Above: Mock-up of the final Green Grouper app design.
Green Grouper is an app dedicated to users passionate about reducing their environmental impact by supporting sustainable fishing practices.
Design Brief
Create an app based on one of many equity issues, including problems with sustainability, housing, education, discrimination, human rights, and health care.
Problem Statement
Did you know that 46% of all ocean plastic is comprised of discarded fishing nets?
This plastic, and other debris, makes up the five iceberg-like garbage patches in each of our world's oceans, so you'd think that this would be a statistic more
popularized in discussions of the environment. However, it seems to be that fishing
malpractice isn't widely discussed among environmentalists, let alone among the
general population.
popularized in discussions of the environment. However, it seems to be that fishing
malpractice isn't widely discussed among environmentalists, let alone among the
general population.
In addition, information on these issues seems to be limited to only a number of resources, and though each of these is easily accessible and relatively reliable, none provided easy access to ways to get involved in solving the fishing crisis.
This is where the opportunity for an app for inspired and informed
environmentalists presented itself.
environmentalists presented itself.
Proposed Solution
Green Grouper is an app based around promoting sustainable fishing practices and making positive environmental change through providing resources for environmentalists to learn more about sustainable fishing.
Through the app, users can discover where to buy fish from sustainable sources, as well as read about fishing and the environment. Users can also share knowledge surrounding healthy fishing with others, and use the app to find events they can sign up
for concerning environmental activism.
for concerning environmental activism.
Green Grouper aims to become a portal for both the concerned and the optimistic
environmentalist, a place where it's easy to access information on sustainable fishing and share that knowledge with others.
environmentalist, a place where it's easy to access information on sustainable fishing and share that knowledge with others.
Project Overview
Design Process
Affinity Mapping
To begin the ideation process, a small group of my peers who were also focusing on sustainability and I did an affinity mapping exercise narrow down what environmental issues we’d want to work with. Some topics that came up during this exercise include: renewable sources of energy, sources of pollution, the negative consequences of climate change, and ways to make positive environmental impacts every day.
Defining the Problem Space: Initial State
First, I worked with my group to begin defining problems that could be solved in various problem spaces prompted by our affinity mapping. After defining the problem, I considered some “How Might We” (HMW) questions related to the topic in order to ponder different directions the project could go.
Problem statement:
Jae owns a small fish farm and is thinking of expanding his business. He is very aware of environmental problems plaguing our planet and needs to get more information on how to implement sustainable fishing techniques as his business grows, as to impact the environment as little as possible.
HMW questions related to this topic:
HMW promote sustainable fishing?
HMW help clean up the oceans/ oceanic garbage patches?
HMW spread the word about fishing waste in the oceans?
HMW stop the spread of microplastics in the oceans?
Defining the Problem Space: Intermediate State
With the HMW questions and input from my group in mind, the solution I came up with was to give those in the fishing industry easy access to information about sustainable fishing, with the added ability for users to share their tips for sustainable fishing with each other. To implement this solution, I would have to create a website or an app that functions as a sort of social media platform and informational site for those in the fishing industry, from the global scale to the local scale. The local side of the app could provide a way for fishers in the same region to link up and discuss ways that each business could make their practices more sustainable or even plan events based around environmental education.
This application would aim to provide a platform for people, especially those within the fishing industry, to learn more about sustainable fishing and methods to promote sustainable fishing practices in business. It would allow for easy sharing of information related to sustainable fishing, either on social media, or within the app itself. The app would have a community board where local and global fishers could contact each other in order to share tips on sustainable fishing, as well as create and join events related to environmental issues and sustainable fishing. Perhaps this would make it less of a solely digital experience, and more of a mix of physical and digital experiences.
By spreading the message of supporting sustainable fishing, this application would aim to help reduce the impact of the fishing industry on the environment, as well as inspire people to make daily choices that would support sustainable fishers. Though this app would be specialized for those interested in sustainable fishing, it would be ideal that the spread of positive information surrounding fishing would ripple outwards and contribute to major changes that could help keep our ocean ecosystems alive in the face of climate change.Demand & Research
Audience & Personas
The ideal audience for this product would be fishers 20-50, who are looking to improve their fishing practices and want to find out more about the issue at hand. However, another demographic that could use the app would be young environmentalists aged 20-30, who have heard about the problem surrounding sustainable fishing and want to figure out a way to help, or share information on the issue through social media.
I created two personas: Jin, a 27 year old small-town fisher who is expanding his fishery and introducing more sustainable practices as his business grows, and Cody, a 22 year old environmentalist and musician who doesn’t know much about sustainable fishing but is passionate about protecting the health of the oceans.
Preliminary Research & Determining Demand
Sustainable fishing, or the lack thereof, affects waste (especially plastic waste) in the oceans, as well as damage to ocean habitats and ecosystems. Research topics I explored surrounding sustainable fishing included: the five major oceanic garbage patches, megaplastics, macroplastics, microplastics, and the sources of each, discarded nets (ghost nets) and other fishing debris, fish as a primary source of protein worldwide, fish as an endangered resource, and how to support sustainable fishing.
With this research in mind, I pondered questions that would continue to shape my ideation:
How do we go about making bad fishing practices a widely-recognized environmental problem?
If we recommend supporting sustainable fisheries to non-fishers as good practice for reducing their carbon footprint, how can we make sure that there are options for sustainable fishing they can access?
If fisheries aren’t using sustainable practices, how do we encourage them to do so, and where do they start?
Even after they start, how do they maintain these practices and support the effort within the fishing community?
How can those outside of the fishing community support these efforts?
More Detailed Research and Ideation
After my preliminary research, I moved on to more in-depth research and ideation processes including a 4C's game, SWOT analysis, and a group round robin ideation exercise centered around promoting sustainable fishing.
Peer Interviews
Although it would have been wonderful to conduct interviews with members of the community who were real fishers looking to improve their practices, without these contacts and with our class' time constraint, I asked my peers to act as my interviewees. My first interviewee was a classmate, a concerned college-aged environmentalist, and my second interviewee was my professor, acting and answering questions as if he was a cantankerous old fisherman.
Interview questions:
How do you go about sourcing supplies for fishing day-to-day?
On a scale of 1-5, how much do you feel like fishing today impacts the state of the environment?
Has ocean debris ever affected your fishing practice? If so, how?
Have you ever experienced bottom trawling? If so, how did it affect your fishing practice?
Have you ever seen your fishing practice impacted by the effects of climate change? If so, how?
Have you ever discussed the environment with other fishers in your community?
How do you deal with waste associated with your fishing practices?
These interviews concluded my research and ideation process, and I moved on to using this information to inform my mock-ups and prototypes.
Prototypes
Prototype Version 1:
Goals:
- Create a place where users can talk to each other about sustainable fishing
- Craft a feature to search for sustainable fisheries
- Add feedback loops so that users feel successful when completing tasks
User Tasks:
- Log in, find local fisheries, and send messages in messenger
Outcomes:
- Mostly very successful! Users found it easy to use and straightforward
- Needed to work on iconography and app flow to make paths more clear
Prototype Version 2:
Goals:
- Rework iconography
- Add features so that users can browse for sustainability-related articles, search for events related to sustainability, and learn the best everyday practices to stay environmentally-conscious
- Make main interface more visually appealing and interactive
User Tasks:
- Test out new features, explore the app
Outcomes:
- Users liked the visual techniques and general organization I used: transitions and feedback, color scheme, hamburger menu, simple organization
- Needed to finish some paths in the prototype to make it more functional
- Add a tagline to the main page of the app to let users know the intention of the app
- Fix the navigation on the main interface
Prototype Version 3:
Goals:
- Focus on revamping the main menu by creating a navigation bar
- Make interactions on each page more detailed and add little surprises
User Tasks:
- Log in, find local fisheries, browse events, navigate the profile meu, browse articles
- Work with new main page and navigation bar to see if it is easier to use
- Test out new interactions and discover added details
Outcomes:
- Users appreciated micro-interactions, liked the amount of information you could get from the articles and news
- The iconography in the navigation bar was still confusing
- Some parts of the prototyped left unmodeled confused users
- The organization of the interface in this prototype left users overwhelmed and wondering where to go to complete tasks
- The reasoning or main point of the app seemed unclear, so the overall direction of the app needed to be rethought
Final Prototype:
Goals:
- Rework the interface so that the main point of the app seems clear to the user
- Establish a clear and concise hierarchy of information so that the pages feel less overwhelming
- Change the style of the navigation bar and make different pages accessible from anywhere in the app
- Use text to make iconography more clear
- Make movement through the app seem easier and more intuitive
- Eliminate any awkwardness or inconsistency in small interactions
User Tasks:
- Read about and find sustainable resources for buying fish
- Browse and favorite articles
- Find and sign up for events
- Share knowledge about sustainable fishing with others through text or social media
- Read tips on day-to-day improvements to one’s carbon footprint
- Navigate the interface of the app
Outcomes:
- Final app prototype
Below, you'll find a video walkthrough of the final version of Green Grouper, complete with a voiceover in which I explain what choices led me to the final mock-up.
If you'd like, you can also explore Green Grouper yourself through this embedded prototype.
Finally, if you'd like to see even more of my research and development, you can find a more detailed presentation on my process below.
