SUSTAINABLE SILICON VALLEY (2014-2015)
User testing and prototyping for new web app
CHALLENGE
Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV) was formed to produce significant environmental improvement and resource conservation in Silicon Valley through the development and implementation of a regional environmental management system.
SSV's executive team wanted to develop an online assessment tool that would allow companies to easily assess how environmentally sustainable their organizations were, and provide clear pathways for improvement.
MY ROLE
I worked alongside two UX designers to help develop prototypes of the potential assessment tool using Axure RP. My core contribution was the development of an online usability survey to test the team's prototypes and assist in further refining the solution.
MY PROCESS
1. DEFINE
Understand who we were designing the assessment tool for and why
2. DESIGN
Assist in refining low-fi prototypes, testing, and iterating
3. DELIVER
Present directions to executive management team
1. DEFINE
When I arrived at SSV my goal was to understand who exactly would be using this assessment tool and why.
In speaking with the design team, I gathered that companies and organizations struggle with assessing their environmental sustainability across multiple channels in their business (Leadership, Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, etc.). And, even if they were able to assess where they stood, creating a plan of action for improvement seemed like a daunting task.
SSV put together a rubric synthesizing existing information and resources into manageable pieces, providing executive management teams with an easy way to assess where they stood, and provide steps they could take to improve their environmental sustainability. SSV wanted to explore taking this rubric and translating it into an online assessment tool, making it easier for more companies and organizations to access this information.
SSV's sustainability rubric
SSV's design team had been tasked with exploring ways to translate this rubric into an online assessment tool.
2. DESIGN
Once I understood who we were building this assessment tool for and why we were building it, I was ready to start designing. The design team had already started working on some potential solutions and prototypes. I assisted in refining the existing low-fi prototypes using Axure RP.
First round prototype
Another first round prototype
Once we had a few working prototypes, I assisted in the development of an online usability survey using Google Forms. The survey was distributed internally to SSV members that would potentially use the assessment tool in their companies and organizations.
It became clear that the prototypes we had put together still had too much information and were not easy to navigate.
The feedback we received gave us valuable insight to continue iterating on the prototypes. I decided to try a new solution entirely that framed the information in a more assessment-driven format, progressively disclosing information as questions were answered. This substantially reduced the amount of information that was presented at one time, and created a more linear approach for users to follow.
Step 1 of second round prototype
