Conscious Consumer
END-TO-END APP
Discover how your shopping habits affect people, animals, and our planet.
ROLES
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UX Researcher
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UI/UX Designer
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IxD Designer
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Brand Designer
DELIVERABLES
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Full end-to-end prototype
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User interviews
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Competitive analysis
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Persona discovery
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Task and user flows
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Site mapping
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Wireframing and testing
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High-fidelity prototypes
SPECS
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Figma
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Miro
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Whimsical
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Zoom
1. Research
PROJECT BACKGROUND
I am a big believer in voting with my wallet. Over the years, companies are beginning to recognize the push from consumers to adopt socially and environmentally responsible practices. As a consumer, I prefer to purchase from companies that align with my values in regards to human rights, the environment, social justice, community involvement, and animal protection.
With this in mind, I would like to explore ways to make this information easily accessible to all consumers so they can make informed decisions on where they spend their money.
User Research
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
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Understand the target audience's preferences, needs, and pain points when it comes to choosing where to shop.
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Determine the participants’ thoughts on the relationship between where they spend their money and how that affects social and environmental issues.
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Determine the participants' awareness of how to find information about a company’s social and environmental impact.
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Determine the participants’ willingness to change their shopping habits based on their access to companies’ social and environmental impact.
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Determine the specific social and environmental causes that participants’ feel have the most impact on their idea of a sustainable future.
RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS
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12 female, 1 male
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11 married with at least one child
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11 ages 30-45, 2 ages 45-50
3 interviews (Zoom & phone recording)
I set aside 30min to interview each participant. I recorded each session so that I could go back and review body language, etc.
10 completed surveys (google forms)
Survey completions provided a faster way to collect additional data and insights into people's shopping habits and their interest in companies' social and environmental impact.
FINDINGS
Survey results & insights
Top factors when choosing where to shop:
1. Price & Quality
2. Convenience
3. Treatment of employees
4. Social responsibility
5. Environmental responsibility
6. Ethical sourcing
7. Product variety
FINDINGS
Survey results & insights
Top company social & environmental topics:
1. Fair labor
2. Racial, gender, and sexual identity equity
3. Pollution
4. Animal protection
5. Renewable energy usage
FINDINGS
Survey results & insights
In regards to companies’ social and environmental impact:
More than half of respondents sometimes or often actively seek such information.
100% of participants reported they would change their shopping habits based on access to such information.
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Most reported they get their information from word of mouth, indicating limited access to the information.
90% of participants find it moderately to nearly impossible to find the information.
FINDINGS
Competitive Analysis
A competitive analysis was conducted to understand my competitors' strengths and weaknesses, to find a gap in the market, and to help me recognize how I can enhance my business strategy.
FEATURE ANALYSIS
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CONCLUSION
The research interviews, survey, and the competitor analysis revealed key insights as well as features that will give my company a competitive edge.
Provide details about the rating
Provide info on the impact you can make as an ethical consumer
Include a product accreditation program
Add a social media component for members
Develop an app with reliable research
Allow members to donate to the company or other social or environmental causes
Provide info on how to get involved in your community
Persona
Problem
People want easy access to information about companies’ social and environmental impact to help shape their shopping habits but they haven’t found a reliable and easily accessible source.
HMW
How might we make information about a company’s social and environmental impact easily accessible to all consumers so they can make informed decisions on where they spend their money.
2. Information Architecture
3. Interaction Design (IxD)
IxD Deliverables
Task flows
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User flows
Wireframes
Wireframes
LOW FIDELITY
HIGH FIDELITY
4. Branding & Visual Design
5. Prototyping & Usability Testing
Usability Testing
I took the feedback from the usability testing and organized it into a feedback grid and then used a prioritization matrix to determine what changes should be made in order to stay on target with my MVP.
The following frequent and severe patterns emerged that required iteration:
Users displayed confusion about knowing where to start the sign up process.
Users expressed the color contrast was difficult to see when turning notifications on/off.
Users consistently selected only one topic under a main category, indicating the instructions were unclear.
Users expressed they would like to shop directly from the details page of each company instead of having to navigate to their favorites page.
REVISIONS
FIRST MAJOR IMPROVEMENT
Users displayed confusion about knowing where to start the sign up process.
Original Design
Improved Design
Users then had to accept the privacy policy to finalize their registration.
I changed the sign up to a button to make it more obvious and easily accessible to users.
SECOND MAJOR IMPROVEMENT
Users expressed the color contrast was difficult to see when turning notifications on/off.
Original Design
Improved Design
I increased the intensity of the blue color.
THIRD MAJOR IMPROVEMENT
Users consistently selected only one topic under a main category, indicating the instructions were unclear.
Original Design
Improved Design
I made the instructions more clear by adding, “Select all that apply.”
FOURTH MAJOR IMPROVEMENT
Users expressed they would like to shop directly from the details page of each company instead of having to navigate to their favorites page.
Original Design
Improved Design
