Zero: a UX journey to waste-free living
A few months ago, I shadowed a few people at my local Whole Foods and asked them to tell me about how they’re shopping and what motivates them to go to a certain store and purchase certain items.
While each participant shared a similar goal of purchasing healthy, sustainable foods such as organic items, their approaches to doing so and their perspectives on changes were each quite different.
I was inspired by these people’s purchasing habits at the grocery store, as they were interested in changing what they buy for personal health and the environment, but didn’t feel informed enough to do so on a constant basis.
After several more rounds of needfinding and ideation, I arrived at my point of view: consumers should not have to guess about their choices, or feel like they care about their health or the planet but don’t know what to do about it.
When empowered with information they care about, consumers can make choices that are in line with their values.
This perspective became my guide for the rest of the design process in developing Zero, an app for green living. I knew from the beginning of the prototyping phase that I wanted to design an app that showcased zero-waste, plastic-free products and solutions for everyday life.
I learned from my research that consumers believe that green living is time consuming or inconvenient, even if they identify with the fact that tons of products are wasteful. Consumers need a way to learn feasible ways to change their habits despite very busy lives, and understand why their choices matter.
By presenting sustainable products and solutions in a clean and simple interface, the user’s focus is on the products themselves. The beautiful photography is engaging, and encourages users to browse the app longer and discover more inspiring products. Users can either search for a wasteful product they want to replace, like plastic wrap, or browse products by category, like kitchen and household.
A/B testing provided interesting insight about human behaviors, the first one being that users do not like to read text on apps, but want to hit the ground running and learn by doing. Users are also most attracted to photos, and any feature or interaction that is based primarily on photos will be most useful. I used this and other data gathered during user testing to evolve my design.
As Zero moves toward the development phase, I’m excited about the prospect of the app making an impact on the amount of waste that is generated on a daily basis around the world. I believe consumers are ready to be a part of the change. Zero is just the beginning!
If you’d like to be an early tester for Zero, check out the live interactive prototype below and leave a comment with your feedback!