wilding project
Wilding is a mobile application for people who want to work together to improve biodiversity in Northern Ireland. Wilding brings enthusiasts and biodiversity experts together to rebuild our native spaces. Wilding’s AI function can make project design recommendations to meet the needs of the user’s outdoor space.
Project type
User Experience
TOOLS USED
Paper, Miro, Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Firefly
DESIGN + PROTOTYPE
Created by Orla McCarney
Northern Ireland ranks 12th worst out of 240 countries when it comes to biodiversity loss
Natural History + RSPB
Why did I choose this Project?
I discovered that Northern Ireland's biodiversity is in such a bad state due to many years of human intervention such as urbanisation and intensive land management. Biodiversity is essential in creating a natural defence against the effects of climate change.
I thought that taking on a project like this would be an interesting challenge. I was excited to contact biodiversity and wildlife organisations, learn how they engage with the public and how technology like AI or AR/VR could expand their audience and create an engaging product.
I also have a personal connection to this topic as my dad and I have been slowly re-wilding parts of our garden so I have first-hand experience with how easy it can be.
The solution
So, I had my problem, but I knew I still needed to know more to create a realistic solution. I started by looking at what services exist already that tackle biodiversity locally or globally. The organisation Butterfly Conservation have an online campaign to help people create 'Wild Spaces' in their own homes or community spaces. Their website became a very useful resource for me.
However, this organisation is not well known amongst the wider community. If you are not already a member of a wildlife or biodiversity group, you will likely never see their events and resources. Having a resource like this as an app will be more engaging and efficient for users instead of researching and reading through multiple websites to find relevant information.
Along with advertising the app on social media, I would also have posters in public spaces so that people in the older demographics can find out about Wilding.
user research
For my user research, I created two surveys. The first gathered information on the general public's attitude towards biodiversity, their current understanding, and whether they would engage with a product such as Wilding. The second survey gathered information from professionals who work in biodiversity and wildlife organisations.
Click through the slider below to see some responses from these surveys.
General Public
What I learned is that most people would be willing to create wild areas in their outdoor spaces. Most said that seeing others in the community doing the same would encourage them. This validated my plan for Wilding to have a community area on the app where users can share images of their spaces and ask questions to others using the app. Most survey respondents had access to a private garden, the second most common type of outdoor space was a patio. This will allow for a good range of projects they could create with Wilding. Most respondents were also interested in the idea of an AR/VR element, which can allow for lots of experimentation throughout project development.
Biodiversity Professionals
This survey was an extremely helpful resource for me. I learned some important things to consider when creating rewilding projects. I learned that they should comply with pollinator plans and the current environmental conditions of their outdoor space. This means instead of only asking for the user’s type of outdoor space and location, I should be asking them to conduct an audit of things that already in their garden such as existing plants, ponds, and trees, to ensure that the projects they will create environmental harmony. When asked to describe the issues they’ve faced from previous campaigns. Most respondents said stated ‘lack of knowledge’, ‘lack of motivation’ and ‘people expecting quick fixes' as issues.
Strengths and weaknesses
I think one of my strengths was the level of user research I was able to conduct. The surveys gave me a lot of useful information and I was able to create considered empathy maps and user journey diagrams. I also conducted an affinity mapping exercise to identify the key features required in Wilding and how these would be grouped into sections of the app.I made sure to revisit these diagrams and survey responses as I had learned from previous projects that I could get tunnel vision, and this could lead to the prototype losing some of its original focus and mission.
I made sure that my layout and text hierarchy fit standards by checking my work against Google’s Material Design resources. Wilding is also accessible to people with physical handicaps as there are ways to improve the biodiversity of an outdoor space with window boxes and items and materials can be delivered.
A weakness in my project would be that I didn’t experiment with a lot of different technologies to create the prototype. I wanted to integrate AR/VR into the prototype for which I could have used Bezi or Draft XR, but I couldn’t spare the time needed to learn how to use these platforms. Therefore, I animated the concept of AR into the prototype instead. My main priority when I was developing the prototype was to make the visuals engaging and the information accurate. If I had more time I could go into more detail and prototype a more realistic AR function.
challenges faced
The biggest challenge I faced was deciding on project goals and prioritising what I was going to design and prototype for Wilding within the timeframe. Originally, I had a lot of ideas and was trying to solve multiple problems at once.
However, this was not possible, and I learned that I needed to consider what features were necessary and what were ‘nice-to-haves’.Features such as a working AR function in the prototype had to be compromised and I designed an animated concept of an AR function instead.
Another challenge I experienced was deciding on the layouts of some of the screens. When I first designed them on Figma I did not like the outcome. It took time along with getting inspired from similar apps and using Behance and Dribbble, to improve the visuals of my prototype.
target audience
Wilding’s target audience will be any age from 16+. When I put out surveys, I got responses from the age of 19 to 60+. Gardening is a very popular hobby for older people, and I believe Wilding would be usable for anyone in that age group. Climate activism has become very important to the younger generation, so I think that Wilding has the potential to encourage a lot of young people to get involved.
Wilding also has an ‘expert-facing interface’ which will be for anyone who works in biodiversity or is very knowledgeable on the subject. These users will be able to answer general users’ questions, support them and create any polls or surveys they may want to ask the general users, to help their own organisations.
technologies used
I used various technologies throughout this project. During the idea creation stage, I used Miro for brainstorming. I used FigJam to create my UX mapping and flow diagrams. To create my prototype, I used Figma, as it is the industry standard. I developed my skills in creating micro-interactions and components for my project. I used Adobe Illustrator for most of my design and branding work.
The fonts were sourced through Adobe Fonts so there was a seamless transition between finding my fonts and designing with them. Adobe Illustrator also has a 3D and Materials panel that was fun to experiment with and helped develop my skills in illustration. I used a lot of images in my prototype as Wilding is a very visual app and its purpose is to make you focus on the beauty of nature.
Most of these images were sourced from Unsplash and some I took from online wildlife resources when I needed an accurate image of a species. I used Mural to create a SUS template which I then printed out to use for in-person testing of my prototype.
Explore the Prototype
Click the image below to follow the link to the prototype.
Designed by Orla McCarney