Cash Can: connecting sellers and drivers for returning empties.
Client
Dakota Sinclair
Duration
12 weeks
My role
UX designer
Tools
Figma, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator
Problem
College and university students living in inconveniently located areas struggle to return empty bottles and lack access to personal transportation, resulting in cluttered living spaces.
Solution
Create an end-to-end app that connects individuals with drivers for returning empty bottles.
01. Research
Research goals
Identify existing apps related to returning empty bottles.
Discover how people with disabilities and/or without cars return their empties.
Identify the strengths/potential for potential users.
Competitive research
There are few apps and websites offering services to recycle empty bottles. Most are run by non-profit organizations. These services often donate the profits to local charities. Alternatively, some apps offer seller/driver dynamics but are only accessible in cities with a population above 1 million.
User Research
The research was conducted with a target group of working adults aged 18 to 40, using online surveys through Google Forms, online interviews, and in-person interviews. The responses can be summarised as follows:
First Insights
Users face difficulty returning empty bottles without personal transportation, expressing frustration with the limitations of public transportation when carrying large items. They’d like to earn some profit with minimal effort, even if the margin is low. However, there is currently no efficient platform that allows for the exchange of services between sellers and freelance drivers in Ontario, presenting an opportunity for our project.
The research has also identified two user groups to serve through Cash Can solution.
Group 1: The Seller
Individuals without vehicles interested in returning their empty bottles but lack the time or ability to organize the return.
People with busy lives.
College and university students.
People with disabilities
Group 2: The Driver
Young adults with vehicles seeking extra income and wishing to romote recycling.
People who can take errands to make extra income in their free time.
Recycling enthusiasts who want to help others.
Personas & User Journey
Two personas were created to understand the app's users and their user journeys to map out each step to achieve their goals within the app.
02. Define and Empathize
Design Challenge
Cash Can founder's request was to have an app suitable for users with different goals and needs, which may result in varying behaviours within the app. To ensure the app is easy and accessible for all users, we must ensure the driver feature is not hidden or only available through an external website.
Solution
Present a clear and concise interface that allows users to select and switch whether they want to be a driver or a seller based on their current needs. With seamlessly navigating between the two options, the app must guide users through the necessary steps to complete their transactions.
03. Ideate and Develop
User Flow
Each user flow was organized to include essential functions for each persona to achieve their objectives, such as placing a return, accepting returns, redeeming profits, and rating experiences.
Sketches & wireframes
The initial sketches had the seller/driver selection feature on the sign-up/log-in screen.
However, user testing revealed this concept was ineffective, as users found it repetitive and unengaging to select the same option repeatedly.
As a result, we had to scrap this idea and develop a new design to make the user experience more intuitive and engaging.
Style guide
We established the Cash Can brand to maintain visual consistency across all screens during the prototype process.
By doing so, we ensured that each screen followed the same visual direction, which helped to unify our team.
04. Prototype and Test
Mid-fidelity prototype
To avoid scope creep, the selection of Seller/Driver was moved to the home screen to simplify the prototype. The focus was shifted to avoiding multiple versions of the same screens and creating the same look and feel for both user types.
Usability testing feedback
After receiving significant feedback on the mid-fidelity prototype, it was discovered that the driver-related feature required improvements. It was challenging for users to locate how to add driver information, and a new finding appeared: the driver persona does not have to be a driver. The option of returning items by bike to save on fuel costs was even suggested by some testers, which might impact our target audience's age range.
Final product
It took some time to organize the information and the potential flows. The final design was an agreement between the project manager, the design team, and the client.
Seller POV
Onboarding
As a first-time user, Debora (the seller) will sign up for an account.
A one-time sign-up with basic information helps the app create a profile for her for future usage.
Seller POV
Return is completed & Rating
When the listing has been selected by a driver, she will be notified by the app.
Debora will receive the profit and could be able to rate the driver’s service once the transaction is complete.
Driver POV
Pick up & Pay
Once he has arrived to pick up the empties, he will be prompted to confirm the pickup and select a form of payment for buying the empties.
He has 2 options for payment: Directly from a credit card or using funds in the wallet.
Driver POV
Finish pick-up & Rating
The app directs Mike to the nearest return depot based on his current location. Mike finishes the transaction by clicking the finish button in which he can then rate the sellers as well.
When the process is finished, Mike will now be able to check the balance in his wallet.
Seller POV
Place a return
Once it has been signed up, Debora can now create a listing to return empties. Just fill in the quantity, set up a time window and followed by the days on which she will be available to have someone come pick up the empties. No more time pressure to stay home and meet the driver when she is busy with school and her part-time job.
After that, she goes back to the homepage and can see her listing is active and is waiting for a driver to accept.
Driver POV
Checklisting
Mike (the driver) has been using the app to earn some extra cash on the side. Since he already has an account, he just needs to sign in. Mike then selects the pickup button to see available listings in his area. The listings with complete information provided by the seller. This information helps him to easily check the quantity when arriving at the destination.
Driver POV
Multiple pick-ups
The application also allows Mike to accept more than one listing as long as he confirms that his current listing has been picked up.
06. Handout and Retrospective
Outcome
CashCan project attracted the attention of Dave Brown from AMI. He invited us to join his weekly podcast to talk about how CashCan could be relevant to the disability community. He considers Cash Can a great application for the blind-low vision community.
Reflection
As this was a volunteer project, I did not have as much time as I thought. I wish I could have the chance to do more usability tests and spend more time on accessibility matters. That would allow me to iterate the layout and functionality by gathering user interaction information.
Seeing how every step of the process helped improve the project makes me proud to be a part of it. It is also noteworthy that CashCan, perceived as an app that can help low-vision users, encouraged me to expand my knowledge in this area.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this product develops after being released.