Web Design

Remake Project

Web platform for facilitating reuse and upcycling

Designing a platform enabling creatives to reuse unseen production waste

Overview

Designing a fully functioning website prototype for the non-profit to increase the visibility and accessibility of reusable materials while improving the experience of upcycling.

Approach

Secondary research, user research, interviews, user testing, low and high fidelity prototypes

Timeline

January - April 2023

Project done as a part of the Reuse Service Project in collaboration with Caroline Bussick and The Remake Project.

Hypothesis

There is a growing demand from consumers to switch to eco-friendly and sustainable products. One way we can tackle this is to create unified platforms that enable and facilitate consumers to take action.

For this project, I collaborated with the local non-profit Remake Project to establish a I wanted to focus on the accessible opportunity within the reuse market.

User Research

Interviews

Through talking to crafters, DIY makers, and artists I identified common trends, user journeys and started determining our target audience.

Makers

“Project come in such short notice, we usually don’t have too much time to be looking around for materials”

“Even if it's not always the material that I'd hope for, then I think that knowing that it's a more sustainable way of sourcing things would make it very attractive.”

“While I prefer to reuse, it takes a lot more energy and scouting out what would work the best”

“Word of mouth is how we usually find materials”

“I only go to the store if I can see they have what I want online

After talking to manufacturers and small business owners, I was able to identify their pain points, needs, and motivations.

“It broke my heart to throw them away when I was working in the warehouse”

“We were only able to find one company that reuses our materials and the wait is 9 months, we have to have a more steady outstream”

Manufacturers

“We can only hold onto excess inventory for about 6 months and we run out of space”

“As a small business owner my only option is Facebook Marketplace”

“If I give it to Goodwill it’s probably going to go to the landfill again”

Talking to makerspace coordinators and managers helped me understand their pain points and goals for their space.

Makerspace
Coordinators

“Our only cost hosting workshops is the price of the materials”

“Students use plywood and acrylic a lot but Home Depot only sells acrylic we can’t laser cut here”

“We are always looking for more community engagement within our space”

“We have trouble finding programming to support our makerspace, it’s usually empty”

“It’s hard sourcing materials, we even ship stuff from abroad”

Pain Points

Manufacturers

Lack of systems for sustainable waste disposal

Lack of knowledge and resources

Lack of consistent outstream for waste

Makerspaces

Unable to find programming for makerpaces

Lack of knowledge and resources

Waste management

Makers

Lack of resources and consistent inventory

Lack of knowledge and standard materials

Lack of online presence

Pain Points

Current Market

Looking at what’s already out there, I was able to identify patterns within other platforms and services, as well as their flow and usability.

Spoiler Alert

Fabscrap

Inturn

Materials for the Arts

Rheaply

Reuse Hub

Market Research Insights

Looking at what’s already out there, I was able to identify patterns within other platforms and services, as well as their flow and usability.

Pre-consumer

Post-consumer

B2C

B2B

Surplus materials

Canceled orders

Craft materials

Building materials

Indigo Hippo

Fabscrap

Spoiler Alert

The Reuse People

Materials for the Arts

Thrift stores

Cincinnati Reuse Hub

Rheaply

Building Value

Scrap it Up

Inturn

Market Gap

Pre-consumer

Post-consumer

B2C

B2B

Surplus materials

Canceled orders

Craft materials

Building materials

Indigo Hippo

Fabscrap

Spoiler Alert

The Reuse People

Materials for the Arts

Thrift stores

Cincinnati Reuse Hub

Rheaply

Building Value

Scrap it Up

Inturn

Market Gap

Target Personas

In-person interviews and casual conversations allowed me to gather insights, define and establish our target audicences to better serve them in the development of our platform.

User Journeys

Hearing our users' stories and frustrations, I was able to draft out their journey and opportunities for us to involve in the website, and features to include.

Information Architecture

To determine and properly organize the content of our web platform we did card sorting exercises with people and created the outline of should be included. It was interesting to see how different people organize information differently.

Wireframing Process

Identified through the information architecture, I sketched out wireframes on paper and created concepts to be tested with our target users as well as concepts to be validated.

Concept Features

After evaluating our users needs and existing solutions, I conceptualized 3 features to implement as low fidelity wireframes and test with users.

Browse Materials

Request/Donate Materials

Material Exchange

Usability Testing

To test the user flow of our prototype, I assigned interviewee’s 2 tasks:

Find and check out a material
Say you couldn't find the material you were looking for, what would you do?
Would any of these features benefit you, if so how?

To test the user flow of our prototype, I assigned the interviewee’s 2 tasks and a question:

Find and check out a material
Say you couldn't find the material you were looking for, what would you do?
Would any of these features benefit you, if so how?

To test the user flow of our prototype, I assigned interviewee’s 2 tasks and a question:

Find and check out a material
Say you couldn't find the material you were looking for, what would you do?
Would any of these features benefit you, if so how?

Concept Features

Couple people including our stakeholder had very good insights around the navigation menu and the order of buttons while the rest completed tasks seemlesly.

"Too many choices”

“I would just go to the website I know that has what I need if I couldn’t find what I was looking for.”

“I don’t know if I could depend on this for my specialty projects but it would be very useful during prototyping because thats when I have the most flexibility but also would be fun to browse and try to base a project out of only available materials.”

“I built a set for a community theatre from foam and we had no money, I think this would be a great resource for them”

“I would use it depending on the materials you have but I can’t tell you what I would need because I do projects on a whim”

“ I think this overall is busy. I feel like there's a way to address the hierarchy here. Also acknowledging the person, better way to express that if you log-in you can check your order. ”

“Reading left to right, I see the request material first so I would check that first rather than the exchange”

Too many choices”

“ I think this overall is busy. I feel like there's a way to address the hierarchy here. Also acknowledging the person, better way to express that if you log-in you can check your order. ”

“Reading left to right, I see the request material first so I would check that first rather than the exchange”

“I would just go to the website I know that has what I need if I couldn’t find what I was looking for.”

Too many choices”

“I would just go to the website I know that has what I need if I couldn’t find what I was looking for.”

“I built a set for a community theatre from foam and we had no money, I think this would be a great resource for them”

“I would use it depending on the materials you have but I can’t tell you what I would need because I do projects on a whim”

“Reading left to right, I see the request material first so I would check that first rather than the exchange”

“ I think this overall is busy. I feel like there's a way to address the hierarchy here. Also acknowledging the person, better way to express that if you log-in you can check your order. ”

Feedback

After the tasks were completed and they explained their process through the steps, I asked them rate the proposed features and explain their reasoning.

Browse Materials

6 out of 7 people said that browsing materials would be the the best offering

Request Materials

5 out of 7 people said that they would check the material sourcing request before the material exchange future, contrarily to my hypothesis.

Material Exchange

5 out of 7 people said that they would use the material exchange but individuals would want to drop off their materials rather than having to deal with it themselves.

4 out of 7 people said that they would use the material exchange but individuals would want to drop off their materials rather than having to deal with it themselves.

Testing and Concepts Recap

Through the testing interviews, I have gathered a lot of very valuable insights regarding our target audience. It helped me understand that it is difficult to cater to individual needs and that we need to focus on different material distribution methods to establish efficiency and to reach a broader market.

People search for materials by asking “What is the best material for”

People search for materials by asking “What is the best material for”

Material categories are extremely vast and not an easy standard procedure to pin down to certain ones to serve individual needs

Production oriented makers tend to look for very specific materials that might be out of our scope.

Production oriented makers tend to look for very specific materials that might be out of our scope.

“Money saved” as a feature

“Money saved” as a feature

Repeatability and the quality of the material is important for production oriented makers

Revised Target Audience

Professional
Makers

Casual Makers

Students

Arts
Organizations

Community
Theatres

School
Makerspaces

Community teaching organizations
(Non-profits)

Community
Makerspaces

Professional
Makers

Casual Makers

Arts
Organizations

Community
Theatres

Students

School
Makerspaces

Community teaching organizations
(Non-profits)

Community
Makerspaces

This key finding opened up a new avenue to reach out to organization heads and acquiring for their needs, while professional makers with specific needs became our secondary target audience.

Design System

After the evaluation, we decided to take out the material exchange feature due to our user's feedback and our operational capacity as a non-profit start-up.

High Fidelity Designs

After the evaluation, we decided to take out the material exchange feature due to our user's feedback and our operational capacity as a non-profit start-up.