Beeco
Mobile App 2019
Partnership project with R/GA
Empower Gen Z college students to be more green with universities' resources
Role
User Research, Research Analysis, Wireframing,
Visual Design, Prototyping
TEAM
Liz Wang, Xiaofang Fan
TIMELINE
September - December 2019
ADVISORS
Zoë Hoffman, Marcela Madera (R/GA)
Criswell Lappin, Roger Mader
01 The Context
GenZ is more concerned about climate change – and its direct impact on their lives – than any generation in history.
1. According to a major new survey of young people, 41% of Gen Z respondents cited global warming as the most important issue facing the world.
Source: Amnesty International
2. Thousands of students joined Climate Strike to demand action on the global climate crisis on September 20, 2019 in New York City.
Source: Global Climate Strike
3. Greta Thunberg becomes the Youngest TIME Person of the Year Ever.
Source: TIME
02 The Challenge (from R/GA)
As Gen Z enter college age, universities are feeling the pressure to take a stand on environmental issues or risk losing students to those that do.
How might a university design a differentiating college experience that enables students to participate in the green economy as part of their education?
03 Discovery
Schools‘ Resources Research: mostly not accessible
To better understand the current situations of university’s sustainability progress, We researched and analyzed sustainability related resources of 6 universities.
We found that most of the resources focused on sustainability are out of reach and require more effort for average students to find and use.
School Resources Categorization
The average college student is only using a small portion of their university’s infrastructure resources
User Interviews
According to R/GA advisors' suggestions, We interviewed 8 different Gen Z college students in order to know their opinions on climate change and collect qualitative information about their daily life in college.
Interview Findings：
#1 The majority of Gen Z students we interviewed found climate change overwhelming and stressful.
#2 Many interviewees who are interested in taking action don’t know where to start and how to.
#3 Students find being green inconvenient and not willing to make big sacrifices.
#4 Most students think it is hard for them to take action because they are not clear about the effect of actions.
04 Analysis
To scale down the range of our target users and be focused, we separated students in different groups based on their current activity level on climate action. Then we mapped them with different matrixs based on influence, stress, and interest in climate change.
Empathy map analysis &
User grouping
4 TARGET GROUPS & THEIR CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES
Key findings in matrix map analysis :
- Active students influence people around them to become more green.
- Students who take more action feel less stressful.
- Students who take more action feel less stressful.
05 Define
target user : the potential activists
We finally chose potential activists as our target users because:
1. They are interested and understand the importance of climate action
2. They are currently not utilizing universities’ resources as much as the Influencers to help them participate
3. The solution could scale to other groups by solving other users' needs or through Potential Activists’ influence
06 Ideation
Brainstormed the experience
We brainstormed different design solutions that not only guide them to be more green but also fit their school-life behaviors.
Storyboard
INformation architecture & wireframe
07 User Testing
After finished the Lo-Fi prototype, We tested this idea to Eco-reps of Columbia University who is a student organization that promote sustainable behavior to students and implement green initiatives on Columbia’s campus.
We not only got valuable feedback on the design solution but also learned a lot about their challenges in promoting sustainability to students.
08 Iteration & Final Design
Discover Challenges
- Find the green challenges that fit different students' interests and schedules.
- Add challenges to challenges list.
- Check the information on the challenges to know how big the impact can be when finished.
Taking actions
- Get helpful notifications for impending challenges.
- Show the code on the app to record and get eco-points when completing challenges.
- Unlocked eco-rewards when hit certain eco-points milestones.
Monitor Progresses
- Track individual students' sustainability progress and impact on the environment.
- Check and supervize the progress of school's sustainability plan
09 Concept Video