Time Bank.
Help people reduce excessive smartphone use and harness people's motivation to engage in digital low-carbon behaviours
00. OVERVIEW
This project aims to combine the reduction of mobile phone usage time on a personal level with low carbon behaviour on an environmental level. The side effect is to promote the implementation of personal time management behaviour and to increase the sense of personal responsibility attributed to carbon emission.
Methodology: Design Thinking
Duration: 1 Week
My Role: Research, Design
Tools:
Miro, Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop, Teams
Features:
Detecting hours of internet access and digital carbon emissions
Set length-of-use timers for specific apps
Create task lists
Contribute to carbon offsets
The growth of mobile phones also leads to potentially addictive behavior, which can have a negative impact on the psychological and physical health of the individual.
The over-dependency on technological products led to people being enslaved. In addition, the large amount of data exchange contributes to a number of digital carbon emissions. Controlling the time of use of smart devices can effectively reduce digital carbon emissions and benefit for personal wellbeing.
Digital carbon footprint
Use the points you earned to support real-life low-carbon projects
Digital report showing the digital carbon footprint generated by each application
Supporting the project
Feed page allow users to unlock their digital board and plant virtual trees by using the points stored in time bank to dispel the fog
My planet
01. Empathise
User Research
Smartphone usage habits and attitudes regarding low carbon living
Valid Responses: 186
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Almost 100% of mobile phone users check their phones unconsciously, and more than 70% have already formed a habit of checking their phones.
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Around 70% of respondents to a question about how to reduce mobile phone use indicated that they had taken deliberate steps to curb their mobile phone usage.
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The desire to use the phone varies considerably by mode, with constant loading and blurred images decreasing the desire to use the phone.
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A majority of people (around 80%) believe that reducing carbon emissions is relevant to them and something that should be done.
Finding
Users support low carbon behaviour, but will not be used as the primary trigger for behaviour change. They may be more willing to take action when it is compulsory or low-effort.
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People often need external interventions to manage their mobile phone usage, such as coercive measures.
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The two modes of continuous loading and blurred image processing are most able to reduce their desire to use the phone.
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Incentives are more likely to motivate subsequent use and habit formation after people have completed a time management task.
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Low effort, visible results and detailed action lists provide greater incentive for users to implement low carbon behaviour.
02. Define
Persona
With the data collected from the user research, I created a persona as a potential user by anthropomorphizing the data, describing the user's habits, needs, pain points and personal profile.
User Story
Then, combining the needs and pain points in persona, I sketched out the empathy map to help distill and clear my understanding of the user and to set the stage for a subsequent user journey map to reduce the bias and assumptions that come with a subjective stance.
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As a user, I need compulsory measures to help reduce the time they spend on the smartphone because he feels it difficult to put down his phone for a long time if there is not any punishment.
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As a user, I need incentives or personally relevant activities to promote personal environmental behaviour because he seldom conducts low-carbon behaviour spontaneously.
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As a user, I need a timed system or time visualisation to remind them of the length of time their phone has been in use because they often put on their phone habitually and use it continually.
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As a user, I need to know the carbon footprint they are creating because he is willing to support low-carbon activity but has little knowledge of it.
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As a user, I need to repeat and reinforce the cycle by converting specific behaviours that reduce smartphone use into habits, such as through incentives because he finds it hard to turn reducing mobile phone use into a habit.
03. Ideate
Brainstorm
Hook model-based virtual digital banking helps users develop mobile habits
Trigger
Users avoid the distractions that come with a mobile phone and want to focus on completing their tasks.
Actions
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Setting task-based timers
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Set a daily timer based on the number of hours each app is used
Investment
Purchased virtual trees will be stored in the app, divided by region, as a personal collection.
Rewards
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Virtual Currency Rewards
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Theme-specific badge awards
During the concept development stage, I invited five members, including the three interviewers, and took turns exchanging ideas with them, working as a team to generate as many potential solutions as possible and taking a vote to select the solution that each person felt was most appropriate.
User Journey Map
From that journey map I gleaned the following key insights and opportunities：
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Users can set up timed tasks in advance, or set the number of hours of phone use per day and not be allowed to use the phone at certain times.
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The need for coercive or punitive measures to re-motivate users at the point of abandonment.
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There should be medal-like incentives for users when they complete milestones.
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The leaderboard approach may stimulate a competitive mindset among users and act as a trigger for continued use.
04. Solution
Reminders of excessive mobile phone use through gamification
From the previous key findings, we can suggest solutions to control phone use by setting task timers or reducing the length of use of specific software. These hours will be saved and converted into gold coins to unlock different regional boards and trees, which can also be used to support real-life environmental projects.
Statistics
Learn about digital carbon footprints and mobile phone usage hours
Games
Unlock new panels of game and buy plants to mitigate pollution
Investment
Save coins into time bank and support real environmental projects
Storyboard
05. Prototype
Exploratory feedback
Focusing on the core functionality identified in the previous phases, I sketched out the initial wireframes for Time Bank and conducted exploratory testing of the paper prototype with three participants.
Wireframe
Based on the exploratory feedback from the user testing of the wireframes, I modified and added to the paper prototype pages and used Figma to create a mid-fi prototype.
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Add a filter function that allows you to select to view some information based on different criteria.
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Reduced ease of up to the next level. Possibility to set unlocking conditions for different areas to increase playability.
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When completing tasks over a period of time, there can be medals as an incentive to stimulate a sense of achievement.
06. Final Screen
Log in and preface
The preview page describes the main roles and functions of the Time Bank. Users can manage their phone usage time by using the timer function in the app. The coins earned can be used to acquire more trees to decorate the continent or to support low-carbon projects.
Homepage and Digital reporting
View your phone's usage hours and your digital carbon footprint at any time to help users visualise their data.
Homepage
Dedicated hours statistics
Digital Carbon Footprint
Time on screen
Task-based timer, a daily usage length timer set for the application
Set up the tomato clock to enable focus mode to complete set tasks and convert those hours into coins in your account upon completion.
Set the number of hours you can use per day for a specific app and when the available time is used up the app will automatically close back to the main screen. If you continue to use it, the screen will be adjusted to monochrome mode to reduce the desire to use it.
Task-based timer, a daily usage length timer set for the application
The hours accumulated from completing tasks will be held in your account in the form of tokens to buy virtual trees and plant them on unlocked boards, or they can be donated to support real environmental projects.
Upgrade to unlock different areas of the board and plant virtual trees to disperse the dark clouds of pollution.
Some real-life environmental projects waiting for support
Rewards and personal page
Achieve different achievements and earn medals to give the user a sense of achievement and the joy of collecting.
Prototype
Interested in a project? Or have any comments you would like to make.