Role: UI/UX Researcher | Designer | Branding + Strategist | UX Writer
View my Case Study
Recycloop is an interactive app designed to help users sort recyclable waste correctly to increase the availability of reusable material for businesses. In three easy steps, users are able to get rewarded for recycling while helping partnered companies reduce their overall footprint.
Timeline: 8 Weeks (Feb - Apr 2022)
Platform: iPhone Apple iOS
Tools: Figma + Invision
Primary + Secondary Research
Persona Development + Experience Mapping
Sketching + Wireframing
User Testing
High Fidelity Prototype
As a strong advocate for the environment, I would often find myself in a difficult position when I am not aware of whether my waste belongs in the recycling bin or not. I began wondering why I don't take the initiative to educate myself on proper recycling techniques. What made this realization worse for me was that it was difficult to let go of my ego as a knowledgable recycler and ask others for advice. I felt ashamed that I was not as knowledgable as I thought I was and I was too embarrassed to seek help. After doing some research, I learned that I am not alone and it is actually a common problem among millennials.
Using a human-centered approach, I began to explore how I might design a solution.
Out of almost 3 million tonnes of recycled products each year...
86% end up in landfills
4% is incinerated
1% ends up in the environment
tonnes of waste material is diverted away from disposal through recycling and composting.
dollars worth of the global recycling industry employs more than 1.5 million people.
tonnes of e-waste is thrown away anually, which contains almost 17 tonnes of gold.
is the amount of space saved by recycling one tonne of cardboard.
trees can be saved if one roll of fiber paper towels is replaced with 100% recycled ones.
- Klean Industries
To solidify my problem space, I conducted user testing interviews. After consolidating my findings, I established a few key themes.
Focusing on human-centered thinking throughout the process, I completed an empathy map to identify pain points, frustration, motivations, behaviours, and goals of my ideal recycler. By combining my findings from the empathy map with my research, I was able to create my persona, Lily Jackson.
Keeping the goals and needs of Lily in mind, I developed a set of user stories under 4 epics to help me decide how to create a solution that will be of value to my target audience. In order to create a minimum viable product, I reflected on Lily’s main pain points and focused on the following core epic: Connect to a recycler.
As a recycler, I want to be able to reduce the amount of waste that I have to deal with so that there are less decisions that I have to make on a daily basis.
As a recycler, I want to spread the urgency of recycling to as many people as possible so that a bigger difference can be made.
As a recycler, I want to be able to compare my recycling statistics with people I know so that there is added motivation to recycle.
As a recycler, I want to be able to see the most commonly recycled items in my community so that I can find inspiration for my shopping list.
As a recycler, I want to be rewarded for recycling properly so that I am motivated to recycle.
As a recycler, I want to know what companies support recycling so that I can adjust my shopping preferences accordingly.
As a recycler, I want to be able to see where pro-recycling companies are located near me so that I can access them easily.
As a recycler, I want to know about products that have recyclable alternatives so that I can adjust my shopping list accordingly.
As a recycler, I want to learn more about recycling so that I can be confident in recycling correctly.
As a recycler, I want to be reminded of the negative impacts of not recycling so that I am more mindful of my actions.
As a recycler, I want to be aware of the positive impacts of recycling so that I feel like I am helping a larger purpose.
As a recycler, I want to be up to date on updates in the recycling world so that I can adjust my recycling habits accordingly.
As a recycler, I want to take a picture of an item so that I can quickly receive feedback on whether it can be recycled when I am in a rush.
As a recycler, I want to scan items so that I can conveniently get info on products without having to type.
As a recycler, I want to be reminded on what is recyclable and what is not so that I can quickly and efficiently make a decision when throwing something out.
Once I was satisfied with my sketched out design, I began creating my low-fidelity digital wireframes, which is essentially the foundation of the MVP
Once I figured out how my solution would look, I began to curate colours, moods, and ideas for my brand development.
During the brand development process I looked at various shades of green since this colour is what is most often correlated with recycling and the environment. The colour green also suggests a sense of balance and calm as well as a connection to nature, which is the goal of my app. I would like to encourge people to want to find a balance between their consumption and their impact on the environment.
Once I decided on a colour palette, I went on to create my wordmark, which was centered around the word loop to signify that when materials get looped back into production, it saves the cost of producing new material and gives the recycled waste a new purpose.
I then explored colour application and defined specific colour treatments for the app to bring Recycloop to life.
After completing the sketches, low fidelity prototype, and user testing, I created my high fidelity prototype using the design prioritization matrix, giving the most importance to changes that were high impact and reasonable effort. In my high fidelity prototype, I was able to inject my brand colours and use consistent type fonts and sizes throughout my prototype, along with the rest of the design process.
While wireframing, I was unsure of my task flow, but as a I continued to develop my design, I ended up satisfied with my final product.Click below to view my high-fidelity prototype!
To make the app more accessible, I decided to design it for the tablet, more specifically, the iPad, since my designing platform is for iOS.
In order to be able to bring my product to market, I designed a responsive marketing website with mobile and desktop screens.
I believe that Recycloop will create a significant and lasting impact. My design has the capability of reducing the amount of waste ending up in landfills and the environment, increasing the amount of recyclable materials readily available for larger companies to use, creating more jobs, and most importantly, shifting the habit of recycling so that the recycler is more conscious of their decisions which in turn encourages the people around them to be more aware of the positive impact recycling can cause.
Current cultural habits around recycling are that it is a very obvious and easy decision-making process. While this is true when done correctly, the impact of recycling incorrectly causes more harm than good. In western countries especially, the access to plastic has increased drastically. In order to change the habit of improper recycling, young millennials must learn how to implement proper recycling habits into their everyday life. By sharing information and educating others, eventually it will become common practice to recycle correctly.
An alien would have to learn that humans have difficulty sorting out their garbage. They must also be aware of the fact that if their recycling habits don't change for the better, the Earth will continue to go through the global warming crisis. So when they go to the store, they must make sure to minimize the garbage that they are bringing, and if they are to buy anything recyclable, it can be repurposed by disposing of it in the bin.
Social norms that could change in the future, regarding recycling and minimizing waste, is targeting the packaging used at fast food chains and restaurants so that single use plastic is slowly phased out and "Bring your own cup" or "Bring your own cutlery" becomes common practice.
There were 3 key learnings that I took away from this journey.
You can never do enough research. As I continued to design my solution, I came accross a new fact every day that helped me gain more insight on my problem space. Learning new things throughout the process of designing made the journey more fun and compelling.
Practise makes perfect. Over the past 8 weeks, I have made mistakes in various phases of the development process, but by acknowledging and learning from them, I realized that the more effort I put into challenging myself with design, the more I get to learn from it.
Trust the process. At first, I would have a lot of doubts about my design solution, but I continued to trust myself and my abilities. As I continued through development, my ideas become more clear and I began to feel more confident in my hypothesis statement, knowing that my design could leave a lasting impact for the future of recycling.
I'm extermely proud of my finished product and the work that I've done to get here. Yet, there is still potential for growth.
Conducting another round of user testing would allow me to implement more changes that I would only be able to realize when testing for my high-fidelity prototype.
Developing designs for all application channels will allow my product to be more accessible to the public. Designing for the apple watch will allow people to use the app on the go, while designing a voice command system will allow people to use the app while driving. Larger screen sizes will also attract the older demographic.
Partnering with stores and recycling plants would be the final and most crucial step as the product would not work without them. These companies would also provide resources for future learning and growth of the product.
- Robert Swan