independent project | design challenge
water elephant
project Summary
Goal: Create an application that encourages users to cut down on trash production
PROJECT DURATION: 2 days
ROLES: UI/UX design, user research
TOOLS: Illustrator, Photoshop
01 | Context & Research
Myanmar, a South-Eastern country with complicated human rights and political issues, is currently working on growing its tourism industry. I have recently visited Yangon, Myanmar’s most populated city, for the first time. After a week wandering the city and its suburban edges, it is plain to see that the city has a serious issue with waste disposal. Although the amount of waste per person is much lower than the average North American, at almost every corner you look there are heaps of trash lying about: in alleyways, cluttering the waterways, and littered on people’s lawns. Looking into the issue further, officials cite the lack of general education about waste disposal and the growing tourism industry as primary sources of growing waste. Locals unwittingly refuse the placement of recycling bins outside their complexes, and end up throwing trash out the window. These mounds of trash then cause major problems of flooding within the city during rainy season when they clog up the drainage systems. While the waste produced by Yangon has grown to be 2,415 tonnes per day, the government infrastructure is only equipped to handle 1,500 tonnes per day.
Although the city is in the midst of developing their basic infrastructures, there is a recent surge in smartphone usage. Considering this, the launch of a mobile application has the potential to aid with the city’s waste management issues by encouraging proper disposal and offering education on how to reduce waste in general. Although mobile applications in general are only starting to catch on with the locals, there are already a few larger startups aimed at enhancing general education. One of these is Recycglo, a service that makes convenient pickups for recyclables.
User tracks water bottle consumption by dragging the bottle to the garbage or recycling bin.
02 | Design
The concept of this proposed environmental mobile application is three-fold: to allow the user ease in tracking their waste, educating them about the impact of their trash consumption, and offering options to how they can make everyday adjustments in order to lower their impact.
The mobile app allows for the tracking of waste by weight or by the amount of water bottles consumed. Since tracking all of one’s waste seems like a tough sell, starting off with simply whether a consumed water bottle was recycled or put into the trash has a minimal amount of commitment. Water bottles make up a large percentage of Yangon’s waste and even a change in consumption from that one factor could potentially make a large impact. Over time, the user is able to see summaries of their water bottle consumption by day, month, or year and how their consumption patterns change along the way.
03 | Community
In addition to easily viewing their own consumption patterns, they are able to see the patterns of those within their social networks. As a summary of the user and their friends’ concerted efforts, the amount of their waste saving efforts is expressed in comparison to the weight of an elephant. The elephant is a national symbol that the Burmese are familiar with. It can serve as an heuristic unit of measure that has more impact than expressing the weight of trash in tonnes, which seems more abstract when it reaches into the thousands.
Burmese icon.
Widget options for ease of tracking.
04 | Education
The app will also provide information on how to more effectively make an impact within their comfort zone. The user can be informed of the services that exist within their communities and different ways of reducing, reusing, and recycling without being pressured. As incentive, acting on certain tips can lead to an accumulation of points, which can be used to trade in for various necessities and perks that the locals may be lacking.