Week 14: First Prototype
Building my thesis project — Scrapsy.
📌 Introduction
Another week flew by!
This was definitely a busy one, as I had to juggle between school assignments + thesis + meeting with my mentor + attending Interaction 21 and its events. But, you didn’t come here to read about that.
As I mentioned last week, I had to start building my prototype to eventually test it with potential users this week. Let’s see how did that go.
🎬 Plan of Action — Updated
You might remember that my project involves digital and physical actions for users to complete the cycle. To solve this, I took the approach of simulating those actions through my platform. This did not change from what I initially planned last week, but what did change were the features I had outlined to test, which were:
Scheduling → Collecting → Pick-Up
However, I realized that these three steps didn’t give my users enough context on what my platform was about. Therefore, I added these two new layers:
Onboarding → Choose a Provider → Schedule → Collect → Pick-Up
🛠 Prototype
For the onboarding experience, I kept the first screen I had made, which introduces the goal of Scrapsy, and invites users to join the movement. Once users choose to begin their journey, they will encounter the provider screen — it is not complete.
I have my own assumptions of what users will say of this screen as it lacks a good chunk of information regarding the service providers, location, pricing, etc. I chose to keep it that way, open to the public’s feedback. Oh! I almost forgot to mention that I purposely decided to switch my prototype to black and white for the sake of getting feedback on the concept and not the colors I originally had. (Hopefully, that’s worth mentioning.)
When we move to the scheduling section, users will choose the time and date I set out in a brief — yes, I prepared a brief with goals for them to read and follow. I will share that brief later in this post, paired with a prototype video in action. Not much changed in the Scheduling screen from earlier times; just minor details on how I made it interactive.
For example, I decided to keep the calendar expanded and simple because I shouldn’t redesign how we use calendars already, and it’s not the main feature of the platform. Also, I tried to replicate Apple’s time feature but failed — if you know how to make text snap when users scroll on Xd, please enlighten me.
As you can see from the screen, the simulation begins here. This might not be the best approach, but it works to get the idea across. Basically, users will “collect” their food waste by clicking it, which will trigger it to fall into their digital bin. For testing purposes, I created this interaction for three days — Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Towards the end of collecting, users will receive a notification reminding them that it’s Pick-Up Day. It will also notify them when the service provider is near their home so the user can meet with them.
Like the Collection screen, the Pick-Up will be simulated by clicking on the bin, which will trigger it to fall in the service provider’s container. I am missing an important step in the Pick-Up process, which provides fresh produce in exchange for food waste. I opted not to include it because I would need to add another flow on top of the one I currently have. Before adding more options and routes for the user to choose, I want to test if they find this system easy and convenient.
Now that I covered the prototype in detail, I will share the brief I prepared for the testing sessions with the prototype video.
Prototype’s Brief
This is a prototype for a food waste platform I am building for my thesis. My project is focused on helping users get rid of their food waste responsibly, in an effortless manner.
Before we begin, I wanted you to be aware that the physical actions required in this project have been made into simulations.
These are the goals you need to accomplish with the prototype:
1. Choose Groundcycle as your service provider.
2. Set the pick-up time for your food waste for Saturday 13th, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 PM. You want 1 bin to be picked up.
3. Collect your food waste
4. Bring your bin to the service provider.
Please think out loud, and don’t be afraid to say something that might hurt my feelings. Your honest feedback is valuable!
Prototype Video
💭 Final Thoughts
I had an interesting talk with my thesis buddy, Rafa, about how some of us in the class were too focused on the interface rather than on the concept itself. I found myself doing so as I wanted to create cool interactions/triggers/feedback for my project. I had to stop myself and make the decision of not displaying colors and focus less on how my text didn’t snap when it was scrolled. These are all minor details that I can, later on, focus on developing to get the outcomes I’d like for my concept.
As always, stay safe and healthy. See you next week.✌🏼
Thank you for taking the time to read through my post.
To connect or share your opinion, feel free to reach out to me via email at crussoherrera@sva.edu.
