RECYCLE MASTER
Streamlining Recycling and Donations with User-Centered Design
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Recycle master is a mobile application designed to make it simple for users to understand what can and cannot be recycled and how to go about it. It also helps users donate items they no longer need with ease. This documentation explains the design process and decision made.
THE PROBLEM
The United Kingdom has been trying to increase the percentage of waste materials that are being recycled properly but people still get unsure of what can or cannot recycled. Due to this most recyclable materials end up being disposed as general rubbish.
To tackle this, I decided to carry out an indepth research to understand people’s preferences, their habits and proffer a solution which will cause an increase in the amount of materials being recycled properly in the United Kingdom.
FINDINGS
In a bid to understand more about recycling issues in the United kingdom, here are some of my findings;Login: Make login easier and stress free for users
According to the research conducted by Waste and Resources Action Programme in March 2022, there are still opportunities to increase recycling. Just over half (56%) of households dispose of items in the general rubbish that could be collected for recycling from their home.
The UK recycling rate fluctuates between 45% and 47% and has consistently failed to meet even the lower annual recycling target of 50% of household waste set previously under the EU WFD. It was also revealed that densely populated urban boroughs have relatively low recycling rates and poor performance compared to the high recycling rates for county boroughs that are sparsely populated, according to the waste flow data obtained in 2019.
A study of 2,000 adults, conducted by Robinsons, suggests that up to 25% of Brits don’t feel educated enough about what they can and can’t throw away, and the impact this could have on the environment.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The Recycle Master app can be used by people from 16 years old and above, all backgrounds and ethnicities.
USER PERSONAS
User personas were created. Creating personas will help you understand your users’ needs, experiences, behaviours and goals. They guide your ideation processes, and they can help you to achieve the goal of creating a good user experience for your target user group.
USER RESEARCH
User research uses a variety of qualitative and quantitative approaches to understand users' needs, behaviours, experiences, and motivations, in order to better inform the process of solving users' problems. It helps uncover important and useful insights about the user and their needs. I created an online questionnaire in order to understand further, people’s preference, takes and user journey when it comes to recycling. I shared my form with students of University of Brighton (as my study participants).
FORMATIVE TESTING
Out of 10, 9 participants responded that they recycle, while 1 currently don’t but will like to.
7 out of 10 responded that they find it very confusing when selecting what can or cannot be recycled.
8 out of 10 (80%) participants find it difficult to know what recycling symbols on product and its packaging mean.
6 participants made it known that they often are unable to donate their items to people and end of disposing it.
6 participants responded that they tried recycling their materials on their own but often end up needing assistance.
When asked how they source for recycling information, 4 use the internet, 2 ask family and friends,
1 uses recycling websites, while 3 do not use any channel.
10
Participants’ result
USER JOURNEY
The User flow in UX design is the user’s path to finish a specific purpose. It includes each step, from the starting point to the endpoint. In order to make the experience seamless for the users, I ensured that I explored different possibilities and the architecture was rationally designed, and each component's reachability was ensured to carry along all users.
I opted for the open card sorting approach. Sorting cards into sections which makes sense for users is a research tool that helps evaluate or identify how information is arranged, labeled, and organized on a website.
LOW FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
Wireframes use basic visual elements of the user interface design like squares, circles, and lines to represent menus, images, titles, paragraphs, and other interface components. Early in the development process, wireframes are used to define a page's basic structure before visual design and content are added.
STYLE GUIDE
Why use Green? When we see colour green, our eye requires no adjustment. Green is one of those colours that instantly sparks a series of associations, whether you think of recycling, emeralds or the environment, we all have something that we associate with the colour green.It is a symbol of nature, rebirth, life, health and rejuvenation.
PRIMARY FONTS
Inter
Aa
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
0123456789
Why use Inter Font? Inter is a fantastic font for digital projects, e books and web apps. It is highly readable and has a neutral tone perfect for any project.
Primary
HEX: #Linear
Background
HEX: #F7F7F7
Neutral
HEX: #000000
Neutral
HEX: #FFFFFF
HIGH FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
The high fidelity wireframes shows some of the screens made with love
USABILITY TESTING
TASK CHECKLIST
A moderated session with participants from the University of Brighton was done. The observers records as the participants go through the visual designs. The task checklist is what was used to assign tasks assigned to the participants. These tasks are what was considered when filling out the heuristics evaluation form.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Information Hierarchy: One of the primary challenges was how to build the information hierarchy as the system has more than one goal. More usability testing will be required to understand if having the “Donate” feature and “Scan” feature on the same page was the right choice or it should be separated. Putting them on separate pages may make it harder to access. Further iteration would be needed to sort this.
Usability Testing: Engaging larger participants, more research should be carried out.
Gamification: For future development, consideration should be given to rewarding users of the recycling feature with points when they recycle, this might increase participation.