Brief

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The local chapter of the Climate Reality Project focuses on connecting climate to the lives of everyday Australians, offering

Leaders' wide-ranging workshops and training in communicating with a broad range of culturally and linguistically diverse communities. These Leaders are currently instrumental in getting the word out, but the organisation is also looking for some more direct tactics that it can take to speak to everyday people. To that end, The Climate Reality Project Australia is seeking ideas for tools it can put in the hands of people to motivate people to act in ways that are kind to the environment and that will minimise their contribution to climate change.

 

The challenge for the two-week design sprint was to design a solution that will encourage and motivate everyday Australians to act in ways that are kind to the environment and minimise their contribution to climate change.

 

Role: UX research, strategy, and design. 

Duration: 2 weeks

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Deliverables

• Research report

• Competitor/comparator analysis

• Comprehensive appendix

• Presentation slides

• Wireframe for mobile application

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Tools

• Research database

• Miro

• Figma

• Google survey

• Google Docs

• Trello

• Canva

 

Problem

While the business problem is perceived to be a lack of engagement, the real problem is that individuals feel that their efforts are inconvenient and not impactful especially in relation to the negative contribution to climate change made by Industry and

Governmental bodies. Further, they believe that the government is underperforming in its response to climate change action and rendering the community responsible for climate change

efforts.

 

Hypothesis

People need a sense of hope, a means for measuring progress, and a community to overcome the disheartening effects of continued exposure to information regarding the negative outcomes of climate change.

 

Research Approach

 The research approach consisted of primary research in the form of a survey and user interviews. This was coupled with secondary research in the form of web and database research. Affinity mapping was utilised to draw key themes and insights from primary research data.  

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Proposed Solution Strategy

 

A three-pronged solution has been developed with the aim of leveraging the current social media following and recruit further users via sponsored ads on social media sites. Engagement and recruitment via social media will redirect the user to the webpage where they are offered the opportunity to undertake a quiz that offers feedback on how their current behaviors contribute to climate change.

On completion of the quiz, the user is provided a rating and directed to the app where they are offered a service to assist in reducing one's climate contribution score through logging and tracking activities that provide feedback on the effectiveness of their actions as well as engaging with their local community and local government on climate change initiatives.

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The three stages include:

 

1. Short instructions reels for social media post and sponsored advertisement

2. "How big is your footprint" quiz

3. App for individual guidance, tracking, feedback, and engagement with the local community and government bodies.

 

Short instructions reels related to app tasks website

Short instructional reels provide guidance on actions that everyday Australians can take to help reduce the effects of climate change. The reels will be uploaded to the current APAC chapter of the Climate Reality Project social media accounts including Facebook (6,604K followers), Instagram (547 followers), LinkedIn (640 followers), Twitter account (898 followers).

This step of the solutions aims to leverage the current social media following and recruit further users via sponsored ads on social media sites. Social media platforms have been chosen as the optimal avenue since 75% of survey responses noted social media as their source of information regarding climate change actions.

The current APAC chapter social media accounts have significant reach with regard to the number of followers though posts are “generic” advertising style. Survey results indicate that users seek clarity on the actions they should be taking on an individual level and that they learn best video instruction as such generic advertising style reels miss the user's needs.

This step of the solution meets user needs of the Convenient consumer with regard to their need for brief and easily accessible information on climate change behaviours and information and know-how from credible resources; and the Mirror Seeker with regard to their need for constructive engagement with the community (social media-based community) around climate engagement.

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"How big is your footprint" quiz

Directly linking the user engaged in the video to the webpage, this step aims to take the user from point of video engagement to user self-assessment using the "How big is your footprint" (quiz). The "How big is your footprint" (quiz) is a self-assessment quiz aimed at assessing the users' current status with regard to the individual impact on climate change. Once the user has completed the quiz, they receive a ‘score/status’ indicating their current estimated contribution to climate change and provide a guide as to how this impacts the climate. The user is then offered the opportunity to learn how to improve their score via a link to the mobile application. This step of the solution addresses the needs of the Convenient consumer and the Mirror

Seeker with regard to their need for feedback and immediate returns for their efforts relating to climate change actions.

 

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Mobile App for individual guidance, tracking, feedback, and engagement with the local community and government bodies, directly linking the user engaged in the webpage based quiz to the mobile application, this step aims to engage the user in a deeper exploration and accountability of their contributions to climate change as well as the ability to assess the efforts of others. Survey results indicated that users were most interested in learning about the waste reduction

component of climate change action. As such the initial focus for the app is on the topic of

waste reduction.

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Via the “Me’ tab on the bottom global menu of the app, the user can log their individual waste and recycling efforts producing user trends. These trends are visually represented via a graphical representation that aims to inspire the user to improve their graph-associated scores.

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The user is linked to others within their designated postcode and can also link with friends forming communities. This community can be found under the “We” tab on the bottom global menu. The user can see reports of their community which is visually represented on a scalable map of their designated postcode region. Further, under the “Us tab on the bottom global menu, the user can see the project outlines and progress reports of climate-focused initiatives carried out by their local council. This step of the solution meets all three of the user needs for both the Convenient consumer

and the Mirror Seeker. The degree of local government engagement will need to be increased

to fully satisfy the needs of the Mirror Seeker.

  

Usability testing

Usability testing results in the refinement of wireframes as well as insights into potential scope for future gamification​​

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Immediate in-house tasks

• Continue user testing of the current app to assess usability and scope of the engagement.

• Production of instruction reels that focus on actions that everyday Australians can take to reduce their impact on climate change and reels for sponsored social media advertising.

• Once production is complete:

  • Post to Instagram reels, FB profile, and to YouTube channel

  • Implement Social media sponsored video strategy on “How to reduce your footprint”. This step aims to engage new followers.

  • Incorporate links on social media platforms to the current website so users are directed to the"How big is your footprint" quiz. (Pending development of the quiz itself). This step aims to remove barriers to entry to the mobile application through stepped engagement in reflective tasks.

• Develop the "How big is your footprint" quiz

• User test quiz prior to release.

 

Immediate external party engagement

• Engage with local governments to obtain data on local initiatives and opportunities for deeper engagement.

 

Conclusion

The aim of this design sprint was to motivate everyday Australians to act in ways that are kind to the environment and that will minimise their contribution to climate change. Using the three-phase approach of discovery, inception, and delivery, key insights have uncovered that lead to a three-pronged approach to the design solution that was presented on 25/01/21. This approach leverages the current social media platforms of the APAC chapter and addresses the three prime needs of both user archetypes. The following recommendations are focused on the first release of the project. We look forward to continuing to develop further exciting

features for the project in the future.