Humor me for a second: how many paper cups do you think NYC throws away every day?

Seven million. Every day. That’s over 2.5 billion per year, just in NYC. Globally, we go through an estimated 600 billion paper and plastic cups each year. And these cups are not just filling up our landfills; they are filling up our air. Using a disposable cup every day generates about 23 lbs of waste and 87 lbs of CO2 in a year.

MUGMUG is an app designed to reduce cup waste.  There are currently many coffee shop rewards apps and programs encouraging waste reduction. However, none of these apps combine the goal of cup waste reduction with an incentive or rewards program. MUGMUG makes it easy to search for sustainable businesses and uses a punchcard-style points system to reward users for bringing their own containers to coffee shops.

This project started in a class at Parsons. I came up with the app idea and content strategy, did the user research, and designed the app. Afterwards, I continued to build out the brand through advertising, promotional items, experiential marketing, and social media.

Curious to learn more about MUGMUG?  Check out the case study to learn more about the design process, or play with the InVision prototype.