Helping Travelers Reduce & Reuse
ReCation
ReCation is a sharing app that helps travelers give away things they no longer need and get things for free.
My Role
UX Designer
Duration
11 Weeks
Skills
User Interviews
Wireflows
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Visual Design
Year
2023
THE PROBLEM
The travel and tourism industry generates a significant amount of waste.
Tourists, in some places, produce twice as much waste as local residents. (1) Our current travel habits are unsustainable.
Sustainability is based on a simple premise: our survival and well-being depend either directly or indirectly on our natural environment. (2) Reduction and reuse are the most effective ways we can save natural resources, protect the environment, and save money. (3)
By reducing waste and reusing products, travelers can practice responsible tourism to make travel more sustainable.
Approach
Competitive Analysis
Assess the competitors’ value propositions, key features, strengths, and weaknesses
Personas & Journey Maps
Identify opportunities by empathizing with and better understanding target users
Prototyping
Clickable mid-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes
User Interviews
Qualitative insights into traveler’s experiences, pain points, and motivations around sharing goods
Wireflows
Roadmap of how users move through key features, screens, and actions
Usability Testing
2 rounds of tests to identify usability issues and areas for improvement
Discovery Research
Why should we help?
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35 million tons of waste is produced every year solely by tourism. (4)
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The tourism industry accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions. (5)
Who stands to benefit?
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Travelers
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Local Communities
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The Environment
Possible Stakeholders
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Environmental Organizations
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Local Tourism Organizations
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Hotels & Vacation Rental Companies
REFRAMING THE PROBLEM
How might we help travelers share goods with one another, so they can reduce waste and make travel more sustainable?
Competitive Analysis
To evaluate the current market, I conducted a competitive analysis of three sharing and freecycling apps. This allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of their value propositions, key features, strengths, and weaknesses. I identified gaps in the current market, opportunities, and areas for improvement.
Olio
7M total users
342.7K monthly users
Strengths
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Gamification for motivation
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Educate about sustainable practices
Weaknesses
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Map search only for premium subscription
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Limited U.S. users and listings
Trash Nothing
8M total users
1.4M monthly users
Strengths
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Location based searching
Weaknesses
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Difficult to navigate
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Underwhelming UI
BuyNothing
6M total users
235.9K monthly users
Strengths
-
Customizable profile pages
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Posting similar to social media
Weaknesses
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Difficult to navigate
-
Underwhelming UI
User Interviews
Methodology
I conducted eight virtual moderated user interviews to gain qualitative insights into their travel experiences, pain points, and motivations related to resource sharing.
Screener Criteria:
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Travels at least once a year
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Has given something away or has received something for free from someone when traveling
8 Participants
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5 women, 3 men
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Ages 28-67
Objectives
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Learn about their experiences with waste while traveling.
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Understand the motivations and pain points travelers face when it comes to sharing goods.
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Determine what factors will influence their decision to participate and share goods on the platform.
High-Level Findings
01
Desire to be responsible
Travelers think about sustainability and have a desire to practice more responsible traveling habits.
03
Importance of safety
Being safe when meeting with people to exchange goods was a common concern across participants.
05
Making connections
Travelers like to meet and talk to other people while they are on vacation.
02
Throwing away is easier
People throw things away when they don’t know what else to do. They don't want to be wasteful but it can be the easier choice.
04
Time is valuable
Travelers value their time and like to stick to schedules.
06
Helping others feels good
In participants past experiences with giving away things, the major motivation is to help other people.
Personas
Creating user personas helped me to empathize with and better understand the target audience. I developed three separate user personas for travelers who may use this app.
Journey Maps
Current state journey maps were created for each persona to help understand their actions, thoughts, and emotions when attempting to accomplish a goal. The maps were critical for identifying pain points and opportunities for features that would improve the experience.
How do we measure success?
01
Posting and searching for items needs to be quick and easy
02
Users need to be able to evaluate other users
03
We need to motivate people to share
Wireflows
Wireflows were created to visualize user flows for the key feature areas. They provide a roadmap of how the user moves through features, screens, and actions within the app. I designed wireflows for three key user flows to understand how users will navigate the app and help to identify key interaction points and opportunities for micro-interactions and enhancements.
Posting a Listing
User Story
As an eco-conscious traveler, I want to post the extra food I have, so I can give it to someone else instead of throwing it away.
Searching for Items
User Stories
As a budget savvy traveler, I want to find free items near me, so I can save money.
As a traveler, I want to evaluate who I’m meeting, so I can feel safe.
Tracking Impact
User Story
As an eco-conscious traveler, I want to track my environmental impact, so I can feel motivated to keep practicing responsible travel habits.
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
I created a mid-fidelity prototype that conveyed the core functionalities and interactions of the product. This prototype allowed me to evaluate the key user flows, ensuring that the fundamental user experience was sound before designing a high-fidelity version.
ROUND 1
Usability Testing
Methodology
I conducted five virtual moderated usability tests where I presented the participants with three scenarios that pertained to the core user flows.
Findings & Insights
01
Easy to use - reminded users of other apps they are familiar with
03
Hesitancy regarding the functionality of the map
05
Disconnect between the listing page and the profile page
02
Confusion about Pickup Availability and Location
04
Confusion about messages and navigating to the listing page
06
Questions about required info for leaving reviews
Solutions
The following updates were made to the prototype to address the problems users encountered during the mid-fidelity usability tests:
Creating a Listing
Problem
Confusion about Pickup Availability and Location
Searching with the Map
Problem
Hesitancy regarding the functionality of the map
Messaging
Problem
Confusion around messages and navigating to the listing
User Profiles
Problem
Disconnect between the listing page and the profile page
Leaving Reviews
Problem
Questions about required info for leaving reviews
Design System
Implementing a design system was instrumental in providing a seamless and cohesive user experience. It allowed me to streamline my workflow and was a foundation for quick and effective visual design iterations.
High-Fidelity Prototype
Utilizing the design system, I developed a high-fidelity prototype to provide users with an experience that closely resembled a final product, complete with polished visuals, interactive elements, and realistic content.
ROUND 2
Usability Testing
Methodology
I conducted a second round of five virtual moderated usability tests where I presented the participants with the three scenarios that pertained to the core user flows.
Findings & Insights
01
The map search is now intuitive and easy to use
03
Users loved the impact tracking features
02
No confusion about Pickup Availability and Location
04
The more button on the Home Screen can be improved for usability
05
Users don't want to see messaging tips every time they request an item
Solutions
After identifying the remaining usability issues and areas for improvement I designed solutions and made updates to the final prototype.
Home Screen
Problem
More button can be improved for usability
Messaging
Problem
Users don't want to see messaging tips every time they request an item
Final Prototype
Click on the prototype for a video walkthrough of ReCation
Impact
Easy to Post and Search
Users can quickly and easily post items to give away. There are multiple ways of searching and finding listings.
"It’s very easy, simple to navigate, it’s not confusing. It’s very similar to other applications where you would do similar actions... It took a second to search."
Confident Evaluations
Users can evaluate each other and confidently make decisions about who they feel safe meeting up with.
"I can see the rating easily and see they are verified which makes me comfortable... having others give reviews makes me trust them more."
Motivating Users
Earning points and tracking impact statistics motivates users.
"This is cool, it measures the impact you’re making. This would make me feel really good. What more motivation do you need!"
Challenges & Learnings
Managing interview and test cancellations and reschedules
I used Notion for product management, and having a detailed project plan and backup participants helped me stay on schedule.
Importance of project scope & defining the MVP
With a quick timeline, we can’t design an entire app and every feature so defining the project scope and Minimum Viable Product is paramount.
Labeling and word choice significantly impacts usability
Choosing clear, concise, and familiar words or labels reduces confusion.
Next Steps
Design
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Drop off flow for users that don't have time to meet
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Partner side of the app
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Education feature
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Point redemption feature
Research
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Conduct A/B testing on Home Screen
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Usability testing additional features
Strategy
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Identify strategic partnership opportunities
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Go to market strategy
Sources
01
European Commission. Eco-Management and Audit Scheme. European Commission, n.d. Web. 23 June 2023 https://green-business.ec.europa.eu/eco-management-and-audit-scheme_en
02
National Research Council. (2011). Sustainability and the U.S. EPA. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/13152.
03
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Reducing and Reusing Basics. US EPA, n.d. Web. 22 June 2023 https://www.epa.gov/recycle/reducing-and-reusing-basics
04
United Nations Environment Programme and World Tourism Organization (2012). Tourism in the Green Economy – Background Report, UNWTO, Madrid.
05
Lenzen, M., Sun, Y., Faturay, F., Ting, Y., Geschke, A., & Malik, A. (2018). The carbon footprint of global tourism. Nature Climate Change, 8(6), 522-528. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0141-x
