TURNING SUSTAINABLE INTENTIONS INTO ACTIONS
“Companies are designing for it, consumers want it, and the planet needs it.”
Context
COVID-19 has showed the world that crisis can happen at any time and people should be ready for the consequences. They should adopt the change and can prepare for the next crisis by imagining the possibilities. India is dealing with environmental issues and it will see more of it.
ROLE
UX/UI Designer
Mobile Designer
TEAM MEMBERS
Individual
TOOLS
Figma
The Challenge
The challenge is to help India save from the future environmental crisis
Approach
I started with secondary research on the topic
Secondary Research - India and Environment
India is dealing with serious environmental issues from water to air and waste management. According to economic times India has lost 2400 lives due to natural disaster and climate change. There are other factors too who plays major role in environment. It is said that 42 Indian rivers are having toxic materials and are more polluted. By looking at this, it seems like India might have huge environmental crisis in nearer future.
EMPATHIZE
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India comes on 2nd place when it comes to internet usage.
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According to Economic times the Indian e-retail will have nearly 300-350 million shoppers in coming 5 years due to increasing number of internet users and Digital India campaign.
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Amazon India said that more than 100 million people purchased grocery/essential items from amazon during lockdown.
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E-commerce has provided platform to all the kinaras, local shops, artisans of India.
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After COVID-19, it has seen huge growth in online shopping. These data reveals that in future India will see massive online customers and e-commerce will be the top trend.
As E-commerce has massive customers and bright future, it has the power to change the world. It can create differences in people’s life. The one way where E-commerce can help the India is by supporting sustainable products.
I was looking for answers of following questions
Insights from secondary research
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Consumers want to buy sustainable products but they don’t know where to find
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People don’t understand the materials which are used to make products
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Customers want to know what kind of changes they can create in the world
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Understanding of sustainability seems to be more in GEN Y and Gen Z. Gen X are not fully aware of it. Millennials are more likely to up for sustainable products
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E-commerce consumers feel that green products are less effective than traditional ones.
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They also feel that products are more expensive
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Consumers have less knowledge about green products
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The marketing of brand is quite not well rolled out.
DEFINE
Project Goal
The goal is to take advantage of E-commerce and create a solution that would motivate people to purchase sustainable products from E-commerce to save the world from the future environment crisis. Also help them to learn about the environment and better sustainable living.
Primary Research
To understand user’s thought about sustainability I took 5 user interviews. Check out questionnaire from here.
I found 3 types of users:
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Often buy online
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Rarely buy online
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Offline and online shopping ratio is equal
User Persona
Insights from Primary research
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People want to buy sustainable products
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They neetd proper knowledge about them. Want to see how the traditional/alternative is more harmful
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Unsure how to go about finding more information
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They will only buy if the prices are not high compare to traditional products
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They are only aware of one/two brands who sells eco-friendly products where in reality there are thousands of brands.
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They usually don’t find sustainable products online.
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Sustainable products are less likely to be seen, heard and purchased
IDEATE
According to both primary and secondary insights these are the common pain points I found out
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Lack of awareness about sustainability and environment issues
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People don’t know where to buy sustainable products and ended up purchasing what comes first to them
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Sustainable products are less likely to be seen, heard and purchased
The research findings helped me to define design goals to maintain a balance between user, business and technical goals.
constrain: E-commerce can not be biased and can not force users to buy only sustainable products as it seems like bias towards other brands. However it can spread awareness and can help those people who are into sustainable living.
DEFINE
How might we? I used this design research method to convert the above design goals into solution. I have taken Amazon app for experimenting the solution.
I also did mind-mapping to generate new ideas.
DESIGN
Wireframes and Prototypes
It is very important to know that how people’s small actions, when combined together can make a huge difference on environment.
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Spread awareness about sustainability and environment issues
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This feature satisfies User goals of the project
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People want to buy sustainable products but often they misunderstood the concept.
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They need constant awareness about environment and how important it is to save the future of environment
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To motivate them this card helps them to know what other people have done and how they are contributing to the environment
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This feature satisfies business goals of the project
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To keep the motivation alive this discount coupons helps them to purchase more environmentally products every time they purchase.
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GoGreen Points: GoGreen points are given to those who take step ahead and purchase environment friendly products.
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It’s the best practice of buying products
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People get a chance to be feature on app by purchasing the highest number of eco friendly products. The rank will be decided by their GoGreen points
Awareness about mindful consumption
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An icon to identify environment friendly product and user can add this product in special cart
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It awares users that this product is unique
Keep users informed
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After each purchase the user will informed that they have took a step to save environment and which is the best way to encourage them