- Measure how sustainable you've been
- It keeps a log and you can track your progress
- Daily tips to improving sustainability based on weakest areas
- Rewards? For week of certain improvements (not a good idea, you could input false information to win)
- Syncs up to your utility bills to track how much energy and money you're saving
- Set your own goals/targets for the week
INPUT:
- Travel ( walk, car, carshare, bus etc)
- How long the lights are on for (at home)???
- Screen time (phone, laptop, tv etc)
- Purchases (bought clothes, appliances etc)
- Printing (at work e.g)
- Appliances used (washing machine, dishwasher etc)
- Waste vs recycled
Name dilema
I had no idea where to begin finding a name for the App, so I did a bit of research into fitness app names and current sustainability app names as well. I went for fitness apps as you input what you've done in your day in a similar way as you'd input exercise and what you've eaten into a fitness app.
Fitness app names:
Charity miles
Cycle Meter
Digifit iCardio
Endomondo
FitBit
Strava
Pact
May my Fitness
The Walk
Rock my Run
(and many others0
Sustainability app names:
JouleBug
HowGood
PaperKarma
Rippl
iRecycle
Name generation:
After researching different names for apps I was really inspired by how simple and short they were, and decided a one word name would have much more impact. I brainstormed ideas along with a few peers. The last three names are made up words, as one of my peers suggested I should come up with a cool new word for the app, that has no previous connotations.
Sustain
Sustain & Save
Save
Nourish (too foody)
Flourish
Leafy
Leafee (sounds like lea fee, a charge or fine)
Canopy
Trunk (trunk sounds slightly sexual)
Cuteux
Nafe
Nare (last three are too bizarre, tried combining nature and life, only it didn't work)
After a fair amount of thought, Flourish was decided on for the name of the app, as it has a great sound to it, and represents what the rainforest could do if people would stop destroying it.
Sustainability app research:
Before I started designing the app I undertook a short bit of research into sustainability apps which I found when researching for names, and which gave me a few ideas as to the content of the app which could help it be more useful and expand it. Also, all these apps below are free, which is an incentive to use it as you don't have to pay for anything.
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| JouleBug allows you to see what your friends (who also have the app) are doing to cut down their carbon footprint. This is a great way of involving social media and your contacts in keeping green, and is a great way of sharing ideas that everyone can benefit from. JouleBug also connects to your utility bills so you can track how much you are saving each month, which is a great way to actually see the real benefits of living greener. |
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| Rippl (which I love the name, has a great punch and is really relevant to the organisation who set it up) give you simple tips on how to be more sustainable, which is great if you don't know where to start. You can also set goals for yourself and track how you're doing, which is a real incentive when you can see your progress, and the own goal setting means you can make them as realistic and simple as you like, giving you a greater chance of achieving them. |
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| iRecycle is great as it shows you the recycling and proper disposal locations for over 200 products, which is great for dangerous or more obscure items which you didn't realise could be recycled. |
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| PaperKarma is an app I think will really kick off soon, as everyone hates junk mail. This app allows you to scan your junk mail, and it contacts the mailers and removes your name from the distribution list. This not only stops all the unwanted junk mail which just ends up in the bin or recycling anyway, but this also saves trees as there isn't so much wasted paper. It was named one of Apple's top apps in 2012. |
Logo designs:
Simple, minimal, green, contemporary, no flowers or leaves, take the colours from the sketches.
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| I started off using Soleil typeface, a minimal sans serif that was used for the body copy in the guide, so it all has a similar identity. I like the circle idea from the posters, so tried to simulate this in a logo, however it looks kind of like the facebook logo modified, especially with the "f" on it's own. On the left is the finalised app advert to go in the guide. Simple but you get all the key information. |
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| One of my peers suggested I should use a leaf in the logo, so I traced round the most leafy leaf I had painted so it is a flat shape. This makes it look very tropical, however it looks too block colour on block text, there's no depth to it. So instead I image traced the original leaf sketch to give it more pop and definition, but no matter how I tried placing it nothing really stood out. |
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| Attempted a different angle with a branch leaf underneath the name, however this looks way too weddingy and forced. One of my peers suggested to have an outline of a leaf and it's stem in a heart shape with the word or "fl" in the middle, making it as an app icon which could be shown on in iPhone menu for example. However as you can see this doesn't look great, and the scripted typeface I chose, although is readable in full word, in two letters you can't really tell what it's supposed to mean. The scripted typeface also makes it look kind of feminine as well, especially when combined with the heart leaf. |
All of this research and idea and design generation has been really helpful in the development of this brief, as things are starting to get nailed out. The next stage will be to finalise the logo and the guide advert as well ready for printing.
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