During BrainStation’s UX Design Diploma Program, I was tasked with completing an individual capstone project through an end-to-end UX design process. We were given the freedom to research a problem space to develop and build a unique app solution. The project was completed under really tight time constraints.
Academic
Feb - Apr 2022
8 weeks
UX/UI Designer
Figma, Invision, Adobe CC
Mobile iOS
I approached the project through a human-centred iterative process that focuses on the users main goals and pain points to come up with a viable solution for the problem space. This was not a linear process and I've had to circle back through many of the steps just to validate my assumptions.
TAILORING TO THE USER'S NEEDS
RECOMMENDATIONS + RESOURCES
AWARENESS OF CARBON IMPACT
In my past life as an apparel designer, I’ve had to travel a lot for my job. With the countless short-distance flights and frequent missed connections with public recycling bins, I've often considered the impact of my travel carbon footprint and its contribution to climate change. I've heard similar complaints from friends and fellow co-workers when they’re abroad.
Pollution is inevitable, but is there a better way we could manage or reduce our carbon footprint?
Percentage of carbon emissions expected to grow by 2030 due to tourism
UNWTO, 2019
of surveyed travellers expect the travel industry to offer more options
Sustainable Travel Report, 2021
of surveyed travellers believe that sustainable travel is important
Sustainable Travel Report, 2021
With the understanding that there is an opportunity here, I conducted hour-long interviews with 3 interviewees to gather more insight into their perspectives. According to Pew Research Center, Gen Z and Millennials are more sustainability-oriented than older generations, and are more willing to take action when it comes to addressing climate change. As a result, these were the main demographic groups I targeted.
I asked a series of qualitative questions to generate data on their behaviour and attitudes. After thorough analysis of the collected data via affinity mapping, I was able to narrow down to the following 4 main themes and insights -
AWARENESS + RESOURCES
Interviewees would like to know the impact of their travel carbon footprint, as well as have resources that can help them make better travel decisions.
SHARED VALUES
Interviewees prefer to travel to places and frequent businesses that share the same values as themselves. They hope to find businesses that make the conscious effort to do the same.
DIFFICULTIES WITH BEING SUSTAINABLE ABROAD
Interviewees expressed they have a hard time being sustainable abroad. A few key reasons include wanting to travel comfortably, not being able to locate recycling, and not being able to avoid single-use items due to sanitary reasons.
TRAVEL HABITS
All interviewees have varying goals due to personal travel preferences and behaviours, but all have the same intention to reduce their overall carbon footprint by striving to maintain the same sustainability habits abroad as they do at home.
Of all the themes and insights, lack of resources and awareness stood out with all interviewees expressing that they just aren't aware of their carbon impact and don't have the resources to do better.
All interviewees voiced concerns about not having enough sustainable travel resources or options, and they’re unsure how they could reduce their overall carbon footprint. They want to be presented with eco-conscious options at different steps of their journey so they can decide how and where they can minimize their impact based on their preferences.
Interviewees really enjoy finding unique and authentic activities and experiences. This was an insight not directly related to sustainability, but it serves as a crucial motivator that I could potentially tap into for my design solution.
With the key theme and insight established, I developed a persona and experience map based on my user’s motivations and pain points to help identify design interventions and opportunities.
My primary persona is Tanya Lee, a 28-year-old frequent traveller who is looking for sustainable travel resources that can help her reduce her carbon footprint. She enjoys off-the-beaten path and authentic experiences, and she can't stand single-use waste. Meet Tanya -
Based on the experience map, the below identified opportunities addresses Tanya's personal goals. In particular, providing a platform that recommends eco-experiences or businesses and also serves as an educational opportunity would directly tie in with Tanya's motivations and initial interview insights.
I reviewed the original problem statement to ensure we're on the right track. Through my research, I was able to verify the assumption that interviewees need help with being more sustainable when they travel in order to reduce their carbon footprint, and they want to be provided the resources to achieve this.
With a better understanding of our persona Tanya’s goals and pain points, I moved forward with developing user stories and identified epics to help come up with a solution that works for the user’s needs and delivers the most value.
AWARENESS + RESOURCES
FIND ACTIVITIES + EXPERIENCES
TRACK TRAVEL CO2
LEARN ABOUT IMPACT
These epics were most compelling as interviewees expressed they really enjoy finding unique and authentic experiences, and learning about their impact through these experiences would maximize engagement.
From a long-term growth and business perspective, this would give users more opportunity to visit the app on a regular basis throughout their journey, and it also provides opportunities for potential business partnerships internationally.
From the user stories and core epics, I was able to uncover the following main user story and tasks to build an extensive task flow solution. There are 2 main tasks the user needs to successfully complete for the flow, as this helps ensure that the solution is adequately targeting the persona's motivations and pain points.
As a traveller who wants to be more responsible, I want to find sustainable activities or experiences based on my personal goals, and have a better understanding of my impact.
Based on our persona Tanya’s motivations and goals, this task flow will successfully help Tanya find sustainable activities at her travel destination, connect her to experiences led by organizations that share the same values as herself, and she'll also have a better understanding of her carbon footprint which will encourage her to be more responsible when she's abroad.
To develop app features and UI components that best execute the solution, I sourced inspiration from existing digital products such as travel apps like Momondo, Expedia and TripAdvisor, as well as wellness and fitness apps for the onboarding and gamified elements. I explored a range of ideas and finalized the following top solution sketches -
ONBOARDING: The design rationale behind these screens is to provide options in a engaging manner through the use of keyword chip selection and tappable graphics.
HOME: Since carbon status is a key progress feature, this needed to be clearly indicated with a personal profile. The Features section of this screen also ties in to the user’s preferences as it generates suggested activities related to the user’s selections at onboarding.
EXPERIENCE: Considering there is a lot of information on the Experience screens (About/ Plan Trip/ Images), I considered progressive disclosure through the use of bottom sheets that provides more information when selected.
PROFILE - IMPACT: This screen is meant to feel very rewarding as users earn achievements. The use of badges for a gamified experience would be motivating (similar to active goal-setting apps).
These early sketches guided the initial greyscale prototype for the first round of testing.
With the initial prototype complete, I conducted 2 rounds of usability tests with a total of 10 users to obtain feedback. Through task analysis, I was able to gauge how users interacted with the app to ensure the app is working as intended.
The results were really insightful. There were no major issues with the overall basic functionality of the app, but there were a couple areas that needed improvement to take the app to the next level -
BETTER CONNECTIVITY TO JOURNEY
Users felt there needed to be a greater emphasis on the user’s impact and goals (it shouldn’t just be a travel app with carbon information sprinkled throughout). Personal impact and engagement should be more consistent.
LESS TEXT, PLEASE
There were a couple screens users felt were too text heavy at a glance and would much rather see information distributed across multiple screens or see more visuals to stay engaged.
Based on design prioritization, I followed through with the following key changes for the next set of greyscale prototypes -
Due to time constraints at this stage of the project, I was unable to fully improve all screens by the greyscale submission deadline, but I took the initiative to further improve the following screens at high-fidelity stage. I also conducted a couple extra usability tests to ensure these added elements are functional and straightforward to understand.
HOME SCREEN - BUTTONS
Users wanted to access their recommendations easily without running a search, so the bar was revised to button categories that lead to user's preferences based on their answers from on-boarding. User's can still run a search in the "Discover" screen.
added to itinerary screen - progressive disclosure
Updated screen to be more interactive with separate cards using progressive disclosure so it is easier for the user to digest information regarding their carbon impact. Users previously felt overwhelmed with too much info on the screen at testing.
To inject personality into the UI, I created a brand identity. My original vision was to inspire and empower travellers to take that first step towards responsible tourism. I wanted the brand to convey a natural sense of adventure, excitement, hope, responsibility, and boundless curiosity.
With the concept and key user demographic in mind, I pulled inspirational images that reflect the identity. I further developed a colour palette, sourced a relevant typography pairing and created a complete design system. These elements acted as the guide for the entire UI process.
The main difficulty I encountered during this process was creating an interface that wasn't overwhelming with colour, is aesthetically-pleasing, and retains accessibility. After what seemed like the millionth iteration, what worked best for the visual identity was working with light neutrals as a base and injecting small doses of colour within similar tones to help hit the mark. Colours were also tested to ensure they met the WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines for accessibility.
For the logo and app name, I tested a few options and went with “unearth” as it hints at exploration and discovery without being too direct. The word “earth” also feels grounded in nature.
I iterated various wordmark concepts to come up with a logo. As the target demographic are millennials or younger, I strived to achieve something that is modern and familiar so I referenced existing social media apps. With the way the “u” and “n” overlaps, it signifies an exhilarating and continuous journey.
Through the process of ceaseless iteration with usability as the main focus, and after extensive experimentation with colour injection to bring the palette to life, I present to you the high-fidelity solution -
The sustainable travel app that curates experiences, educates and tracks your carbon footprint to help you travel guilt-free.
So for the next part of the journey, I encountered the big question: "How are we going to market and convey the value of this app to the masses?" The best products in the world would not survive without a proper marketing strategy.
I proceeded with developing a responsive marketing website and mobile version that focused on building a strong value proposition. The overall tone and narrative is meant to be conveyed in a casual yet professional manner fit for the target market. I gathered feedback after multiple iterations to ensure that the following goals were communicated.
Convey a clear message of why sustainable travel is needed, and how the app is able to assist the user in solving the problem
Explain key aspects of the app and briefly walkthrough features like onboarding, curated experiences, and carbon tracking through gamification
Provide potential users with peace of mind in knowing they are downloading a good app through established partnerships and testimonials
I considered further avenues and platforms to expand our reach. Since our persona would always be on the go, she'll need a device that is lightweight, responsive and easy to carry. Tanya would want to track the journey to her selected destination, her carbon footprint progress, and also see any accomplishments as she achieves them. I decided to go with the Apple Watch to make this a reality.
People are now more excited than ever to travel after having been in lockdown for a couple years. As the climate crisis is only set to escalate in the coming years, I see my app holding a place within the tourism industry to generate awareness and educate the public. I also see partners within the industry following suit, and offering more sustainable features to their customers to further support the conversation.
If the app could be properly scaled with adequate financing, partnerships and outreach, people may use the app not only when they travel, but also locally, to discover sustainable experiences within their community. I believe people might find the gamified features engaging and motivational for daily use.
IMPROVED + EXPANDED FEATURES
There is so much room to further explore features within the app. Through the interviews, I discovered that finding recycling and having a general sense of a city's sustainability goals is something that is also lacking. It would be great to be able to implement the "City Guide" part of the app to address those needs (a non-functional icon currently exists in the Nav bar).
USABILITY TESTING + FURTHER RESEARCH
Further testing and research will need to be done more extensively as 8 weeks is not enough to develop a completely immaculate solution. Another crucial point to note is that at late stage testing, there was important feedback I did not have enough time to incorporate so it would be great to execute further changes. It would also be helpful to gather more information through additional primary research to improve the solution.
IN THE FACE OF CHALLENGES, BE RESOURCEFUL
School can teach you a lot, but it could only teach you so much within the allotted hours. Through countless hurdles, I've had to be creative, resourceful and scrappy to self-learn and piece together missing parts of the project. My solutions aren't perfect, but it's been so rewarding to watch myself overcome challenge after challenge. It comes easy when you're passionate about solving problems. I even learnt how to build a website in Webflow!
TRUSTING THE NON-LINEAR PROCESS
There is no “perfect” or “final” design or solution as the whole process is a continuous loop. To create a successful product, I have to keep iterating and gathering feedback in order to improve on the solution. Also, there were moments where I really struggled with uncertainties, but having faith in the research, the overall process, as well as having the support of the BrainStation instructors, TA's and my peers really kept me headed towards the right direction.
You've reached the end of this case study - thank you for spending the time. If you found any of it interesting, you might find it even more interesting to connect with me directly so I can walk you through my design process. There are also other insightful case studies listed below that may pique your interest. Have a great day!
