Gaia Norway

An educational portable digital solution able to rise awareness about environmental problems in Norway.

UX / UI Design | Native Mobile App | Low Fidelity Wireframe

About the Project & the Goal

The goal of this UX case study was the design of a digital,portable smart solution that could educate, increase awareness, and guide people in Norway on the importance of nature conservation and wildlife;an essential element for the survival of our ecosystem , demanding protection and safeguard consciously.

What I Did

My Tools

Project Type

A student project for my UX Design course at Noroff Institute of Technology and Digital Media.

Project Time

Duration

UX Team

My Role

Nov.- Dec. 2022

4 Weeks

Alex Catania

Jovana S.Mitrovic

UX / UI Designer

Desktop PC & Tablet
Whiteboard & sticky notes
Pen & paper
Figma
FigJam
Adobe Photoshop
Maze
Google Apps
Miro
Canva

Co-work on the Design Thinking process
Project plan and timeline
Literature reviews
Affinity mapping
Point of View method
Problem Statement / Vision Statement
How Might We (HMW) method
User Scenario
Empathy map
Brainstorming
Low fidelity wireframe sketches
Content audit
Task flows
Usability testing plan

Project Summary

This project is about the design of a native mobile app called Gaia Norway specially designed to raise awareness and educate people in Norway about the environmental , wildlife problems and daily threats on our ecosystem.

The goal was to apply the UX knowledge, concepts and techniques available in our team, to come up with an innovative solution able to possibly solve the target user's problems, by improving the user's knowledge and awareness about wildlife and the local environment in Norway.

The results were materialized into designing an application that first of all could solve the target user problems, with an educational informative solution on-the go.. A solution able to offer the users an ensemble of functionalities for the development of ecological thinking and individual action through daily activities for the environment safeguard.

The Challenge / Problem

After conducting attentive research we found out that this target user group faced some issues as the following :

Users felt concerned about vital problems like the climate change, endangered species and the threats against the environment.
Users felt often guilty for not taking enough action and contribution to raise awareness about the ecosystem problems.
Users felt frustrated for the lack of easy accessible information related the environment and wildlife conservation.
Users would like to get possible educational programs online and get more motivated to change their lifestyle for a sustainable mindset.
Younger users should be more aware of the environment and take individual action also by sharing information e.g. through social media.

Our plan and idea was to design a digital solution, a tailored portable application able to inform and educate people of all ages in Norway about the environment, the local wildlife, the related problems, dangers and through the use of this solution get motivated,rise awareness about nature conservation.

A smart , free of charge,on-the go user friendly digital tool offering users also the chance to share and influence others with a more sustainable lifestyle.

The Solution

The Process

Design Thinking is not a linear process but for the purpose of this ux case study , and to describe the overall work done,during different steps, we decided to follow a linear structure through the sequential five phases:

Since i had the responsibility to create a general project plan structure, the first step was to establish visually a timeline as a guideline to follow and refer during the whole project.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Project Timeline

Empathise . Define . Ideate . Prototype . Test

Survey

To understand the user's context, their experiences, frustrations, goals and motivations, we decided to start collecting relevant data through research methods able to create a stable foundation for the rest of the deign process stages.

Through research methods as literature reviews, survey and competitive analysis, we collected easily qualitative and quantitative data.

By conducting literature reviews, we found out more about wildlife, endangered animals,plants and areas, climate change and over-population.

About endangered animals ,we have learned that rising temperatures lower many species survival rates due to changes that lead to less food, less reproduction, and interfering with the environment for native wildlife.

Wildlife and ecosystems seemed to be affected by factors as:

• changing habitat ranges

• climate

• animals shaping their own conservation outcomes

• changes in number of species and habitats

• ecosystem restoration in Norway

Understanding the User . Research

We also created a qualitative/quantitative survey with a disclaimer for over 35 participants and the most relevant results were:

54% of participants thought that more than 250 species died every day.

97,15 believed that there was not enough awareness about endangered species.
47,7% were very concerned about animal extinction.
94,4% thought that priorities would change if they had more information about this topic.
82,9% got the information via online platforms.
65,7% never donated to a conservation charity.

When asked about the leading cause of extinction,

25,7% of participants believed that the reason was human overpopulation.

While collecting data we took a break to reflect for a moment on what we had in our hands, considering the importance of how people in general, of all ages can get triggered by their introspective motivation and environmental awareness through:

A correct information.
Knowledge, direct personal participation.
School programs.
Online, outdoor activities
Social media interaction.

Competitive Analysis

We collected information about four competitors in order to define the basic features of our design solution through a competitive analysis and using the SWOT technique.

What did we find out?

The competitors featured educational purposes
They were both available for IOS and Android
Not all the features and services offered were for free
Some competitor apps focused only on the environment while others on the wildlife and endangered species exclusively.
Just one competitor was also available for children under 13 yrs old ans was mainly focused on plants.
Just one app had an evident purpose to rise awareness but only about the climate change.

To sum up the learning from engagements with the people involved in our research , we used an empathy map together with an affinity map to be able to visualize and analyse data properly.

Empathy Map

Affinity Map

Then using an affinity map we began to gather and group the data, notes from the research process and then we arranged them into clusters based on the subject and the meaning we got from them.

In a second step ,to get a deeper insight and understanding,

we sat down to analyse and synthesize the data grouped into clusters and themes.

Reflections

Persona

With the purpose of representing the characteristics of a norwegian student, we defined a primary persona.

This persona is busy with many things, i.e. studying, working, and hanging out with friends.

Hilde, our hypothetical user, is interested in:

Learning more about facts regarding wildlife in Norway and climate change
Would like to contribute in raising awareness about the changes that have happened to our planet.
Gain some knowledge about local changes.
How to contribute and engage in activism and discussions.

How Might We?

To help us to ideate a solution for a defined problem statement we adopted the HMW technique , framing a series of questions.

How might we offer Norwegian people an user-friendly and portable solution able to include all the available and up to date information about the environmental problems and the endangered species in Norway?
How might we motivate the users to get interested, to download,use our product and implement it in their daily routines?
How might we help the users to achieve their goal?
How might we consider the idea of designing and developing a digital mobile application?
How might we ensure that the user will be motivated enough to understand the purpose of our solution?
How might we support the idea of a good user experience in our product?
How might we improve the design layout, the content and the functionality to get our product more competitive and convenient for the user?
How might we increase the user’s awareness on the importance of the preservation, conservation and protection of the environment and the endangered species?
How might we include the best educational content in a user friendly and smart mobile application for all types of users?
How might we create a solution able to motivate the users in sharing with others their knowledge gained through our product solution?
How might we ensure to be able to create a very competitive product, keeping it free of charge for the users?

At this stage we brainstormed ideas using a technique called ‘Crazy 8’ and came up with 8 ideas in eight minutes.

After that, we confronted our solutions against the problems we identified and picked up the top potential ones that could solve the major problems in a simple, functional and aesthetic way.

Ideation Workshop

Through the process of ideation , we soon developed a better understanding of the problem landscape and with the use of ideation methods as storyboarding, mind mapping and brainstorming, we could face up some solutions to the user's problem.

These techniques helped us to connect ideas we had in mind, and then to connect them and get a clearer picture of the relation between these ideas.

Mind Map

We used the Mind mapping technique to generate, visualize and organize ideas by association.

By starting from the middle of the diagram with a central theme/main idea and working outward from that point to all directions it was easy to create a growing diagram composed by keywords, phrases,concepts, facts and figures.

Brainstorming

Sketching Low Fidelity Wireframes

I began sketching some quick raw ideas about how i imagined the overall layout to be structured as a starting point towards the next step of the design process.

My early sketches featured the idea that the app could be used by children as well, so i thought about security and the implementation of a parental control functionality in the design.

Other interesting functionality would include a navigation with the tracking of different sources as water consume, Co2, recycling,waste and so on.

I wanted also the user to be able to get access to environmental articles and eventually the possibility to donate money i.e. to conservation organizations or sign a specific petition on topic.

UX Flow

We created a user flow to indicate every step taken by the user required to achieve a number of different goals on the app.

This diagram illustrates basically how the users interact with the product through navigation.

Low Fidelity Wireframe

After careful analysis, we created our solution, reflected in low fidelity wireframes for key pages and connected them illustrating the wireflow.

Our solution named Gaia Norway is a native mobile app designed for norwegian people interested in nature, wildlife and ecology and for those curious to learn more about the topic,i.e. students or children.

Our Solution

Designed to rise awareness about wildlife in Norway and to promote the development of ecological thinking and action through daily activities, Gaia Norway offers a variety of different activities and valuable information regarding endangered species and the impact of climate change on them.

Usability Testing Low Fidelity Wireframe

We conducted a remote and unmoderated usability testing using the online testing platform Maze to identify possible issues with the low fidelity wireframe solution, thus by understanding these problems, our team could come up with improvements before diving into the next steps of the design evolution.

Our usability test goals were summed up as follows:

To test product concept with the target audience
To reveal points of friction and confusing experiences
To identify issues with the low fidelity wireframe solution
To get a better idea of how our solution would be perceived by its test users.

Test Results

After the concluded testing session , we sat down,collected all data and feedbacks gained from the participants and we started the analysis procedure, getting the following final results:

100% of participants were able to successfully complete all tasks.
Misclick rate was 34,2%.
Average duration of completing task was 41,3 sec.
Direct success rate was 12,5%.
Indirect success rate was 6,5%.
2 of 8 participants expected a notification after and action/submission.
6 of 8 participants stated that app was easy to use.
87,5% of participants understood the overall concept of the product.

The Positive

The Negative

100% of participants mentioned they had a really good time using the product.
" Everything looked easy to navigate and with interesting functions to explore further! "
85% of participants enjoyed the concept and the overall experience using the solution.

25% of participants experienced difficulty using this product.
8% of participants couldn't complete tasks required .
" Need for notification that project is created."
Slow onboarding feature for minor aged users
Some functionalities were not understandable enough (project section).

Recommendations & Improvements

Add cross links when browsing the content.
Get navigation visible at all time.
Add additional view for videos (grid view).
Redesign onboarding for different user type.
Think about notification for different tasks.
More intuitive icons.

The collaboration with another team member has been a brilliant and positive working experience , where we shared often convergent but also divergent ideas in a constructive way.

We learned that every designer can enrich his knowledge and skills by applying knowledge of psychology and human behaviour.

Through the design thinking process, we have learned that the user should be considered always at the center of the ux mindset and a good communication with it can be often the secret key to a successful solution or outcome.

This project has been highly motivating for us in the team by providing many different challenges to overcome but encouraging a constant learning curve, knowledge and engaging practical work and skills.

Outcomes & Learning

" Pay attention to what users do, not what they say, designers are not users and users are not designers."

- Jakob Nielsen