Executive Summary
Sustain Train is an online marketplace that promotes sustainable living and provides users with an opportunity to broaden their understanding of sustainable practices. The platform offers an amazing selection of goods rated on their sustainability quality, enabling users to shop ethically and responsibly. Additionally, Sustain Train's online community connects users with local gardeners and farmers' markets, making it easier than ever to access fresh, locally sourced produce.
With a dedicated and passionate team, Sustain Train is a step in the direction of creating a healthier and more sustainable world.
This assignment was a semester-long project for Senior Project and Portfolio Capstone, which is an upper-level credit class for the major Interaction Design at Kennesaw State University.
Meet the Team
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Nicole Braizer
Lead UX Researcher/Designer
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Kristen Morea
UX Researcher/Designer
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Hala Canada
UX Researcher/Designer
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Kyla Reinagel
UX Researcher/Designer
Research Phase
Our primary focus during the research phase was to explore ways to educate, connect, and support people in building a more sustainable world. To achieve this goal, our team followed a structured approach that included several key steps. In this process we had to answer the question,
“How can we educate, connect, and support people to make a more sustainable world?”
Firstly, we conducted a simulated kickoff meeting where we asked questions that would guide our research process. This helped us to establish a clear direction and identify the key objectives of our research.
Next, we carried out a literature review to gain an understanding of our site's domain. This enabled us to familiarize ourselves with practices in the field of sustainability.
We then conducted a competitive audit, analyzing our competitors in order to produce a greater solution. This helped us to identify gaps in the market and develop a unique value proposition for our product.
Next, we coordinated user interviews with five individuals from very-sustainable to not-very-sustainable backgrounds. Through these interviews, we gained insights into the needs, challenges, and goals of our potential users.
Finally, we developed personas that would guide the rest of our design process. These personas helped us to create a user-centered design that would effectively educate, connect, and support individuals in building a more sustainable world.
Kickoff Meeting
To simulate the kickoff meeting for our senior capstone project, we used a template since no real stakeholders were involved.
The current sustainable marketplaces have been mainly focused on local markets without an online presence, leaving a gap in education on sustainability and promoting sustainable living in all aspects of life. Our product aims to fill this void by establishing a collective online marketplace of sustainable brands with a precise definition of sustainability.
Our target audience comprises individuals seeking to embrace sustainable living and seek reliable sources of education. Our web-based marketplace will serve as a go-to resource for information, purchasing sustainable goods, learning about eco-friendly lifestyles, and connecting with others in their community.
Our product will be used whenever customers need to discover and support sustainable brands and when they seek answers on how to live more sustainably. Our product will bridge the gap in sustainability education and provide an online marketplace for sourcing sustainable products.
Literature Review
Our efforts were centered around exploring critical components necessary for Sustain Train to thrive. These included:
Developing a framework to evaluate the level of sustainability
Understanding the concept of greenwashing and its identification
Identifying the fundamental pillars of sustainability
Providing tools for adopting a sustainable lifestyle
Competitive Audit
Our team studied existing sustainable marketplaces and documented their various features. We then decided on the features we deemed crucial for our prototype. While some of these websites possessed a few features we were interested in, we found that none of them had all five features that we intended to implement.
User Interviews
Conducting user interviews enabled us to identify the preferences, dislikes, and requirements of potential users concerning sustainable marketplaces. We interviewed a diverse group of individuals, including subject matter experts, casual sustainability enthusiasts, and those seeking to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. Based on insights from these five interviews, we developed a primary and secondary persona. Following each interview, our team generated an affinity map to maintain the organization of our brainstorming sessions. An affinity map is a collection of information we have gathered and compared to have a better understanding of the interviewee. The following affinity map is after one of our interviews, as you can see the person likes to shop online and go to farmers’ markets.
In the modeling phase of our project, we focused on creating personas that accurately represented the behaviors, attitudes, and preferences of our target audience. Personas are fictional representations of real users that help us understand the motivations and goals that drive their behavior. Developing personas allowed us to empathize with our users and design our product with their needs and expectations in mind.
Our team conducted extensive research to identify the characteristics and habits of our primary and secondary users. We gathered data from various sources, including user interviews, surveys, and market research, to develop a comprehensive understanding of our target audience.
Primary Persona
Secondary Persona
Modeling Phase
Requirements Phase
During this phase of our project, we recognized the significance of crafting a problem statement to establish the context of our drive. Our problem statement aimed to address the current issue in our world, where the absence of our product reduces the possibility to create a positive environment. We analyzed the root causes and potential consequences of the problem to ensure that our statement accurately portrayed the issue at hand.
We also recognized the importance of crafting a vision statement that would articulate our product's objectives and benefits to our target audience. Through our vision statement, we intended to establish a sense of purpose and direction for our project while conveying the inherent value of our initiative to potential users.
Following our detailed analysis of Oliver's context scenario, we recognized the need to identify the key features that would make our product a viable and desirable solution for our target audience. We undertook an extensive brainstorming process to generate a range of functional requirements, taking into account the pain points and requirements highlighted in our context scenario.
Our context scenario provided a detailed description of Oliver's life, outlining his daily routine, his interactions with others, and his struggles with sustainability. It highlighted specific moments when Oliver would be in need of our product, demonstrating how our initiative could address his pain points and offer a sustainable solution. Through our context scenario, we aimed to establish a practical application of our product in the daily life of our primary user, providing a clear understanding of the value and benefits of our initiative.
Frameworks Phase
Wireframing is a crucial part of the product design process, as it allows the team to create a visual representation of the product's interface.
One key aspect of our wireframing process was the inclusion of key path scenarios. These scenarios were hypothetical user journeys that helped us understand how users would interact with our product and navigate through its features. By mapping out these user journeys, we were able to ensure that our wireframes were designed with the user's needs and preferences in mind.
Refinement Phase
Finally, we were told to make a final working and engaging prototype that the users could go through. Please enjoy~
Conclusion
I had a wonderful time working on this project, it allowed me to fully embrace the skills that I have mastered in Figma over the years and put them to use. I also had an amazing team to work with, we were very communicative and made sure we were on tract to complete the prototype in time for our big Senior Capstone Showcase.
