Problem Space
Since laptops are such a ubiquitous part of modern collegiate life, we wanted to explore the opportunities (or lack thereof) for proper disposal provided to students and understand how to most effectively eliminate this major source of e-waste and bring about electronic recycling awareness.
Background Research
We explored various facets of this space in order to understand what kinds of physical issues were faced by individuals who work for prolonged periods of time at a computer. We conducted a literature review and a competitive analysis in order to understand what research had been done and what conclusions could be drawn from such work, as well as what products already existed and what purported problem they were trying to solve. Many of the current on-the-market solutions took the form of an app that users had to engage with on their phone in order to track seated posture at a laptop or desktop computer.
Data Collection
After we had gathered enough information on the topic to inform our understanding of the issue at hand, we executed three different data collections methodologies to gathers insights from potential users about where their pain points lie when it comes to retiring laptops.
The first method we used was a survey, wherein we reached out to students at Georgia Tech both digitally and in person to find out what their experiences were with retiring and acquiring laptops.
The second method we used was a semi-structured interview, in which we met virtually with four Georgia Tech students on-on-one to understand their particular laptop histories.
The third method we used was a unstructured interview coupled with an on-site business visit targeted specifically at stakeholders, whereby we went to four different business and organizational entities to understand their roles in the laptop lifecycle, and where there might be gaps based on these roles. These entities included:
- Georgia Tech's Office of Information Technology
- Microcenter
- Best Buy
- Ecycle Atlanta (a laptop recycler and hard drive destruction company)
Data Synthesis
Affinity Mapping
The four individual semi-structured interviews we conducted were parsed into notes and organized by category. The below images are samples of the high-level insights gained from this categorization activity. The high-level themes drawn from this exercise were that users:
- seek out information about tech recycling, tech repair, and second hand purchasing
- neither the recycling or trade in processes are transparent to users or stakeholders
- find various reasons to not take action with old laptops
- felt it is more practical to get a new laptop than to repair or refurbish an old one
- find that other options present themselves before they consider buying laptops secondhand
- have financial considerations in regards to buying used electronics
- have different purposes for different laptops they own, even if a device sits idle much of the time
- believe their private data need to be protected
- may never retire an old laptop (instead allowing it to sit unused in some capacity)
- feel that second hand purchases must meet high standards
and stakeholders feel that:
- profit concerns and governmental regulation keep them from engaging in recycling practices more
Hierarchical Task AnalysisThe research findings we identified allowed us to recognize a common pattern of actions that user take while both retiring and acquiring laptops. These actions were grouped into two tasks - deciding what to do with an unwanted laptop and acquiring a laptop - so that we could better understand the subtasks that factor into each of these user processes.
Survey ResultsOur survey inquired about Georgia Tech students' laptop history so that we could understand what the common habits are surrounding devices that are no longer in use. We found that 60% of respondents simply store these devices in a private places, and when asked why they did not recycle or resell the device, over 60% said that the recycling process is foreign to them, and almost 45% percent said their device is either too outdated or broken to be profitable.
Research Findings
Upon synthesizing our survey and interview data, we identified nine research findings that stood as themes amongst the data:
1. Recycling and trade in programs are invisible to the majority of consumers
2. Getting rid of old equipment is not perceived as urgent or even necessary
3. There is a lack of accessibility/options for recycling, trading in, compared to other electronic devices
4. Specs and capabilities are the most important factor in choosing a new device
5. Users tend to get a new laptop before they address what to do, if anything, with the old one
6. Users do use their old laptops for things; it is good as a backup choice
7. Second-hand purchasing is held to a higher standard than purchasing new
8. Users care a lot about their personal data
9. Users tend to consider giving a laptop to someone they know first before considering other options
After synthesizing our data and identifying user task flows, we were able to determine nine design requirements that our potential solution should address in order to meet the needs of our users. These requirements are categorized as functional and non-functional.
Functionally, the design should...
- provide information about accessible nearby options for retiring a laptop
- provide details about the chosen recycling/reselling/other process
- facilitate the safe transfer of data
- meaningfully and accurately describe device capabilities
Non-functionally, the design should...
- motivate action
- promote trust
- be financially accessible
- be environmentally friendly
- be usable by students coming from different locations
The Brainstorming Process
Using our functional and non-functional requirements, we conducted a brainstorming session where we used the Crazy 8's technique to come up with ideas and a "Yes, and" approach to hone those ideas into ten distinct designs.
The 10 Design Ideas
The images below highlight the ten designs that came out of our brainstorming session:
Storyboard Idea #2: Laptop Lending Library
This laptop Lending Library would be a place for students to list their previous laptops on campus so that other students can borrow or buy a laptop from the library by verifying their Georgia Tech identity. This system also enables buyers to try out the device for some time by lending it, before making the decision of buying the device.
Once these ten designs were established, we had to further hone ideas down to two top designs, and create story boards for those solutions.
Storyboard Idea #1: Jacket Listings
This platform can be accessed by people verified to be affiliated with Georgia Tech to sell and buy used laptops. After the seller or buyer posts their device or their needs, the other party can swipe through a lot of requests quickly until finding the right match. By swiping in a particular direction, the buyer and seller can quickly get paired up to chat about the details of the transaction.
After coming up with the above storyboards, we as a team ultimately felt that the Laptop Lending Library addressed the most of our design requirements in the most effective way, and so this became the design that we prototyped. This design consists of a mobile application that users would log in to using their Georgia Tech credentials so that they can engage in buying, selling, renting, and lending activities, as well as a physical kiosk station centrally located on campus where students would go to drop off and pick up laptops that they sold, bought, lent out, or rented using the app.
Our prototyping process included three stages: low-fidelity, mid-fidelity, and high-fidelity.
Low-Fidelity
Our low-fi prototype consisted of pictures of hand-drawn screens that were imported into Figma and arranged so that we could gather a visual understanding of the flow of both the mobile app and kiosk interfaces.
Mid-Fidelity
Our mid-fi prototype consisted of digital an uncolored enhancements to our low-fi mock-up, which started to give visual life and dynamic structure to our design.
High-Fidelity
Our hi-fi prototype incorporated our visual design language that we developed through the creation of mood boards and discussion of what aesthetics we wanted our interface to achieve. The tonal words we used to create this aesthetic were:
- friendly
- approachable
- inviting
- sustainable
- futuristic/forward-thinking
Hi-Fi Prototype Navigation
Using the Laptop Lending Library would require interaction with two distinct interfaces, so our high-fidelity prototype captures both elements of the overall process that a student would step through, including the mobile app and kiosk interactions:
Mobile App Browsing
The landing page of this mobile app is designed with popular marketplace platforms in mind, with onboarding information about the experience and a browsable feed that can be filtered.
Kiosk Main Display
Beyond the mobile app interactions, users can also engage with the Lending Library through the tablet display located adjacent to the physical laptop kiosk that would house all of the devices listed in the system. Available laptops can be browsed and chosen for rental or purchase through the secure buying process offered on the mobile app.
Kiosk Drop OffThe kiosk interface also serves as a means of physically putting laptops into the system and taking them out. When a laptop listing is created in the mobile app, the seller/lender would navigate to the kiosk so that their laptop could be 3D scanned and placed into locker in order to be officially available for purchase or rental.
Kiosk Check OutIn much the same fashion or dropping off a laptop that has been listed or for return upon the end of a rental period, the kiosk interface would allow for pickup of a laptop that has been rented, purchased, or removed from the system by the lister.
User Tasks and Likert Scale Questions
We established a series of tasks for our users to navigate through in order to gather feedback about all the key features of our interface, as well as Likert scale questions for them to answer subsequently about their experience. Each task/question addressed one of the top two design requirements we identified as essential for our solution to achieve.
To gather feedback on our high-fidelity prototype, we conducted feedback sessions with four Georgia Tech students to understand their perspective on the navigability of the mobile app and kiosk interfaces. We created a series of tasks for the students to complete and followed the tasks with a series of Likert scale questions to gauge overall perception of the interfaces.
Thematic User Feedback
After our four feedback sessions, we established feedback findings based on the commentary received during each task, and associated those findings with our established design requirements to better understand categorically what improvements our interface would need if it were to be iterated on further.
Since this interface was designed and created for the purposes of a class project, the evaluative feedback will not be used to enable future prototype improvements, and rather serves the purposes of allowing our team to reflect upon our design process and recognize what went well and what lessons were learned along the way. Upon reflection, several key takeaways came out of this experience:
- quick and dirty research strategy can often gather pivotal insights that are needed to determine next steps
- no two data gathering sessions will be the same, so prepare prompts and questions to be adapted as needed
- iteration is incremental and requires focus on both small details and holistic interface functionality
- there are often opportunities to change directions to improve a design, even if you are far into the process
- every interaction had with others about the project is a learning opportunity
Mobile App Rental or Purchase
To fit with common user schemas regarding online purchasing, we have implemented the ability to purchase a laptop within its product listing. We have also added the functionality of allowing a device to be rented in the same fashion, giving users more flexibility in how they want to engage with the platform.
Mobile App ListingBecause the mobile app is a hub for buyers and sellers, users can also use the navigation bar to create a new listing and initiate the selling and/or lending process for their device. This process gives the seller/lender a multitude of options for personalizing their listing, thereby enhancing the reliability of the product listing on the app.
