Digital Social Innovation Phase 1: Research & Development (Group Project)
Project Brief
Split into groups of either four or five, each group was allocated one of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. Using this goal's particular targets as starting point, one target had to be chosen as the focus to create a digital social innovative solution (DSI). A DSI is a digital solution that uses technology to solve some kind of socio-economic or environmental problem.
Phase 1 of this project revolved around unpacking the problem behind the chosen target; choosing a potential partnership with a recognised NGO company; analysing the players affected and choosing a target audience; as well as conceptualising a Minimum Viable Product to solve the identified problem.
Project Deliverables
1. Pitch Deck of Slides 1-8 Containing:
- A title slide with a created organisation name
- Background research of the problem and current problem status
- Problem analysis
- Ecosystem map showing all affected players
- Target market archetypes analysis
- A minimum viable product analysis
- Conceptualisation of the product's primary features
- An analysis of goals and objectives
2. User Flow of a Chosen User Journey
3. Development of Process and Conceptualisation
Design Strategy
To imagine a viable solution to the contaminated, destroyed and undervalued water-related ecosystems in South Africa, one must consult the United Nations (UN’s) sustainable development goal of Clean Water and Sanitation and its target being topic 6 which is to "By 2030, to protect and restore water-related ecosystems." South Africa is a water-scarce country where most of the usable freshwater is being threatened, due to mining runoffs, human development, over-farming, and pollution. Digital social innovation is an important tool in pursuit of a solution because it can allow one to report violations to freshwater ecosystems, educate and bring awareness to the affects of these violations on the quality and quantity of our drinking water and motivate communities to take action towards conservation efforts. Practical solutions are also needed due to the danger being posed to the rich biodiversity within South Africa’s freshwater ecosystems. The solution should be easy to use for all age groups as well as light on data and storage.
A relevant target market willing to reverse the damage being done to South Africa’s freshwater ecosystems are farmers and fishermen. A simple Progressive Web App (PWA) would be ideal for this target market. It is likely that farmers and fisherman live in rural areas with limited network connectivity and predominantly use Android cellphones.
This design is a single-page PWA with an interactive map, displaying freshwater sources across South Africa. The key features include: violation reporting; threat and conservation statuses; and a networking forum.
Process and Development
Research Overview
Before any development or conceptualisation occurred, numerous amounts of research was carried out to determine how the water and sanitation target fit into a South African context. We started off looking at how fresh water ecosystems play a role in the greater context of supporting the bio-diversity in the South African freshwater biomes. From here we were able to determine the effect that these biomes and ecosystems have in terms of affecting humans’ and communities’ water sources, occupational incomes, and living areas. In turn, we also looked at how human activity affects the well-being of these ecosystems and why the destruction of them has such a negative impact on humans. This then led us to being able to conceptualise and explore our problem and subsequently being able to address it and conceptualise our solution.
Target Market Analysis
South African farmers and fishermen were selected as the target market because of the financial stake they have in the well-being of freshwater ecosystems. This population depends on the quality and quantity of water to support their livelihoods, which the entire country relies on for food security. The communal nature of these occupations allows for collaboration in conservation efforts. Farmers and fishermen are obvious choices because of their direct relationship to these systems, as well as their wide geographical spread across the country. Farmers and fishermen have the motivation to care about and take a stand for freshwater ecosystems, but not always the access to ways in which to do so. If they are able to band together, they can actively make a collective difference against corporate development and pollution.
Competitive Market Analysis
When developing our minimum viable product and primary features, we decided to carry out a competition analysis of other existing apps and platforms that address similar problems. By creating a competitive layout we were able to see how our solution and features compared to other apps and determine which gaps in the market our progressive web app was filling.
Illustrative Development
For our illustration style we decided to start with flat, vector-based illustrations and then added detail and texture afterwards in Photoshop. To align with our SDG, all the illustrations contain different fresh water sources and elements. Thus, the water symbolises connection and how everything is connected through water.
Illustrative development from sketches
Final Still Frames
User Flow
The user flow shows a detailed journey of a user who needs to either sign up by creating an account, or sign in to an existing account, and then report a violation to a water source in their area.
Final Presentation
