SCAD Human Factors class was prompted to create a design solution to a problem using IoT (The Internet of Things.) Over a duration of 8-weeks me and my 2 teammates worked to solve for food waste. Food waste is an ever increasing problem in the US. Despite being a possible solution, composting is often underutilized. How can composting be made more accessible and scalable through IoT?
As UX designer over this 8-week project I delivered the following:
2019 Indigo Design Awards – Bronze in UX, Interface & Navigation Category
To start our secondary research we looked into human composting interactions. What are current methods of composting? What are the pros and cons? What are the constraints? and what services currently exist?
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We also found that some interested in the zero waste movement or those who participate in a government composting program will collect scraps often in a small bin stored in their freezer. We decided to take a look at what the journey of a user would be for these composting methods to highlight what works, what doesn't, and opportunity.
Through more secondary research we also found...
We spent Saturday morning at Savannahs Forsyth Farmers Market to interview restaurant owners, farmers, and individuals (foreign & native.) We discussed food waste problems tangential to composting & waste prevention over dealing with waste to learn the reasons why people don’t compost & reasons people do compost.
We created to validate insights from interviews as well as gain a broader perspective on subject.
The following quote summarizes a key issue… while yes some people are lazy, even those who might be interested seem to be unable to make a choice as an individual.
survey participant
With all of our research in mind, we affinitized and synthetized the information and boiled it all down to 6 key insights that we used as a basis to ideate on our solution.
With our key insights in mind we created the personas and identified pain points in their user journeys that we could design for...
With the insights, research, and our other tools backing us up, we returned to the white board to answer this question... How might we incentivize, simplify, and educate individuals on composting by harnessing the power of IOT technology?
Our strongest concept was a platform that leveraged, integrated and enhanced existing partial solutions while also addressing missing gaps of the process.
User Testing Feedback
Our purpose is to utilize the power of connection to work together to solve a problem we face daily, food waste.
We connect the average food consumer to those with the recourses to compost, to the shelter in need, the community garden which lacks the space and resources to compost or maybe the gardening mom looking for some extra nutritious growth… In return the average consumer can now earn a profit, gain some insight and spark positive change.
Smart Bin Adapter
Compost Sensor
Smart Vehicle Sensor
Cost Coverage
First Smart Bin Adapter is free Compost & Truck Sensors are soldEnergy offset generated by compost is sold (we make a %)Compost partner sales of compost (we make a %)
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