Project Overview
This two weeks sprint split the work with each team member taking on the bulk of the work for one week.
Communication was mostly asynchronous but included slack messaging, and video conferencing. A Kanban board was created to keep the group on task during the sprint.
The Team
A data analyst and myself
My Role
UX/UI Designer
The Problem
Most people are unaware of what carbon offsets are, how they are used, and whether they have a real impact on mitigating climate change.
The Opportunity
To analyze and visualize carbon offset data in a way that is accessible and understandable for the general public. We will know we have solved this when a user understands carbon offsets and how carbon offsets are used around the world.
Project Roadmap
Final Deliverable
The Carbon Offset educational dashboard teaches users;
- The voluntary carbon offset market
- How these carbon offsets are used around the world
- The effectiveness of carbon offset in mitigating carbon emissions
Research and Analysis
Research Subjects
Data Visualization
The group was given a large data set of data changing over time. I needed to understand the best methods of translating large data into comprehensible visuals.
Takeaways;
Always provide context for the data
Explain and highlight important data points
Keep it simple
Know your audience and what they hope to learn and accomplish from the graph
Dashboard Design
The project was always meant to be a dashboard so I looked into common design patterns of dashboards.
Takeaways;
Dashboards reside on a single screen
Make optimal use of the space given for data
Summarize data at top of the page
Show the meaning of data through labels
Start with a high-level overview and then provide paths to increase the level of granularity
The Voluntary Carbon Offset Market
The subject of carbon offsets has many opposing viewpoints.
Takeaways;
The Voluntary Carbon Offset Market is not regulated
no one knows how effective offsets are in mitigating climate change
Data Analysis
Coinciding with my background research, the data analyst was using Tableau to make an analytics report out of the data given. We identified the key pieces of information from the report including;
Background history of carbon offsets
Difference between carbon credits, carbon offsets, credits issued, credits retired, and credits remaining
The different types of carbon offset projects (by category) within continents and individual countries
We also discussed ways in which to improve the clarity of the graphs as the design of the dashboard was underway.
Ideation
Rapid Sketching
After compiling all of the insights taken from the research I started making desktop sketches, the dashboard's native platform, and then moved on to mobile.
The idea was to sketch as many different ideas as possible as quickly as possible to give me many different design options to pull from.
Prototyping
Desktop
I kept the educational value, simplicity, and clarity in mind while building the initial desktop prototype.
Homepage
Final Design & Rationale
Navigation: A side navigation bar is a standard dashboard design. Separating the data by continent teaches the user how carbon offsets are used around the world.
Carbon Offset Summary: To maintain educational value the top-of-page summary;
Breaks down the research into bite-sized breadcrumbs creating a story explaining carbon offsets to the user
Provide a brief explanation of each graph and its significance
Individual Graphs: The graphs themselves could be enlarged offering the user a closer view of individual data points for better readability. Hover states magnify data points.
Continent Page
Side Navigation Bar
Continent Data Summary: Major stats for each continent were placed on cards at the top of the page, summarizing the data shown below. Users are given a snapshot of the raw numbers in bold before seeing the data visualized below.
Individual Graphs
Mobile Prototype
Hamburger Menu
The hamburger menu is standard for menu’s with more than five options.
The carbon offset factoids were moved to their own separate section of the app because of space constraints.
Carbon Offset Summary
One graph/card per screen and subheaders within each continent to display the different graph options. I didn't want to overload the user with multiple graphs on such a small screen that the user would need to scroll through.
Continent Page
High-Fidelity Screens
Reflections
What I Learned
This was my first design sprint so more effort was put into making quick decisions and compromising elements that didn't serve the end project goals
I learned about asynchronous communication with my partner and how to communicate across timezones and different schedules
Future Steps
Leaning more into the educational aspect of the platform through
Researching more educational apps
Making the dashboard itself more interactive
Research carbon offsets further to get a fuller picture of the subject matter to teach to the users
Completing multiple user tests, to garner more insights about how the app functions
Add more screens to the dashboard itself that improve its educational value