Jane does some research about solutions to mitigate the microfiber issue. She finally discovers the CleanO product and application.
What are microfibers? How is it making my laundry unsafe? Does this mean I should not buy fashion clothes?
She buys and uses the product and is satisfied with the bit she did for the environment.
Only if there could be a product that captures these filaments.
Designing With the User's Context in Mind
The context design helped us understand how the users would use our product and in what circumstances.
Context Scenario
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I am not sure which cycle is good for my cloth fabric.
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How do I change my filter?
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When do I know that my filter needs to be changed?
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Not many people are aware of this problem.
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Can I check the statistics of my filter?
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How do I share my progress with friends
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Provide predefined wash cycles as per the fabrics.
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Provide a video on how to change the filter on the application.
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Notification for a filter change
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Giving customers the ability to share their filter progress with friends and family
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Provide a Filter page on the application
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Give additional insights about microfibers on the Filter page of the application
Opportunities
Pain Points
Issue 1
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Unclear the progress graph : Predictability
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Match between system and the real world : Heuristics
Before
After
Issue 2
Users were not sure how does the pre-set cycle recommend them while some others confused the page: Perceivability and Learnability
After
Before
Issue 3
The user did not find the filter slider intuitive enough: Perceivability
After
Before
Before
After
Scenario 3
Description
As a green company, we would like you to feel confident and motivated to keep using our product. Thus, for every third filter replacement, you will be rewarded with a brief video that shows your positive impact on the ocean.
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Review the status benefit where you can take advantage from CleanO
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Share the video on a social media type.
Task
Tip: Scroll to view the other issues.
A washing machine with an integrated filter that captures microfilaments from the laundry
CleanO
How CleanO helps?
We believe that by making it easy to stop harmful microfibers from polluting our oceans for a broad spectrum of consumers will help achieve a cleaner and healthier ocean while building a community of like-minded & motivated customers.
Our group had the task to find a problem within in the fashion industry keeping sustainability in mind.
We discovered that the Fast fashion industry is growing at an alarming rate and there are a lot of users who are not aware of fashion's impact on the environment and the pollution it causes. There are people who are fashionable and interested in eco-friendly fashion.
All members of our team came up with 4-5 pain points and their respective solutions. Finally we narrowed down to one pain point of microfibers.
We realized that by designing a product that would significantly reduce microfibers in the ecosystem by providing them with an intrinsic Filter solution.
Background
Background
How might we
Make the customers aware of the microfilament problem and provide them an easy filter option
My Role:
Researcher, Lead Designer and Usability tester.
Project Team
We had a 3 Member team: All of us worked coherently as Lead Designer, Usability tester
Project Timeline
7 Weeks
Process
Process
Persona
To understand the user’s behavior asked ourselves on how do they get started and what captures their attention. We carved our proto persona based on the audience we thought would be fit for our product.
Solution: A washing machine that stops the microfibers from entering the water streams leading to cleaner oceans.
Our solution was to provide two different interfaces to the users. One was an application they could use on their mobile device. The primary function of the application was to keep track of the Filter (embedded into the machine). The other interface would be the digital surface on the washing machine itself.
Journey Mapping
Process: We selected 1 NEW Solution that addresses the critical issues within the customer journey. And created a journey map to understand users' pain points and breakpoints of opportunity to make the users happier with their journey.
Journey mapping
Process: We selected 1 NEW Solution that addresses the critical issues within the customer journey. And created a journey map to understand users' pain points and breakpoints of opportunity to make the users happier with their journey.
2. Scenario:
Check the filter status on the Washing Machine
3. Scenario:
Start laundry based on the cloth fabric and check the filter status.
Share story on social media
1. Scenario:
Sketches of how we envision our final product
Sketch
Overview Initial Prototype
Issue 2
Users were not sure how does the pre-set cycle recommend them while some others confused the page: Perceivability and Learnability
After
Before
After
Before
Issue 3
The user did not find the filter slider intuitive enough: Perceivability
After
Before
Before
Issue 1
Users could not see the Choose cycle option at the bottom: Perceivability & Predictability
After
After
Scenario 1
Description
Being an energy-efficient washing machine with an integrated MICROFIBER FILTER, we want the clothes to have a longer life and capture maximum microfiber shedding from the clothes for the betterment of the environment.
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Start the laundry
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Check the filter status on the mobile application
We had a moderated testing for these wireframes with 7 users from similar demographic and socio-economic backgrounds as before.
User Testing
We chose the top three issues from Prioritization Matrix to reiterate our design.
Task
Tip: Scroll to view the other issues.
Issue 1,2&3
The screen is very cluttered, unclear the meaning ‘full’ : Learnability
Recognition rather than recall: Heuristics
After
Before
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Check the filter status
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Check time on washing you have left and review your wash preset
When you wash man-made synthetics, they shed tiny little “microplastics” into the rinse water-which eventually end up in our oceans and waterways. The CleanO has an integrated filter to capture these micro plastics.
Scenario 2
Task
Description
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Patent our design solution and sell it to major washing machine manufacturer’s so that more and more machines stop the microfiber pollution in its track leading to cleaner oceans
Long term
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Run the product testing again till we reach a position where we do not come across any major issues.
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Sync the washing machine with the Home control device like google home or Alexa.
Next Steps
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Run the product testing again till we reach a position where we do not come across any major issues.
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Sync the washing machine with the Home control device like google home or Alexa.
Short term
Final Prototype
(Mobile App)
Final Prototype
(Machine screen)
(Machine screen)
Final Prototype
Concept Testing
Our 3 member team tested out 7 concepts with 7-8 individuals during our concept testing phase. Our team was inclined to provide a filter attachment for an existing washing machine.
Interview: We as a team of three members had moderated interviews with participants to test our concept.
Implication
Based on the survey results it was concluded that the Filter idea was not a popular choice and the audience wanted something that was Ease of Use, Zero installation, Intuitive and Smart.
Revised Solution
We developed on one of our concepts that was having a Green Washing Machine, we tested this concept and decided to add a extra feature of an application and a website to educate the audience.
Revised Solution
We developed on one of our other concept that was having a Green Washing Machine, we tested this concept which was well accepted. We added an extra feature of an application to track of filter cycles and educate audience about microfilaments and ecosystem.
What is the Problem?
35% of primary microplastics in ocean comes from laundry of synthetics