arv
App Innovation
November 2023
Role
UX/UI
Tools
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Team
Elin Hedlund
01.
Brief
We were tasked with creating user-centered digital tools to address urban environmental challenges in Gothenburg. Our focus was on developing solutions that promote reuse to support sustainability, behavior change, and potentially foster collaboration.
Concept
I chose to focus on the issue of our consumer society's buy-use-discard mentality. Most products today are cheaply made, encouraging replacement over repair, fostering a disposable culture and driving constant consumption.
However, inherited items from family and friends—like furniture and clothing—carry sentimental value and are often durable. The challenge is understanding why we don't utilize them better. Why buy new when we could reuse? How can we change this behavior?
And so I choose to develop a concept for an app that motivates others to reuse, preserve, and take care of what already exists, focusing on creating a stronger interest in inherited items.
02.
Process
To shape the app concept, I consulted friends, family, and conducted a survey to understand preferences. I discovered a strong desire to preserve inherited items' stories and memories for future generations, tempered by concerns about wear and tear. This informed the focus on heritage preservation and durability in the app design.
Product
The end result of my research was ARV, an app used to document inherited items, preserving their memories digitally through text, videos, or voice recordings.
Users can categorize items, link their ARV account to their family tree for heritage tracking, and share items with selected contacts. The built in AI function is able to scan items, providing additional insights into their origin, history and uses. Further encouraging peoples interest in inherited items as to foster a culture of heritage preservation and reuse.
03.
What I learned
This project was the first project of a larger scale that we got to work on individually. I got to learn how to properly use auto layout in Figma as well as how to prototype my product. At the time, it felt like magic!
There was a lot of information gathering too, creating surveys that I could use as data for the creation of the app. Insightful to say the least, and a workflow that I’ve carried with me through future projects.
Let’s chat!
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions regarding my work, potential collaboration or if you’d just like to chat.
Looking forward to hear from you!
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