6 individuals from around the US to get the perspective and opinions of the everyday shopper. We wanted to collect data on the needs and pain points that they came across. After synthesizing the data collected from these interviews, we noticed a few recurring trends; all with an underlying theme...

"I don't want to sacrifice my own convenience in order to be more environmentally friendly."

Key Takeaways...

In the user interviews, we recognized that unless there was an ordinance or something similar to it enacted in the location where the user lives in, (such as people having to pay a few cents per paper or plastic bag that was needed for their shopping trip) our users would not go out of their way to be more sustainable. For them to be more eco-friendly, users would be more willing to be sustainable if certain criteria is met. We also saw that the interviewees spoke more about grocery shopping rather than shopping overall so that influenced which companies we wanted to analyze.

Bouncing Ideas

We had the problem we wanted to tackle but we still did not have a clear vision on how we wanted our idea to be formed. So to get the creative juices pumping, we decided to execute a design studio where we had a few minutes to sketch some quick ideas on how we imagined the solution.

We all sketched some low-fidelity wireframes to gather an assortment of our visualized interpretations of how we thought would solve the problem. Each concept that we thought of was reviewed and we converged on the best assortment of wireframes that best fit the needs of the users.

Going with the Flow~

To solve a complex problem... requires a complex user flow. The main goals were to integrate a delivery system within the app where shoppers who are currently at a grocery store can choose to deliver someone's groceries that lives nearby them and to have incentives within the app encouraging the users to purchase or use reusable bags for their groceries.

Iterating the Prototype

The user flow that was created is used as a basis of how we wanted our wireframes to interact with each other. It has two happy paths; one as a shopper and one as a delivery person. Throughout the shopping experience, the user will be prompted to opt for a reusable bag option as well as an option to scan a barcode on the bag to receive a discount on your order.

Through the delivery program, D-LVR, users will first have to create an account where the user will input records for identity verification as well as consenting to a background check to ensure that the shoppers who place orders for delivery will trust the porters to deliver their merchandise. After creating a verified account, the user will be shown a variety of people nearby who need something delivered. After delivery and the receiver has confirmed that they received their goods, the user will be credited a gift card balance to their account. This will help combat environmental pollution since less gas and disposable bags will be used as well as removing the up charge cost normally charged when using other services to deliver.

Through the design studio and user flow that was created, it provided the visualization we needed to piece together the first iteration of lo-fi wireframes. From there, we conducted some usability testing to see where we could improve.

Testing... Testing

Between our iterations of the prototype, we conducted user testing on several individuals to observe how they went through the prototype. The users were assigned several tasks and as the users went through the prototype and made comments and voiced their opinions, and it brought to light some elements that we did not include in the first iteration. So in the next iteration of the prototype we took the data collected from them and applied it.

Usability Test Findings:

There were some details that needed to be added in for the next iteration of design to make the flow smoother as well as removing some options that didn't sense to the user.
Enlarging the text size since the users reported that it was slightly difficult to read.
The first iteration was too ambiguous to the user so in the next steps, we should include more instructions throughout the process because from testing, we noticed that users had a difficult time without instruction.

Hi-Fi Design

Bringing the prototype into high fidelity, we made sure to include some key features that would incentivize the users more to be more green.

An option on the home page where if a user is picking up their groceries, that they can scan a eco-bag that they have bought previously to have their purchased goods at a discounted rate.
An overlay will appear during the checkout process to ask the user if they would like to consider purchasing an eco-friendly option to bag their goods.
Having volunteers in the delivery program will cut out the middle man and they will also get rewarded for helping deliver another user's items as well.

Try it Out!

What's Next?

Due to time constraints, not all the features my team discussed were fully carried out into the prototype. If given the opportunity I would conduct another round of user testing after inputting in more features and functions such as:

Implementing a more seamless transition from being a shopper to a porter. So it could be possible for a shopper to easily go to the porter portal without the need to start from the beginning of the app.
Adding in some tracking animations within the delivery time tracker for customers and porters.
Improving the functions and features for pick up and delivery.

Reflection
It was enjoyable creating a design system where my teammates could easily take those assets and incorporate it into the wireframes they were overseeing and it showed us how important a design system is when producing a prototype when it comes to making sure. This project was the first time in a long time that I have worked in a group setting so it was an eye opening experience playing around with ideas of others along with my own and to make sure to communicate often or the goal will become out of focus.

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Greenify

Introduction