The presented case study features a conceptual project designed exclusively for educational purposes.
An app for monitoring carbon footprint through food choices
My Role
UX designer
Team
I collaborated with four designers in a team of five to conduct the case study.
My contribution
Concept, research and production:
Research on the subject
Interview
User flow
Sketching ideas
Graphical elements
Colour theme
Logo
Mockup
Time frame
February-March 2022
Tools
Miro, Google Docs and Sliders, CorelDraw, Axure
Communication
The case study involved participants located in Sweden and was conducted in Swedish, both during the research and within the design team. Thus, some artefacts presented below are documented in Swedish.
The Brief
Objective
Create a service and a tangible product that effectively demonstrate and communicate environmental effects in a way that is easy to understand and captures users’ attention, making the information relatable and powerful.
Service Requirements
Provide and afford relevant environmental information, making it resonate with users’ values and allowing others to benefit from it.
Use relevant official environmental impact data.
Ensure the service is easy to personalize, making the information relevant and engaging for the user.
Focus on meaningful and reciprocal interactions for various stakeholders.
The technical implementation should be feasible within a few years, though actual implementation is not part of the task.
Product Requirements
Develop a tangible product that complements the service.
The Problem
Environmental impact data is often difficult to understand and fails to engage people on a personal level. There is a need for a service that not only provides relevant environmental information but also presents it in a way that resonates with users’ values, making it easier for others to benefit from this information.
The Solution
Develop a dual-component system and an app that enables users to track their environmental impact using a scanner and self-defined objectives.
Maximize sustainable living with an intelligent pot and an innovative mobile app that facilitates food purchases
A digital service was initiated that helps users understand their carbon footprint with every food purchase and encourages them to make better decisions to reduce their climate impact. The service consists of a digital app and a physical artefact that are linked together.
A physical product is a pot with a plant that interconnected to the app. The product aims to motivate users to make better choices without causing them anxiety but rather by providing reassurance and making a positive, caring impression.
The project targets a specific group of students based on their financial situation and identifies opportunities that can easily be offered to this influential group in society. This group feel a great responsibility when it comes to reducing carbon footprint. We focused on how we can educate people about their climate footprint and encourage them to make better choices without causing shame, guilt, or stress. We also explored ways to make it easier for students to make good choices and take action to reduce their carbon footprint.
My story revolves around the process of conceptualising a mobile app, delving into its different stages and components.
The process
Research on the subject
Deepening in the subjects of sustainability and climate impact
As part of the research process for this project, a thorough investigation was conducted into sustainability work, climate impact, and climate measures. This involved studying articles and research reports from various sources, including statistical authorities, environmental agencies, and independent environmental and nature conservation organizations.
Information was obtained from credible sources such as the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a Swedish association working with nature and environmental issues (Naturskyddsföreningen) and a state administrative authority for food matters (Livsmedelsverket). The insights gained from this study were used to develop interview questions and create context and content for the digital service.
The purpose of this research was to gain a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter and gather inspiration for the development of a future service that provides official information on climate impact.
Findings
Based on research from open sources, I identified areas of our daily lives that have the most impact on the environment. These areas are listed in order of their impact on the climate, with the first having the greatest impact.
1. Travel, transportation and use of fossil fuels
2. Eating habits, consumption of animal products
3. Housing – energy use in our homes
4. Other – refers to goods and services that households use to meet their needs.
Each person in Sweden generates around 9 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per year through consumption. (Naturvårdsverket, u.å).
Household consumption is a major source of emissions, accounting for 59% of the total. This includes transportation, food, and housing as consumption areas.
About one-third of household emissions come from our food choices, according to Livsmedelsverket. By reducing meat consumption, choosing eco-labelled products, and opting for seasonal fruits and vegetables, we can minimize our impact. Being able to say how much animal products you can eat in an average week for you to come under a total climate impact depends on how much you travel and consume in general. Studies suggest that it’s more effective to eat fewer animal products rather than going vegetarian or vegan.
A food calculator was developed by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an environmental and nature conservation organization that estimates the climate impact of your meals. The calculator helps you see if your food choices fall within the planet’s climate limits. Called the “climate budget for food,” this tool calculates the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emissions for each meal, which is approximately 0.5 kg of CO₂e. Additionally, it sets a climate budget of 11 kilograms of CO₂e per week.
Increased global trade between countries affects the climate, with Swedish imports producing a large and growing portion of our total emissions. To reduce our consumption-based emissions, we need to focus on the volume of textiles we consume, including clothing and home textiles. The amount of textiles we buy, where they come from, and how they’re made all impact the environment.
Participatory design: survey, interview, workshop
While developing our concept for future products, we involved external participants to ensure that the end result would be interesting and helpful to people. We conducted an interview and future workshop and created a survey to collect insights and understand users’ motivations and needs.
An individual with technical education and knowledge of sustainable development was interviewed to seek support and ideas for the new service and artefact. The objective of the interview was to gain insight into climate impact and explore the existing technical possibilities.
The primary goal of the survey was to determine the level of interest among students in making more environmentally conscious choices and to identify specific ways in which students would like to make these choices.
The results were intended to guide our ongoing work and give direction to the concept development process.
Findings
Food choice has emerged as the most pressing issue among students. Scientific research identifies eating habits and the consumption of animal products as the second largest impact on climate change. Therefore, our informed decision to focus the service on these areas aligns with both our primary research findings and scientific evidence.
Sketching ideas
Visual design
The graphical interface was developed to improve product presentation and evoke an emotional response from users through visual style, aesthetics, visual language, and tone, thus significantly impacting the user experience.
Gather inspiration for a colour theme
The colour theme selected for the application
I used Adobe Color’s accessibility tool to control a colour theme for the digital service. Adobe follows the recognized standard for digital accessibility as outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). I verified and adjusted the contrast ratio between background colors and text colors, as well as between background colors and icon colors.
Competitor infographic ideas
Some infographics
In line with the selected concept for the physical product, the plant, we continued incorporating nature-based imagery, such as animals, plants, and the sun to illustrate the climate impact concept for our digital product. Here are the specific illustrations we used:
A plant that can either grow or wither, mirroring the actual plant that the user have at home. A circle surrounding the plant indicates that it should be filled to a level where the green color reflects an environmentally friendly food choice, signifying that the plant is thriving as a result.
A sun to establish goals. The sun’s rays represent different categories such as meal preference, budget, time frames, and family size. The sun can be filled with color to indicate progress.
Many users expressed negative feelings about their impact on the climate, feeling anxious and hopeless about the global context. In response, we aimed to develop a service that doesn’t exacerbate these fears but instead evokes gentler emotions through its visual language and tone.
Capture attention with a strong logotype and product name
Elephant + Plant = Eleplant.
The name of the product became Eleplant, which was created by the combination of Elephant and Plant. This name was nominated among five proposed options presented and created by the design team, then the name was selected through the democratic ballot method that received the most votes.
The logo was designed in CorelDraw as a figure mark consisting of two elements: a figure combined with a word. The original idea illustrating carbon emissions through an elephant was discussed to incorporate the elephant image into the logo. The concept was based on research and data from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket), which highlighted that individual’s climate impact is an average of nine tons per person per year, which is comparable to a huge elephant. However, each person can make a difference, even with small actions. The imagery of a small plant growing under the elephant represents the small but impactful contributions each person can make and the responsibility they bear for that contribution.
Prototyping
We conducted an analysis of the information needs and the user interface design for the application. This involved determining how users can navigate through different parts of the application, as well as structuring and visualizing these components. The process was iterative, starting with hand sketches and then progressing to the creation of digital user flows, wireframes, and user cases. Our decisions regarding content, functions, and overall concept were informed by our research.
I designed a high-fidelity mockup of two pages, “Home” and “My Goal” in Axure, to work out the page layout, visual element arrangement, and style. The mockup was used as a reference for creating an interactive (clickable) prototype to test with users.
On the start page, users can see how much of the carbon dioxide target has been used and view statistics for consumption.
Scanner is used to identify the product’s details and offer recommendations for better choices. The user clicks on the centered scanner button to activate the phone’s camera. After scanning, a sample product appears as a button that leads to the product’s individual page, along with a button to show other more environmentally friendly products.
If a user finds it difficult to read the text, they can ask our Eleplant assistant for help and receive a verbal response with the relevant information.
The user sets their own goals based on household size, food preferences, and whether they want to measure their footprint weekly, monthly, or yearly.
A selected goal allows the user to have an overall carbon budget of 11 kg CO2e per week. This is equivalent to the size of a badger (based on WWF’s climate budget).
Learnings
During this project, our team encountered several challenges and learned valuable lessons that required creative problem-solving and collaboration:
Data Accuracy and Relevance: Gathering accurate data on carbon footprints associated with different food choices was challenging. We had to ensure that the information provided in the app was both reliable and relevant to users.
User Engagement: Encouraging users to adopt sustainable practices through the app was another hurdle. We needed to design an engaging interface that motivated users to make eco-friendly decisions without overwhelming them.
Cultural Considerations: Since our case study involved participants in Sweden, we had to consider adapting the app’s content and design to resonate with Swedish users, which was essential.
Technical Implementation: Creating the app was a complex task that demanded technical expertise. One of our main challenges was the shortage of web developers in our team. Consequently, the proposed design is a concept and visual representation that must be developed in collaboration with technical experts to ensure seamless data integration and optimal performance.
Future plans
Test the prototype and iterate again.
Refine the app by balancing our original vision with user suggestions.
Enhance the team with tech experts.
