Monolite: An Interactive exhibit for public engagement
Posters & Invites
Apparel Campaign
Apparel Campaign
Apparel Campaign
Monolite: An Interactive exhibit for public engagement
Carbon offset solution
UX Research | UX Design
In addition to calculating environmental impact of a product, Green Story also helps brand mitigate the impact. The idea is to balance product, individual or organisation's impact by funding projects that remove an equivalent amount of carbon from the atmosphere.
Simplizero, a consumer and employee offset solution was created to address this. This project was a joint effort with the founder and 2 product managers. My role was to to conduct UX research and design both consumer and workforce application.
Back to main
Overview
More and more companies have started to recognise that they have a responsibility to address their carbon impact and contribute to the fight against climate change. Carbon offsetting is a way for them to take accountability for their emissions, as well as to invest in projects that reduce or remove carbon from the atmosphere. To show their commitment towards sustainability, companies offset their employees footprint on behalf of them. This not only benefit's the company positioning but also encourage employees to take sustainable measures at a personal level.
To address this, we proposed creating a consumer facing application where individuals can offset their lifestyle's footprint and an employee offset platform where companies can offset on behalf of their employees.
Challenge
How to enable individuals and companies to offset their carbon footprint.
Research and analysis
Secondary research
Market Analysis
An organisation’s employees will most likely want their employer to be climate conscious. A 2016 study provided evidence that there is a positive correlation between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies and employee engagement. Therefore, a CSR strategy will result in a more engaged workforce which can improve the performance of the business.
There are more than just regulatory reasons to offset carbon. We live in a world where most agree on the significance of global warming, sustainability or protecting biodiversity. This has changed the way some businesses operate.
A study discovered that 72% of consumers consider sustainability in their purchasing decisions. Therefore, some businesses are seeing an increase in sales if their brand demonstrates an understanding of the climate crisis.
Carbon offset programs emerged in the 1990s. However, last year (2019), there has been a considerable increase in demand for these programs by individuals and companies to calculate their total emissions, purchase carbon credits and communicate these efforts through internal and external channels. ​I looked at the current players in the market to understand the features they offer, user interaction and opportunity areas.
Competitive Analysis
Analysis
A lot of these platforms are quite similar to one another terms of their features and offerings. However, I identified a few opportunity areas where a new platform can stand out:
-
Supported projects do not align with company's sustainability goals
-
Employee engagement and awareness activities are limited
-
External communication collaterals are missing
-
The interface is very basic, not very intuitive and lacks clarity of purpose
Primary research
User Interview
I interviewed 5 clients who were calculating their environmental impact with us. My questions were designed to learn:
-
Extent of their knowledge about carbon offsetting
-
Strategies and plans to incorporate offsetting on their platform
-
Concerns around offsetting​
Insights
1
Transparency and accountability
​Users want access and insight into trustworthy carbon credits that align with their company values. They want to have a transparent transactional system from purchasing project credits to retiring them.
2
Communicating their efforts internally and externally
Its not just for the company, it is for the team. It’s essential that all their employees are carbon literate. They want to provide the tools to foster employee engagement. 4 out of 5 users would like the system to provide communication collaterals that can be shared with their community.
3
Intelligent project selections
65% of the users wanted the project selection to be automated and intelligent. They want to see diversity in project selection so that they can support project in geographies similar to their supply chain.
4
Simple and intuitive interface
​These platforms can be robust and complex to use, users are looking for simplicity and ease of usage in the platform.​
Persona
Based on patterns from my user insights I categorized users under two personas:
Persona 1:
Environmentally minded people are generally focused on reducing their carbon footprint overall, and most are aware that offsetting emissions isn’t enough to substantially halt climate change. They are involved with scientific research programs to better the planet, partner with leading platforms to work towards one goal, participate in climate change debates and are involved in activities where they can lead by example.
​
Persona 2:
This type of user prefers to start at the root of the problem and work their way up. They would want to work with employee and surround themselves with people who are environmentally conscious and encourage overall healthy lifestyles. They want to make the world a better place and believe it starts with them.
Analysis and inspiration to brainstorm ideas
There are many carbon offsetting platforms with similar offerings, standing out in such an established space would require
strong messaging and reach:
-
Transparency in sourcing and retiring carbon credits​
-
Ensuring offset projects are integrated into a broader sustainability strategy rather than being isolated efforts
-
Educate and engage employees about challenges and benefits of offsetting
Ideation
Offsetting solution was divided into two parts. One was the landing page and the other B2B platform. ​A lot of the ideas were inspired by the research and what's already out there so we decided to focus on user interaction, eduction through understandable information, engaging features and intuitive guidance through the platform.
Information architecture
Landing page and related pages were kept quite straight forward. The homepage contained features, subscription plans, CTA to sign up, featured projects and community statistics. Other pages like transparency, projects portfolio and about us acted as supporting pages to establish credibility.
​
Users are directed to the landing page to select a plan and sign up on the platform. They go through an extensive onboarding process to access the Dashboard, Manage user, Manage account and billing and Support projects and Communicate their efforts.
User flow
I created few user flows based on the goals:
-
Signing up to the platform
-
Inviting the employees to the platform
-
Staring a poll for engaging employees in project selection
-
Setting up collaterals to communicate sustainability efforts
Style Guide
Colours
Primary colours
#81C241
#FFDF2C
Vibrant colours to reflect the
Lifestyle the brand endorses
#70C8F9
Secondary colours
#F7B737
#000000
Complementing colours the make the illustrations more lively
#FFFFFF
Tracing
Font
QUICKSAND
Aa
Typography
Quicksand - Web
Bold
Regular
Quicksand - Mobile
Bold
Regular
Sizes
36
24
18
16
24
18
16
14
Icons
Components
Buttons
Solid
Button
Button
Button
Button
Outline
Button
Button
Button
Button
Ghost
Ghost
Button
Button
Button
Button
Button
Button
Button
Button
Default
Hover
Pressed
Disable
Inputs
Text Inputs
Disable
Placeholder Text
Default
Placeholder Text
Success
User Text
Success message
Hover
Placeholder Text
Focused
Typing
Text
Filled
Placeholder Text
Failed
User text
Error message
Toggles & Selectors
Checkbox
Unchecked
Checked
Radio
Unselected
Selected
Togggle
Off
On
High fidelity
The design was crafted to complement the iconography and visual elements of Green Story's main website. Although the colors and font styles were distinct to differentiate Simplizero as a separate offering, the design aimed to balance images and icons for a playful feel. Content discovery was facilitated through tabs, scroll animations, and CTAs.​
Platform screens are not available because of the non-disclosure agreement
Value Addition
Given that the solution is quite similar to competitors, there was limited scope for value creation from the solution itself. However, significant efforts were made to make the platform intuitive, exciting, and interactive for users.
​
-
The platform was designed with a step-by-step onboarding process and supporting guides to educate users and help them make informed decisions.
-
Visual cues were incorporated to assist users in taking action, managing tasks, and navigating the platform efficiently.
-
Proper notifications and email communications were established to keep users updated about the platform.
-
Intelligent and automated project selection ensures that the functionality is always operational.