GreenImpact app case study

Rishi Chandrasekaran

Completed as part of the Google UX Design professional certificate program.

Green Impact is a Chicago based organization whose mission is to educate the public on recycling and encourage recycling using incentives. Green Impact’s primary users are those looking to make an impact and keep track of their impact. The product is available to everyone, but will be more targeted to the younger generation.

The problem:

Only 34% of Americans take recycling seriously, and only 29% try to recycle when it is convenient. A lot of people don’t know about the rules when it comes to recycling and don’t realize the impact they make.

The goal:

Green Impact will not only educate the public on recycling, but also show the users impact when it comes to recycling.

Project duration:

September 2023 - October 2023

My role:

UX Designer for both dedicated mobile app and responsive website design from concept to delivery.

Responsibilities:

User research, competitive audits, paper and digital wireframing, usability studies, creating low and high-fidelity prototypes, iterating on designs, and responsive designs.

Understanding

the user

User research

Personas

Problem statements

Ideation

User Research: Summary

I conducted interviews with different types of users to understand who I was designing for and their needs.

Using information about recycling, I was able to formulate questions for interviews. Most of the participants admitted to not knowing too much about recycling and often “just toss” most plastics into the recycling bin. On that same note, the participants were open to learning more about recycling. The answers given made it clear that users are willing to take recycling more seriously if they were able to determine what is recyclable or not as well as guidelines for their area.

Persona: Caden O'Neil

Age:

Education:

Hometown:

Family:

Occupation:

35

B.F.A. in Art Gallery

Chicago, IL

Lives alone

Personal Curator

Goals

Wants to get into the art auction worldWants to learn more about recycling.

Wants to track his recycling impact.

Frustrations

Guidelines differ from place to place

Busy life

Caden cares for the planet and wants to improve his recycling habits. He already does some things here and there to improve his sustainability habits and reduce his carbon footprint.

Persona: Caden O'Neil

Problem statement:

Caden O’Neil is a busy art curator

who needs to learn more about recycling

because a lot of people don’t know about recycling guidelines.

Ideation

I spent a few moments to complete a quick ideation exercise. I focused on the knowledge aspect of recycling and a way to track your recycling.

Start The Design

Digital wireframes

Low-fidelity prototype

Usability studies

Paper Wireframe

Drafting a basic layout with a few of the screens was a great way for me so visualize what the user flow might be like.

Digital Wireframe

After drafting some paper wireframes, I was able to create an iteration on the basic designs. This design focuses on giving the user the ability to search up different zip codes/ states to see their guidelines and scan items to see if they can be recycled.

Low-Fidelity Prototype

Usability Study

Users want information to be presented within the app explaining different codes.

Users want to understand why an app requires this type of information.

Users want to see what their actions actually do and see immediate results.

Refining the Design

Mockups

High-Fidelity Prototype

Accessibility

Mockups

Before Usability Study

After Usability Study

Mockups

Before Usability Study

After Usability Study

Mockups

High-Fidelity Prototype

Accessibility

Buttons are contrasting to the background to ensure visibility.

Minimal design to ensure users are not over stimulated.

Responsive Design

Information Architecture

Responsive Design

Information Architecture: Site Map

After completing the dedicated mobile, I used the Green Impact site map to create a structured design of the website’s layout. Ensuring a cohesive experience across all devices.

Responsive Design

I designed the screen to include mobile, tablet, and desktop. Ensuring an optimized design across the devices.

Going Forward

Takeaways

Next Steps

Takeaways

Impact:

After listening to the users, they stated that they were able to understand the different guidelines for recycling for their area and were able to properly rack their recycling habits. Some mentioned they enjoyed the app because it gamified recycling.

What I learned:

After completing the project, I learned that even though my project was an ambitious one, carefully going through the design steps helped create a unique app and accomplish my goal.

What I Learned

Observe the impact the app has on recycling habits.

Include more education about recycling within the app.

Add incentives to the impact section.

Checkout the high-fidelity prototype of the GreenImpact app