Overview

Green Cycle was an idea conceived during my class, DES198, Directed GP Study, at UC Davis, focused on entering the Little Bang! Poster Competition, an entrepreneurship competition to promote new venture ideas. For our team, we focused on designing for social good and to create something that addresses at least one of the UN sustainable development goals. After many discussions and iterations, we decided to focus on zero hunger, which eventually turned into focusing on the goals of responsible consumption and production, and sustainable cities and communities.

TEAM:

Jinyoung Yang, Rabida Abduwali, Ke Lin, Professor Jean (Project Mentor)

TOOLS USED:

Figma, Miro, Adobe Illustrator, Zoom

DURATION:

10 weeks (October 2020 - July 2021)

AWARDS:

Best Interdisciplinary Hack for SacHacks III, Finalists for Little Bang! Poster Competition Session 1 & 2

ROLE:

Visual/Brand Design, User Research, UI/UX Design

I. BACKGROUND

Problem

Food waste is usually poorly sorted out and end up in undesirable landfills. In an age where we are more sustainably aware, many are interested in helping the environment. Many find it difficult to implement sustainable acts in their busy lifestyles.

Why zero hunger?

As a college student, many of us look for opportunities where we can purchase groceries at the cheapest price possible, which in most cases is buying them in bulk. However, college students are constantly in a rush and focused on studying and getting to class, which for the most part, does not allow for the time to cook, leading to many of our produce expiring. This leads to an increase in food waste, especially in a college town like Davis, so we wanted to combat that issue.

II. BRAINSTORM

Solving the Problem

After concluding to find a solution to zero hunger, we brainstormed through multiple ideas and questions to narrow down to a specific issue in zero hunger we wanted to address. We began by brain dumping reasons on why zero hunger is an issue leading us to think about who, what, and why the U.S. is facing this issue.

After our brainstorm session, our ideas and solutions were leaning more towards the idea of having a more responsible consumption and production in the U.S. directing to a more sustainable city and community.

Notes from Brainstorm Session

Brainstorming Solutions

Brainstorming HMW Statements

III. RESEARCH

Understanding Users

To understand our customers, we brainstormed users' pains and gains of overbuying their groceries and then having to either thrown them away or compost them and what would relieve their pain and what they would gain.

Surveys

We sent out surveys to better understand our users, where we asked questions such as their age, how often they throw away their groceries and why, and the types of features they would like to see. From the 130 responses we received, a large majority were 18-24 year olds and 80% end up throwing away about 30% of their groceries.
‍
What consumers say...
‍

“Composting is a really good way to help our environment, and I am trying to get into it but haven’t set up a method to do it, or never really thought about it.” - Grad Student
‍

“Composting is something I’ve always wanted to try, but also potentially difficult in apartment living since I don’t know where I’d put or dump it.” - Georgina (Student)
‍

80% end up throwing away about 30% or less of their food every week

84% want to reduce their food waste to save money

87% want to save the environment

Summary of Survey Comments

Competitive Analysis

Our team conducted a competitor analysis to determine the scope of the composting and food sharing industry, helping us gain insight into developing an effective product.

Competitive Analysis Chart

Partnership Interview

Our team was able to interview the Unit Director of the Campus Center for the Environment and the ASUCD Community Garden, both located in Davis. We asked questions to gain insight about how their composting processes function, how their programs run, and if they were interested in a possible collaboration in the future where users could donate their spoiled groceries to which they both agreed. We hoped to start with our local community gardens as a way to build a strong foundation within our own college town and expand from there.

IV. SYNTHESIS

Pain Points

Based on our research findings, we observed and took note of the users’ main concerns. We found two major takeaways to keep in mind when developing our app:
‍
1. Little to no knowledge on composting
‍
2. No time to take action

V. IDEATION

Low-Fidelity Sketches

After compiling our research findings, we discussed the main features we wanted to include in our initial prototype of the app. With the features, we created a user flow to map out the functions.

I roughly sketched out some wireframes for the main screens. We wanted the overall design of the screens to be simple to navigate for users, while also being visually stimulating and fun.

Features and Details

My Low-Fidelity Sketches

Due to time constraints, we jumped straight into high-fidelity prototyping. We created our logo and came up with our brand colors which reflected the greenery of nature and composting and then each of us started making frames from the notes of the content.

Home - Explore & Tips

Explore posts from other users like recipes, gardens, composting ideas, and tips and tricks on how to compost more efficiently and effectively.

Map

View the locations of the community gardens within the area and schedule a time, place, and date for a residential pick-up of compostable waste.

Rewards

Observe your growing tree as you drop off compostable waste. After five full boxes of compostable waste, earn rewards grown from the local community gardens.

VII. REFLECTION

What I Have Learned

Overall, this project was a great experience as I was just starting to explore UI/UX design and it was my first hackathon. This was a wonderful learning experience in learning how a business idea develops. Participating in both the Little Bang! Poster Competition and SacHacks helped me gain confidence as a designer and a deeper understanding of the business and design processes. This project provided me the fulfillment of designing for social good, to face a social issue and solve the problem through design.

Challenges

Starting with a completely blank slate, it was difficult to hone in on one major issue we wanted to address. However, after going through the design thinking process, we were able to slowly narrow down our solution. Another challenge was thinking of our app through a business lens and figuring out the mechanics behind our features.

fiona truong

Green Cycle