Marlene Simoncini-Lantz
Foodprint
Food lies at the human heart, however according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, global food waste and loss accounts for around 8% of total GHG emissions annually. Therefore, the idea behind this project was to find innovative ways to empower people to understand, reflect and shape their "Foodprint" towards more sustainable alternatives and diets.
The idea behind the project was to develop an application in the context of a university cafeteria in which students would have access to available options at the canteen with a eco-label that assigns a score of how ecologically responsible said dish is. This eco label is calculated with AGRIBALYSE 3.0, a French database that contains the most recent quantification of carbon emissions of unprocessed and processed foods and recommended by the European Commission when conducting sustainability analysis in the food and agriculture industry.
Being in charge of the UX/UI part of this project, I wanted to bring an aura of simplicity and fun. All too often, sustainability metrics like GHG emissions or electricity usage are accompanied by huge numbers that at first glance is hard to make sense of. The presence of an eco-score next to food options makes it easy for the user to assess their food options, especially in time sensitive environments like queuing up or needing a quick meal. As for the fun aspect, I decided to implement a gamification method where certain awards are achieved for completing requests.
Watch a Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q7Qpoqc4Gg
Pachamama
Pachamama was my brainchild for my Bachelors Thesis where I chose to partake in a capstone project, implementing User Experience and Design Principles into developing an application to guide users into employing more sustainable habits.
The thesis study contends that so far, efforts to stem the degradation of the planet have focused mostly on technological innovation (e.g. smart cities, IoT, carbon capture and storage, etc.) and policy (e.g. SDG 2030, COP, GHG regulations), but have neglected a key player: individuals, whose lifestyle and linear consumption habits in aggregate have a fundamental impact on sustainability outcomes. At the same time, mobile applications, because of their reach and versatility, provide a powerful tool to steer those bad habits towards more eco-friendly attitudes incorporating notions from behavioural science. Finally, use experience provides a methodological foundation that prompts users to act. Hence, the idea of developing an application promoting behavioural change by fostering and rewarding sustainable habits, centred on a well-conceived user experience architectural framework.
In conclusion, the Pachamama App aims at achieving sustainability by helping people bridge the intention-action gap through user-experience and choice architecture design, in order to bring non-conscious choices to the surface to confront any cognitive dissonance. It represents a step in the right direction to but remains as a solution "under construction" because change is a process and it does not occur overnight. The hope is that, as with other reform efforts of the past such as seat belt use or smoking reduction, it will eventually enjoy widespread success and become part of daily life.
