Trash Toss is a mobile game primarily targeted for students at University of Washington. The game content is designed based on real campus context. Through playing, people will learn how to correctly sort wastes and apply the knowledge into their real recycling behavior on campus. The goal of the design is to increase the awareness of recycling in a playful and meaningful way.
According to the University of Washington recycling report 2015, it has been found out that compost is the largest contaminant in trash (72%) and recycling (36%) bins.
Among the subcategories, food waste is most often misplaced, followed by compostable other which is mainly comprised of food and drink containers.
There are various types of educational signage indicating trash categories at trash bin area in academic buildings and dining halls on UW campus
The UW Garbology group provides educational programs on campus areas with high student population. The programs are mostly in forms of special events, volunteer activities, educational courses and brochures.
We read though the recycling reports from last three years, conducted brief filed study by observing people’s recycling behavior on campus and talked to people about their awareness and options about recycling. Based on the findings, we concluded the current causes in two categories, which were awareness and infrastructure.
Insufficient knowledge in disposing of trash
Miscatergorized compostable and recyclable waste
Varieties in food vendors’ container subtypes
Ambiguous in package labeling and bin signature
Design, improve and update educational materials, activities and other formats by collaborating with campus partners, with a specific focus on gathering public attention.
Minimize waste and maximize recycling by increasing participation in the use of self-service, desk-side waste collection system.
Identify needs for improved recycling and composting infrastructure on campus that will increase service efficiencies and waste diversion opportunities.
Refine collection services and routing schedules for increased efficiencies and improved customer service.
The concept development initial stage started with ideation with thumbnail sketches. At this stage, both conceptual and practical ideas were generated for further development. The main focus areas were educational outreach and display, system and service redesign and improvement, assistive identification technology and peer motivation.
With group discussion and evaluation, the main direction for our concepts were decided as gamification for educational purpose. We narrowed down our ideas into six main concepts. They were digital, physical and event games about trash sorting, and playful interaction with digital trash bins.
The final three concepts focused on three different kinds of interaction and context. The first one is mobile phone or tablet based game mainly for single player. The second one is laptop or desktop based game launched in dormitory and requires collaboration and teamwork. The third one is physical trash sorting game which requires easy installation on campus.
We evaluated the final three in terms of playfulness, cost, feasibility, sociability and how effective that they would influence player’s real-life behavior.
The final concept is a mobile app game with multiple stages and scenarios in based on real campus context. Players will gain trash sorting knowledge by identifying and throwing given trash into three different bins in the game. Students will earn rewards from campus food vendors for achieving expected levels and social sharing.
Build around existing infrastructure and connect with stakeholders
Incorporate and augment real-world behavior through playing
Meaningful rewards, achievements and levels
Learning by doing and playing
Works for the scenario of waiting in line for food purchase or class
Easy download by scanning code from advertisement on campus
Students are engaged with cellphones while waiting
Easy access to the game anytime with smartphone or tablet
The system map indicates the relationship among the product and stakeholders including game players, campus food vendors, UW recycling department and campus recycling infrastructure. It demonstrates the big picture of how trash toss will launched, maintained and influence the whole recycling system of University of Washington.
Students, faculty and staff of University of Washington are encouraged to sign in with their university ID so rewards can immediately deposit into their university account seamlessly.
To enhance the advertisement effects, the game offers instant reward for new users which can be applied to food and drink purchase from partnered food vendors around campus.
Most beginner-level games are designed in lecture room context, where people usually come with waste such as paper, used pencils and napkin. These waste categories are relatively easy to recognize and do not require separating the object.
Most beginner-level games are designed in contexts of dining hall and cafe shops where people mostly make compostable waste of leftover food, food packages and drink containers. These categories are relatively difficult to identify and often requires separating the package or container itself. Without hint, players are expected to identify and split the waste into multiple parts and throw separately into different bins.
After the player fails to throw the waste into the correct bin, the game will immediately inform the player of its correct category by showing it on TV screen at the top of the game interface. By doing that, player will learn the correct waste categories while having fun by throwing waste into bins.
During game breaks, there will be fun facts about up-to-date recycling report and recycling tips based on the contamination feedback of UW campus waste sorting.
There will be rewards for different score levels. The reward can be either 5 dollar credits on Husky Card 10% off coupon for one-time use. The rewards will be valid for purchases at partnered food vendors around campus.
Every week, there will leaderboard published among game player. The top three winners will be rewarded with Husky Card credits or coupons. Players are encouraged to share Trash Toss on Facebook and other social media and will receive extra game scores for social sharing.
The process from research to storyboard is teamwork contributed by me, Kasturi Dani and Ricki Xie in 4 weeks, completed on Oct. 2015.
The interface design is individual work by me in 1 week, completed on Dec. 2015.
Digital medium: Photoshop, Illustrator
My contribution: research, concept generation, concept sketch, system map design and visualization, storyboard design and sketch, wireframe and interface design