Nolimbah

Team: Sole UX Designer working in collaboration with Charlotte Charbit (founder, Nolimbah)

Project Type: Client Project

Duration: 2 months, starting May 2021

Methods:

• Website Audit, User Interviews, Affinity Mapping, Personas,

• Secondary Research, Usability Testing

• Competitive Analysis, UX Writing, Content Planning, Prototyping,

Waste Disposal in Indonesia - Let’s talk Numbers

Let me start by saying I absolutely loved working on this project for Nolimbah. The whopping numbers and statistics around plastic pollution in Indonesia underscore the importance of taking quick action.

I stepped into the project knowing absolutely nothing about waste mismanagement and waste leakage in Indonesia. However, it didn’t take me long to understand how waste collection rates aren’t keeping pace with the growing amount of garbage generated each year.

As the sole UX Designer (and nature lover), I was tasked with researching our target demographic in Indonesia. I was primarily looking for a solution to help Nolimbah launch its waste management app. During my kickoff website audit and design consultation, I realised that Nolimbah was in a temporary chicken and egg situation. They couldn’t progress with the launch of the app without having a set number of registered users. Users didn’t want to sign up without first viewing the app. The main challenge then was getting users to sign up for the pre-launch of the app.

What Was Nolimbah’s Purpose and What was the Problem We Were Hoping to Solve?

The first step in my design process was to understand the company. I wanted to learn all I could about their purpose and why they chose to come up with a waste-management app. I had more than a few questions to ask.

What was unique about them? I was curious to know what set them apart from their competitors. Moreover, were they solving a real problem? Lastly, who would benefit from their service? I kept Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle Model in mind while drawing up a list of questions for the founder. Based on her responses, I planned my next steps.

Planning my Data Gathering Strategy

The main goal of my research effort was to understand people’s behaviours and habits around waste disposal in Indonesia. I wanted to understand the local’s pain points and their perception of the website Nolimbah had initially designed. My data collection method of choice in this instance was User Interviews. Read on to find out why.

Conducting Foreign Market Research through User Interviews

Unlike waste management and disposal facilities in Australia, garbage disposal and recycling work quite differently in Indonesia.

As mentioned in the infographic above, many households don’t have access to waste collection services. To put things in perspective and understand how the locals managed their waste, we set up interviews with people living in Indonesia. Our participants also included expatriates and those who visited the archipelago on vacation. Through the interviews, we collected data around people’s garbage handling behaviours. In addition, we found out what they were hoping a waste-management app could do for them.

Aside from learning more about the participant’s waste disposal habits, we wanted to find out if Nolimbah was clearly communicating their purpose to their audience. Was it enough to motivate people to register for the app?

Clustering the Responses Collected and Bringing Data to Life

The Positive Feedback We Received from User Interviews about The Website and Its Purpose

Although People Care About Indonesia’s Plastic Pollution Crisis, Most Participants Would Not Register for the Nolimbah Waste Management App

Participants were concerned about waste mismanagement in Indonesia and other parts of the world. Several users even went the extra mile to sort and dispose of their waste appropriately. Despite taking measures to reduce their environmental impact, most participants were reluctant to register for the app.

Users, however, were reluctant to register for the app without first being able to download it and test its features.

Our user interviews questions also provoked interesting responses that tied into the goals of our research. Here’s what we discovered.

Identifying the Frustrations and Expectations of Our Target Audience

With the data we collected, we recognised users had varying needs and expectations. Our user persona served as a reminder of their true frustrations and core needs. My next goal was to come up with a solution that would both satisfy their needs and support Nolimbah in successfully launching their app.

Defining the Direction of Our Design Based on the Insights Uncovered During Research

After sifting through all the responses collected during our conversations with our participants, a few things stood out.

• Communicate how the app was going to save the environment and increase the earnings of waste-pickers in Indonesia: The main objective of the redesign was to encourage more people to register their interest in downloading the app. To accomplish this, Nolimbah had to effectively communicate why they existed. Users appreciated how the platform was designed to help ‘pemulung’ a.k.a waste-pickers earn more money. We had to present this information early to encourage more people to register.

• Ensuring people understood that the organisation is legit.

• Prioritise the content based on what users were connecting to the most. A content audit was absolutely essential. It was important to review all the information that was on the existing website, including CTA buttons and headings. Words do matter. Many participants found certain waste-related terminology confusing. This was the perfect opportunity to refresh the site with engaging, persuasive and informative content.

• ‘Cash for Trash’. We were currently underselling this key feature of the app. Users were delighted to learn that they could collect financial rewards from trading their waste. If we highlighted this earlier, they’d be more eager to register for the app.

• Making the Instagram photos conspicuous. Participants enjoyed viewing the beautiful Instagram photos that were sitting at the bottom of the page. We could leverage this to keep them engaged and persuade them to register for the launch of the app.

Creating a Harmonious Solution that Meets the Needs of the Business and its Users

Before coming up with any high-fidelity prototypes, I chose to define and prioritise requirements using the MoSCoW Method. It helped me clarify my workload and ensure that we were all on the same page.

The Solution - Nolimbah.com Redesigned on Figma

Working on the Visuals through the Eyes of Our Users

Participants loved the subdued colour tones used on the original website. We, therefore, chose to maintain the same colour palette. We wanted to create visual interest through a combination of these earthy and natural tones together with striking photography from Nolimbah’s Instagram handle.

The Prototype

Key Changes:

• Improved content hierarchy. Users would now view the most pertinent information as soon as they visited the website. This included information about the mission of the organisation, what they did, and how it benefitted the locals and the environment.

• We used both content and images to grab the reader’s attention and illustrate our main points.

• We replaced confusing terminology with simple and easy to understand language.

• There was a real need for explaining how the app worked. We came up with step-by-step instructions and embedded a video to help users understand the process effortlessly.

• We also created a section to acknowledge people who had served Nolimbah as volunteers. Our goal here was to encourage more people to join the Nolimbah community and volunteer their time.

While I feel satisfied with the progress made so far, this is by no means the end of the design process. The prototype will be used to test behaviours and functions. The team at Nolimbah may end up uncovering some additional usability issues after running a few tests.

It will help them iterate faster and design alternate solutions if required, before developing it on a CMS platform. Once the mobile app is launched, Nolimbah will incorporate more educational content to the website and the app, informing people about proper waste disposal techniques in Indonesia.