What I learned

Key takeaways: This project was challenging. It pushed me to rethink, iterate and improve my work. Previous university projects had a much shorter timescale (up to 9 weeks) whereas this project lasted 7 months. I could choose to be as in-depth with my research and prototyping as I felt necessary. It gave me time to receive user feedback throughout the project development which led me down some frustrating paths when I didn’t know where to go next. This ultimately led to a more robust solution and I’m grateful for those challenges.

What would I do differently? I didn’t experiment with different technologies to create the prototype. Originally, I wanted to integrate AR/VR into the prototype, for which I could have used Bezi or Draft XR. However, I couldn’t spare the time needed to learn how to use these platforms. Therefore, I animated the concept of AR into the prototype instead. My main priority when I was developing the prototype was to make the visuals engaging and the information accurate. If I had more time I would go into more detail and prototype a more realistic AR function.

Impact

This project was shortlisted for the Catalyst INVENT Green Horizons category – I presented a 15-minute pitch and show and tell of Wilding to a panel of experts in the tech, business and environmental sectors. The panel were interested in the idea and my UI/Branding received praise.
Finalist in the Catalyst Student INVENT competition – I passed the online pitch and completed an in-person 10-minute pitch to become a finalist in the Student INVENT competition. I attend the awards ceremony October 2024.

Final design

I chose this final design as I feel it best reflected what I wanted Wilding to achieve. It passes the SUS usability test and meets Google’s Material Design standards and UX principles. Also, this solution meets the majority of my project goals. Wilding's UI design was very successful and has received a lot of positive feedback. Testers feel it’s branding reflects the colour and elegance of nature.

View prototype

Wilding

Wilding is a mobile application for people who want to work together to improve biodiversity in Northern Ireland. Wilding’s AI function can make project design recommendations to meet the needs of the user’s outdoor space.

This was my final year university project. It was shortlisted for the Green Horizons category of Catalyst INVENT and was a finalist in the Student INVENT competition.

Read this case study to find out how I did it.

My role

I researched, designed and developed the prototype.

Project length

7 months (2023-2024)

Goal

To create a mobile app that made re-wilding fun!

Tools used

Paper, Miro, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Firefly

Problem

“Northern Ireland ranks 12th worst out of 240 countries for biodiversity loss”

-Natural History + RSPB

Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives.

Loss of biodiversity makes food supplies more vulnerable to pests and diseases. This means lower crop yields, reduced food security, and more reliance on synthetic inputs. Biodiversity loss also leads to species facing extinction. Currently, one in nine species is at risk of being lost from Northern Ireland. On top of that, we’ve recently discovered that more than 20 Bee species are facing extinction in Northern Ireland. Biodiversity loss is clearly an important issue facing Northern Ireland and I wanted to try and tackle this issue for my final year university project.

Solution

According to Rewilding Britain, the term rewilding means “restoring nature’s remarkable web of life, including habitats, natural processes and, where appropriate, missing species. I came across this term when researching what I could do about Northern Ireland’s biodiversity loss. Rewilding is usually large-scale changes, but I wanted to focus on small, simple changes, that anyone with access to an outdoor space could make.

Exploration and Discovery

Research method: Surveyed the public’s biodiversity knowledge.

As a baseline, I needed to understand what the public already knew about biodiversity.

What I found out: I found that most people would be willing to create wild areas in their outdoor spaces. Many respondents also said that seeing others in the community doing the same would encourage them. This validated my plan for Wilding to have a community area on the app where users can share images of their spaces and ask questions to others using the app. Most survey respondents had access to a private garden and the second most common type of outdoor space was a patio. Respondents were also interested in the idea of an AR/VR feature.

Next moves: These findings influenced my next move by allowing me to prioritise the following:

Building a community hub within the app: Wilding should have a community space where users can post photos of their progress, ask questions and get inspired.
Prioritise private garden and patio projects: I tailored my project templates and guidance to those that would suit the majority of my user base’s needs and circumstances.
Researching AR/VR tools: With respondents showing an interest in AR/VR features, I could allow myself to research and experiment with how this could help my product be more efficient and stand-out.

Research method: Surveyed biodiversity professional’s knowledge.

I wanted to know what professionals in biodiversity thought of my idea and if they had any insight into what makes biodiversity projects successful. Therefore, I contacted Ulster Wildlife, RSPB, Butterfly Conservation and Caomhnú Árann and others with a survey.

What I found out: This survey was an extremely helpful resource for me as I learned some important things to consider when creating rewilding projects. Projects should comply with pollinator plans and the current environmental conditions of the users’ outdoor space. This means instead of only asking for the user’s type of outdoor space and location, I should be asking them to conduct an audit of things that already in their garden such as existing plants, ponds, and trees. This way, I can ensure that the projects they will create don’t disrupt natural environmental harmony. When asked to describe the issues they’ve faced from previous campaigns, most respondents stated ‘lack of knowledge’, ‘lack of motivation’ and ‘people expecting quick fixes' as issues.

Next moves: My next move was to turn those expert insights into concrete deliverables:

Add an on-boarding site audit: Instead of just gathering data on the user’s space and location, Wilding should prompt users to input existing natural features (ponds, plants, trees). Wilding could also gather data such as soil type from the user’s location.
Embed pollinator-friendly guidelines: Wilding will provide region-specific native plant recommendations to support local biodiversity.
Introduced motivation and accountability features: Wilding should have progress badges, a points system and gentle reminders to keep users engaged enough to see their biodiversity gains.

Research method: Competitor analysis.

I decided I needed to do an in-depth competitor analysis to get more ideas for product features. I used SWOT analysis templates to analyse these products.

What I found out: I gained inspiration from the features they used and also learned from where these products fell. From this I decided on some features I may use in Wilding:

Likes and comments on posts in the community section.
Leaderboards for adding a light-hearted competition amongst users. As well as gratifying those who are dedicated to their re-wilding journey.
Invasive species detection. Wilding could allow users to tag an invasive species when they take a photo of one. This would then alert other users in that area.

If you're interested and would like to read more, view my blog post on market research here.

Research method: User personas and empathy mapping

After gaining conducting surveys and market research, the next step was to personify my user base. This was a very useful step in the design process because it allowed me to give a face and name to Wilding's target audience. I can then look back at these personas throughout the product development to ensure I am always putting the user first. I also conducted a few empathy mapping exercises using these personas to help contextualise the user's pain points, goals and feelings.

Target audience: Wilding’s target audience will be any age from 16+. When I put out surveys, I got responses from the age of 19 to 60+. Gardening is a very popular hobby for older people, and I believe Wilding would be usable for anyone in that age group. Climate activism has become very important to the younger generation, so I think that Wilding has the potential to encourage a lot of young people to get involved.

Wilding also has an ‘expert-facing interface’ which will be for anyone who works in biodiversity or is very knowledgeable on the subject. These users will be able to answer general users’ questions, support them and create any polls or surveys they may want to ask the general users, to help their own organisations.

UX Design process

Method: Flow Diagrams + Wireframes.

I wanted to understand what decisions and screens are involved in the user journey before I started building out my screens and prototype on Figma.

How did this step contribute to the final design? This was an integral step towards the final design of Wilding. Creating flow diagrams really challenged me to think of the user’s experience at every step. This process was iterative, the final versions of my flow diagrams were the result of coming back over time and seeing where things could improve, as well as, adding new features in. The wireframes started as rough sketches that I would test ideas of layouts on, then I designed low-fi digital wireframes that I would continue to develop over time into the polished look and feel of Wilding’s UI.

Method: Prototyping (Low-Fi + Hi-Fi)

After starting on paper with my flow diagrams and wire frames, I started developing the prototype. I began with a low fidelity prototype, taking the wireframes, I designed and linking them together.

This was the longest stage of the the product development. From January to May (5 months), I was building on the prototype. This process was not linear. I would constantly go back to earlier designs, testing them amongst my peers and changing details. Intermittently, I would refer back to my user personas to make sure I was meeting my user's needs.

To lean more about my process making these prototypes, read my blog post here.

Testing and Validation

Once I had a rough version of Wilding's prototype complete, I began to test it. I conducted user interviews and had the interviewees complete a SUS (System Usability Scale) survey for which I received a score of 89.

To read more about how I prepped for these interviews and the results you can read my blog posts here.