WaterAware
Background
Clean water is essential for many people, including myself. In my country, everybody has access to clean water straight out of the tap. It's a matter of course that we usually don’t think twice about. Unfortunately, not everyone is that lucky. In many places, the people have to drink dirty and polluted water and often walk a longer distance to get water, and then carry it back again. Which I can imagine being tough, especially carrying lots of weight in very high temperatures. Over a billion people don't have access to a clean drinking water source. 1 in 4 people will live in a country with freshwater shortages by 2050.
In this case, I am going to do some research on the topic, and try to find a solution- making a prototype for an app that might help, and also in the end I will make a prototype for an educational website or app that can help educate people about water crises.
This app or website will be used for people to be more aware of their water consumption, and therefore save water, and to help countries to deal with water crises at the same time.
Our goal and expected result is that people will use less water, because of a good water usage overview and educational information about water. It should be an easy app to use.
Goal: The goal is to educate people about water, and motivate them to use less water where they also have the possibility to do some charity for people in countries with poor water sources, by earning points when using less water.
Challenge: The challenge might be that not many people from countries with good water resources will care to save water, because they have not experienced situations like that. And it's usually more than enough water for the citizens. Education would be important to show that it's a big problem many places.
Process: I started doing research about the topic, and then made a survey with related questions about water usage. After that I created an affinity map with the results. Based on the results I got a primary persona for the project. When that was done, I started to ideate about the app and what it should include and look like. I also did a competitive research with 3 water saving/educating apps, and looked online for inspiration from similar apps. Then I did some low fidelity wireframes, and after that I did a information architecture and user flow of the app. Furthermore, I finished the mid fidelity wireframes and got them tested by 3 participants who all managed to finish the session -but with a little variety when it comes to time.
Results: The app was easy to navigate through according to the participants from the user testing. I would probably to some changes due to the fonts and design. Since its not high fidelity, I would do some changes if I were to make high fidelity wireframes.
Planning
This case study will take 21 working days
Primary Persona
Based on the survey -I’ve made a primary persona named Petra Olsen
Petra Olsens goals:
- Wants to reduce climate change damages on water resources
- She doesn’t want most of the world to have water shortages
- Wants to reduce climate change damages on water resources
- She doesn’t want most of the world to have water shortages
- Make it easier to reduce water usage & find solutions to poor water resource
Key Path Scenario
With key path scenario, I am going to show how Petra Olsen will interact with a task on the app I am thinking of develop. I will focus on how Petra detailed will perform the task.
After downloading the app, she will have to create a detailed profile with name, , which country & city she lives in, address, optional profile picture. After, she can read about water crises, consequences of it, and how to save more water. Then she can see how much each of her water using devices are using, and because of that she will have a overview of where she can start using less. If interested, she may also see her historic water usage statistics, in addition it is possible to narrow usage down to each day, or the whole week, month and year.
Problem & Vision Statement
The four W’s (who, what, where and why):
Who is experiencing the problem?
This problem is experienced by people who lives in countries and places affected by water crisis.
This problem is experienced by people who lives in countries and places affected by water crisis.
What is the problem?
The problem is that due to several causes, more and more countries are having unstable water resources Petra wants to save more water to help poor countries with poor water resources. She would also like others to do the same, for a bigger impact.
The problem is that due to several causes, more and more countries are having unstable water resources Petra wants to save more water to help poor countries with poor water resources. She would also like others to do the same, for a bigger impact.
Where does the problem present itself?
You can find different kinds of water crises in many countries like : Libya, Western Sahara, Yemen, Djibouti & Jordan
Why does it matter?
It matters because water is essential to having life on the planet. Without it
It matters because water is essential to having life on the planet. Without it
we wouldn’t be able to live for very long.
Why’s:
Why is there water crises? The 4 main reasons are water pollution, overuse of water, climate change & growing demand of freshwater.
Why should we be concerned about water crises? Because if we run out of water or pollute all the waters, then there will not be possible for humans and animals to live here.
Why don’t we save more water? In Norway for instance, we are not too concerned about it since we have good water resources, and we can get clean water out of every water tap. If saving water could help other countries, I think that more people would be willing to use less.
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How might we help Petra Olsen & others to save more water? How might we develop an app to meet Petras needs and goals? To develop a solution for Petra, I would have to make a web/app were she can easily have an overview of her water usage, and se how much she saves, and where she uses most water. As a motivation for people, having a reward system might be a good push!
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- My vision statement is that in 5+ years, most of the population will be aware of their water usage, and trying to use less, because that will also benefit other countries and their habitants who lack clean water-
Ideate
An app to inform and educate people about water and how to save water. And a water tracking device connected to it, who tracks how much you use on each water using device at home. When you use less, or stays below a certain amount, you’ll get points that you can use to e.g donate water and hygiene products , or education about it in poor countries, and also building and finding solutions to water crises in these countries. Maybe called " Water Aware". I made a mind map with the ideas.
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
Recommendations From User Testing
Fun quizzes about water could be a good asset to the app. And as one of the competitors- alert when there is a leakage. One participant wanted to have bigger text. Otherwise the participants didn’t have any thing they disliked.
Improvements
I would consider changing the fonts. Making leakage alert.
