Tossit
The Right Way
UI/UX
Tossit is a waste management app to help simplify the process and help save time and efforts by knowing where, what and how to recycle.
Mobile
Research
Project Overview
Not many people are aware on how to recycle properly — lack of knowledge is the biggest barrier in inculcating green habits. Tossit aims to not only educate people on waste management, but also provide a platform that helps how to correctly recycle and simplify the process along with helping them find drop-off locations for donation and deliver helpful tips about green lifestyle.
MY ROLE
TIMELINE
TYPE
User Research
Wireframing
Prototyping
Usability Testing
September 2022 - December 2022
Academic Project
Team of 3
Design Challenge
How might we streamline the decision-making process for recycling, reusing, and donation, while effectively enhancing public awareness and education on proper recycling practices to overcome the lack of knowledge and foster widespread adoption of green habits and sustainable lifestyles?
Design Process
(Click on each stage to navigate through the design process)
User Research
The research goal was to understand people's knowledge and their behavior and attitude towards recycling, food wastage, and waste management. We also aimed to learn what motivates individuals to take part in recycling. Three methodologies were used in this study.
Online Survey
Interviews
Competitive Analysis
Sample Size : 20-30 respondents
Tool : Qualtrics Survey
Sample Size : 5-6 participants
Tools : Recorder, Notepad, Pen
3 Competitors from the same domain
Online Survey
The questionnaire for the survey was created using Qualtrics. It included questions that would help us understand users' behaviors and knowledge regarding recycling, as well as their habits concerning food waste and garbage disposal. Additionally, it aimed to gather insights into users' practices related to reusing items.
This survey was circulated through Whatsapp groups and was deployed for 4 days.
Recruitment Criteria
New York City Residents
People who are motivated to recycle and donate unwanted things
Individuals who believe in generating less waste
Survey Highlights
More Feedback from Participants
Provide more information on what bin is for what, in detail.
Have a detailed description of what can be recycled and what cannot be which can be understood by the public.
Regular pickups, incentives for who recycle and educating everyone on which things go where.
Put up posters on bins, about what can be recycled and what can't.
An app that helps us identify whether an item is recyclable or not.
Interview Insights
The semi-structured interviews were in-person and were recorded with the participant's consent. The recorded audio from the interviews was then transcribed and used as codes to carry out affinity mapping during the ideation process.
Users feel there is a lack of awareness when it comes to the knowledge about materials being recyclable or not.
Users sometimes forget about their garbage days which results in garbage being left out on roads, basements, etc. that can cause pest and rodent infestation.
Users wish to donate items but either don’t know how to, or, don’t trust the organisation enough.
Users need more information on disposal methods of recycling items as the materials sometimes don’t include instruction.
“Missed collection stays on the streets for days and invites rodents”
“If I can’t figure out what’s what it’s better to throw it in trash, than contaminate the recycle bin”
“I need reminders to remind me that today is garbage day”
“If I have to think too much if it’s recyclable or not, I put it into garbage”
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The findings were sorted into 3 categories -
User Behavior, User Needs / Features and User Concerns.
User Behavior
User Concerns
User Needs
Follows the guidelines on the basement door
Superintendent handles taking out the garbage
Recycles once a week
Confused between garbage days
Trash overloads if not taken out on time
Notifications about garbage and recycle days, locality-wise
Distinguish material that is recyclable or not
Stats on how much of their recyclables have been recycled
Donates clothes, electronics and shoes
Uses paper bags to put recyclables
Unaware of correct disposal methods
Not enough information is available about waste management
Resource to guide with the recycle process
AI that identifies recyclable and non recyclable materials
Create something from waste and reuse it
Prioritized User Needs & Features
We prioritized the product features by performing the MoSCoW analysis method.
The feedbacks were clustered into four primary groups: Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, and Will Not Have.
Competitive Analysis
User Personas
After analyzing the available data, we developed two distinct user personas intended to use our product. Despite their differences, both personas share frustrations regarding the proper disposal of waste in their respective residences.
Elisa Wilson, is an native Italian. New to the city of New York she is unaware of the responsibilities that she has towards disposal of waste and is concerned of doing things the wrong way and hampering efforts taken by fellow residents and the council.
Aaron Roberts, a long-time resident of Manhattan, is committed to volunteering and supporting charitable organizations. He also advocates for recycling and the reuse of materials.
Prototyping & Design
Paper Prototypes
To give a visual representation of the app's core concepts, we first sketched out initial versions showcasing how the user interface might operate within our project.
Homepage
Statistics indicating the amount of recycling completed within the user's county.
AI scanner to detect material and suggest disposal way
Suggested method of disposal with upcoming disposal days
Donations Page
Track status of previous donations
List of NGOs and organizations for donating
Food recipes to reuse
leftover food
Recipes Page
Options to add other
available items and quantities
Recipe suggestions related to selected items
Style Guide
High Fidelity Prototype
Onboarding Flow
Introduce the users to the main features of the application
FLOW 1
Scanning Material & Disposal Method
AI scanner to detect material
and suggest disposal way
Suggested method of disposal with upcoming disposal days
FLOW 2
Find Recipes with leftovers
Search and select additional items
Recipes related to the item searched for
FLOW 3
Donations
Track donated items
Find nearby drop-off points
Ongoing donation drives
FLOW 4
Calendar
View upcoming garbage and recycle pick-up days
Get real time updates on pick up
FLOW 5
User Profile
Find bookmarked Articles and Recipes
Usability Study
The study was conducted in-person with five participants in controlled settings at the Pace University Library and Student Lounge. Participants were selected based on their interest in waste management, donating items, and reusing materials. The testing began with the "think out loud" method, where participants were asked to navigate through the application while verbalizing their thoughts. They were then given a set of three tasks to complete.
The test was followed by a set of open ended questions and the participants were further asked to fill out the SUS (System Usability Scale) questionnaire to get quantitative insights.
Tasks
Drop off your books to the nearest NGO.
Find out where and how to dispose of a used takeaway coffee cup.
Look for recipes that use overripe bananas.
Findings and Results
...as someone who takes environmental responsibilities very seriously, I can imagine myself using the app on a daily basis
Problem Areas
The problem areas identified during the test were analysed using design traps and tenets.
Conclusion
Iterations
Adding "Skip" button on onboarding screens
Including a legend under the calendar
Enable direct recipe search without requiring additional selections.
Limitations
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Despite the valuable feedback provided by users during the usability study, certain recommended changes could not be fully implemented due to time constraints. As our semester approached its end, we encountered limitations in allocating sufficient resources to address all user suggestions within the given timeframe.
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One notable challenge we encountered was the difficulty in finding appropriate and intuitive icons for donation and food reuse functionalities. We were unable to identify and recreate icons that effectively conveyed these concepts in a universally recognizable manner.
Thanks for Reading ! ☺️