Min/
Minimize consumer waste
/ by adding value to items
“Sharing is the new owning”
An application prototype that promotes sharing practice within close community. In addition, a physical hardware solution was developed that supports this sharing concept by allowing users to place items they no longer want within a box and share a story/reason they are getting rid of it to the next person who picks it up. This allows users to track item history and give everyday objects more value and promote sustainable living.
Key skills used:
UX, UI, Prototyping, Research, Interaction, Coding,
Data visualisation, Marketing
UX & UI
An application prototype has been developed using Adobe XD to create a digital platform where this concept can live.
This prototype has had countless number of revisions starting at low fidelity where it was designed on paper, all the way up to high fidelity, where user testing was key at optimising the experience further and removing unnecessary features that made the main purpose of the application clunky.
A/B testing was instrumental in creating a better visual and brand identity by leaving some choices up to the users.
A link to the prototype is available upon request.
Physical sharing platform
A hardware prototype was developed to aid the idea of a sharing community, by allowing the users to physically interact with the service, which adds another dimension to how they can exchange items and share valuable stories.
The box acts as a storage device for the items the users donate and their history, by allowing the previous owners to express the sentimental value of the items and how they have affected them. This is achieved through a short audio recording that is activated using a pressure sensor inside the box. This provides closure for the previous owner and gives the new one a bit of a legacy for the items, which would hopefully entice them to take better care of them.
Electronics
The box prototype consists of 2 Arduino's that are connected through serial communication in order to run all the components without running into issues.
The full documentation will be soon available on Github. The image of the Fritzing breadboard schematic shows all the individual components and allows others to make it too. A better alternative to using 2 Arduino's would have been a raspberry pi 3, which could be improved on future iterations.
Data visualisation
The diagram demonstrates the survey responses gathered on users personal awareness about consumption habits and space. The purpose of this data is to evidence the growing issue of clutter and how the throwaway mentality in our society is damaging the environment and communal well being.
This concept is aimed towards the reduction of waste and being able to gather item history as well as statistics on user behaviour, to help limit future consumption by getting a better understanding of how we both dispose of things and how we can prevent and optimise our social systems to adopt healthier lifestyles, particularly in metropolitan areas where sense of community is lost.
Material things should be used to unite people, not spread them apart. With the added benefit of reducing our waste and living a minimalistic lifestyle, we approach a new era where people will once again have to learn to communicate, with changes to how we live and work in sight. Universal basic income (UBI) is becoming a realistic possibility and could mark a big change in how we live in western countries and new consumption strategies will have to be put in place to reduce mass consumerism.