Project Overview:
This project was more than just a class assignment; it was a response to the City of Toronto's TransformTO initiative and design challenge, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2040. The heart of the challenge? How to nudge Torontonians to swap their cars for greener transit options.
Design Challenge presented by the City of Toronto, Environment and Energy Division, as part of its TransformTO plan - a plan adopted by the City of Toronto to bring the city to carbon neutrality by 2040.
The Design Challenge Statement: “How might we influence human behaviour in Toronto to support improvements in climate change?
Discovery Research and Revised HMW Statement:
After discovery secondary research on different trends and factors that are impacting Climate Change we discovered that cars and SUVs are huge contributors to Canada's GHG emissions and thus changing how people commute within the city could significantly cut down on these emissions. But here's the catch: car owners love their cars. They needed a nudge, some real incentives to go green. So we narrowed down and revised the problem statement as follows:
"How do we make Torontonians ditch their cars for greener options like biking, ride sharing or public transit?"
Project Goals:
- Uncover why Torontonians cling to their cars.
- Dive deep into the habits of short-distance drivers.
- Design a solution that resonates with our core challenge.
- Keep our stakeholders engaged and consider how to ease the learning curve.
Design Process
The Solution Overview: Go Green, Get Points and Get Rewards
GreenTrip App allows users to earn points and rewards for choosing greener travel options; you enter your destination in the app and choose on green mode of transportation for example cycling, walking, public transit or carpooling, and the app turns your eco-friendly miles into points based on the carbon footprint reduction. You can use the app Footprint calculator to see how much you have contributed to saving the earth by using the app. You invite your friends and join the the GreenTrip community to communicate and travel together. You can redeem your points to get some eco-friendly rewards or win a virtual tree in the city of Toronto in any location you want. The app also introduced an innovative AR feature to deepen the impact and engagement: the AR-based Virtual Tree Planting.
Following is the list of app features:
- Green Trip Tracker: Choose your ride, start your journey, and rack up those points.
- Carbon Footprint Calculator: A quick tap shows your emission savings.
- Travel Buddy: Find folks sharing your route. Carpool or bike together!
- Milestone Rewards: Keep using green transport, and watch the rewards roll in.
- AR-based Virtual Tree Planting:Every green trip completed allows users to collect a virtual tree, leading to the planting of a virtual AR tree anywhere in Toronto. This feature not only gamifies sustainable travel but also has real-world impact—each virtual tree planted results in an actual tree planted in the city, with the virtual trees named after the users who planted them. This interactive map of Toronto's new virtual forest is visible to all app users, encouraging exploration and real-world interaction with the locations of planted trees.
Project Timeline:
User Research:
Beside secondary research, we conducted user interviews with selected stakeholder group; car owners commuting to work by their cars in Toronto on a daily basis.
After the interviews, we analyzed and organized the research data using ‘Progress Making Forces’ framework and creating User Personal. The insights from research data analysis helped us dive deeper into their world and shaped our understanding of our target audience's needs, behaviours and problems, guiding our design strategy for a user-centric and engaging app experience for them.
User Persona
Progress Making Forces Framework
Sketches
Low-Fid Wireflow
