Creating Awareness about Water Scarcity
Solution
Climate is changing, and drought and a growing population cause increased pressure on the world's fresh water. This is no longer only an issue in developing countries – there's currently a critical water shortage in Oslo, where the citizens have recently been asked to use less water. Our task is to develop a digital solution that can help people learn more about water conservation and reduce water use on a local level. Through the design thinking process, we will discover a way of reaching out to Oslo's inhabitants and making them more aware of their water behaviors. Based on research, we gained valuable insight, and our focus will be to make citizens aware and more conscious of what actions they can take to reduce their water consumption and their level of impact. Norwegians are over-consumers of water. However, they are also willing to change their habits as long as they know what they can do. We must help citizens understand what impact they can have and what steps they can take to affect the current water situation positively.
We must raise awareness, change habits and consumer patterns to solve the problem.
My roles
My role as a UX designer is to collaborate well, be involved and supportive, take responsibility for the tasks that are my responsibility, and think of user-centered design throughout the design thinking process.
Other responsibilities are:
-Researching
-Problem-solving
-Ideation
-Data analysis
-Defining
-Personas
-User scenario
-Brainstorming
-Mind mapping
-Information Architecture
-User flow
-Wireframing
-Wireflow
-Usability test
Timeline
Mai 2022 - September 2022
Tools
-Figma
-FigJam
-Airtable
-Google collaboration tools
Problem statement
Young Norwegians are aware of the fresh-water crisis but are not motivated enough to reduce their own water waste. If we find a way to engage them and give them the information they need, they can get control of their water consumption and make a positive impact.
Design process
Empathise
The research plan and timeline shown here contains only the main points to give an overview of the process.
Research Goal
Understand Oslo’s residents water usage habits and develop a foundation for a concept that can raise awareness on waste and scarcity of water.
Our research questions are listed up in a prioritised order.
User Research
Recruitment process
Survey
We used a survey as a primary research method to obtain a quantitative result. This gave us an impression of what the average person knows about water consumption and which age groups know the most or care about the topic. We also used it as a screener to find participants for the interview round.
People between 18 – 70 years responded to our survey, and from the answers we received, it was clear that the diversity is interested in improving habits and knowledge around overconsumption of water.
of all age groups are interested in learning more about water consumption.
Literature review
We used the literature review as a secondary research method as the first step in our research to get more information about existing data and facts on the topic of water consumption and water wastage. With this method, we got a solid foundation to understanding the main problem, the target group and the market we will be operating in.
To understand the topic better, we started with a literature review and we discovered many interesting facts that could be helpful further in collecting research from surveys and interviews.
Interviews
We used the research method interviews as a primary research method because this method can generate authentic and in-depth data that is very applicable for a solution. The interviews were executed with semi-structured questions, that allowed us to change the wording of the questions along the way. We have also focused on open-ended questions, to avoid yes and no answers, with follow-up questions to get more in-depth.
We did an interview script and a participant screening before conducting the interviews. All the participants needed to consent in a form so we could do recordings to review the findings as a thorough
as possible
as possible
Competitive Analysis
We conducted a competitive analysis of the digital water measurementand scarcity market to achieve the following: Identify your business’s strengths and weaknesses, understand your market, spot industry trends, set benchmarks for future growth. By doing multiple competitive analysis methods, we will achieve a higher level of understanding of the industry market.
Definition:
“Identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses relative to those of your own product or service”
Entrepreneur.com
“Identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses relative to those of your own product or service”
Entrepreneur.com
We conducted a competitive analysis of the digital water measurement- and scarcity space to achieve the following:
● Identify your business’s strengths and weaknesses.
● Understand your market.
● Spot industry trends.
● Set benchmarks for future growth.
Collecting the data
As we carried out the research, we collected data in a data collection sheet using Airtable spreadsheet. In the literature review, we collected and entered 20 facts each. During the interview round, we divided our group in two,
We interviewed 6 participants and received a total of 106 responses to the survey. In total, we ended up with 164 facts with all three research methods. To keep collected data in order, we organized it according to research goals and methods, as well as the names of who entered what. Then we turned the facts into insights and conclusions by doing affinity mapping.
Key insights
Define
Personas
After collecting and analysing our research, we established our personas. Early in the research phase, we had a slight suspicion that it would be necessary to use two personas as there was a gap between thoughts, opinions and behaviour between the age groups. Thus we established a primary and a secondary persona.
But first, we started with an empathy map to better understand future users. It became even more apparent after the empathy mapping that establishing two personas would be the right way.
Here are the primary and secondary personas we created when starting the define stage:
Here are the primary and secondary personas we created when starting the define stage:
Primary user scenarios
Secondary user scenario
Problem statement
To decide on the problem statement, we started with a brainstorming session. We used techniques such as The four Ws, The five whys, and Point of View. We used our conclusions from the research to ensure that we were user-centered.
We started with one problem statement befor iterating and ideating on it further.
Problem Statement 1.0:
Young Norwegians are aware of the fresh-water crisis but do not have enough information on how to reduce their own water use. If we help them to gain more knowledge and control of their water consumption, it would make it easier for them to contribute in their everyday life.
How might we...?
We produced 49 HMW questions as a team during the workshop, and since there were so many, we chose to remove someone very similar and then conduct an Affinity Mapping to understand the whole picture. Here, too, we ran a dot voting to jointly decide which questions we thought benefited our personas and fit our problem statement. We ended up with four winners.
Ideate
Workshop
After our session with how might we questions, we started with the next phase - The Ideation Stage. Now we used our research to challenge ourselves to think big and small to solve our problem statement using the HMW questions.
Goal:
Produce at least 20 ideas per ideation technique and agree on 2 – 3 concepts we believe in the most with our users in mind.
Problemstatement 1.2 (Revised)
Young Norwegians are aware of the fresh-water crisis but are not motivated enough to reduce their own water waste. If we find a way to engage them and give them the information they need, they can get control of their water consumption and make a positive impact.
Mind-mapping
We did some mind-mapping to start both divergent and convergent thinking and tried to create new and existing ideas.
Top Idea
The Water Donkey App
– Here to inspire you and your friends to save water!
Water Donkey is a game-style learning tool that challenges the user to gain control of their water consumption. By answering a few questions every week, the user gives the app info so it can extract data on their water consumption. By comparing the gathered data, the users can compete with each other. Through this app, we distribute knowledge in small doses and show the user progress whenever they change their behaviour patterns – all this with a touch of fun to keep them engaged and motivated over time.
Vision Statement
The Water Donkey will help users be more aware of their own water consumption. The app will help the users to get the information they need to gain control and thereby reduce water waste in the household. Gamification of water saving will motivate and engage users in a fun way. This will increase customer satisfaction and help taking the lead market position.
Requirements
We divided all the requirements into data, technical, functional, and contextual requirements. This was an iterative process, and in the beginning, we filled in only what we did know the app needed to have at the time.
Early sketching
Before starting with the information architecture and the user flow, the team sketched out some thoughts on how the app could look and function to get a better feel of it.
Information architecture
Here is the IA we made to organize the content in an effective way.
User flow and Task flow
We created a user Flow and a task flow to illustrate page flow, help plan a site, and improve usability.It is the path a user follows through an application, and it doesn't have to be linear; it can branch out in a non-linear way.
Prototype
Low fidelity wireframes and Wireflows
We used our information architecture, user flow and task flows to point out where to start our wireframe work. It aroused several times under the process that we had to iterate and revised our architecture and flows when making these wireframes.
Usability testing
We conducted a usability test to optimize our digital customer experience. Here are our plan and goal for the test we did on our product.
Overall Usability Testing Goal:
The goal of the usability testing is to validate the app navigation, identify critical usability issues and to see if the solution can meet the target user overall needs.
Tasks
To get reviews from the participants, we planned and made a script we followed throughout the usability test. Also, we recorded it with consent from the users.
Usability testing
We conducted a usability test to optimize our digital customer experience. Here are our plan and goal for the test we did on our product.
Key findings
The goal with the usability test is to validate the app navigation, identify critical usability issues and to see if the solution can meet the target users’ overall needs.
Based upon the conclusions from the research phase, we started screening possible testers that fit our two personas. We had 1 pilot tester, 3 in our main persona-group and 2 in our secondary persona-group. The tests were mostly performed with one note-taker and one facilitator, and then the results were filled into a form. This way, we got an overview of all answers and statistics of both quantitative and qualitative data in one place. In the next step, errors were collected in a table outlining the tasks and their criticality level based on Nielsen/Norman severity scale. To synthesize the data, we used affinity mapping in Figjam to turn our facts into meaningful insights and get an overview of all feedback and see what were actionable. The results from the affinity mapping were analyzed and synthesized into insights that gave actionable results. These results were then used to make design iterations to improve the overall user experience.
Some of the insights from the affinity mapping:
Positive insight:
Most participant felt the task was user friendly and a great addition to the app, although some pointed out it was a little basic. The quiz functionality is useful and an essential part of the app as long as the content is engaging to the user.
Improvement:
The users expected more tailored questions and themes to their everyday life so that the quiz feels more personalized.
Recommendation based on the insight
The quiz functionality should be more tailored to the users to achieve the end goal of improving their water consumption. If the questions build on their interest, they are more likely to continue using the app.
Design iteration
Five of the issues we discovered had a severity of 3 or 4 based on Nielsen/Norman severity scale. These were the ones we decided to iterate on:
● Add a page before the quiz with info about data storage.
● Add a feature to let the users choose what they are interested in.
● Improve and make the “Dashboard” feel less crowded.
● Add a tutorial to guide the user through the “Dashboard”.
● Further develop the gamification by adding personalized fun and interesting “Challenges” and “Quiz”.
● General focus on the visual design and how to appeal to our personas
Ideas and additional features we might add in the next phase might be:
● Add features that interacts with other aspects of the users life such as travel and consumption habits.
● Make the app interact actively with the users, so we keep them engaged over time, with personalized, fun and encouraging comments from the app to the user. (Like the Ruters app that gives the user fun hints on what to wear based on the weather forecast).
Conclusion
The environment is changing, and the warmer climate is a fact. Most people know this problem but need something to inspire them to make these little changes in everyday life to help the environment. It seems like the users like the idea of having challenges in everyday life to be motivated and reminded about water-saving. So, hopefully, For some users, this app will increase their chances of saving water little by little to impact the environment in time.
We worked well as a group through the entire project.
Feel free to view my teammate's portfolio here:
Feel free to view my teammate's portfolio here:
Thank you
for your attention!
