Major Project
Assisting UK industrial micro-businesses in sourcing local sustainable material [Read more]
SmartSource prototype
SmartSource offers micro-businesses a way of communicating with each other to quickly build sustainable supply chains.
It uses algorithms to match and facilitate communication between micro-business in local communities. This helps to build relationships between like-minded companies that have complementary waste resources, quickly and for a low cost.
The problem
The central forecast estimates commercial and industrial waste arisings in 2020 will be 43.9 million tonnes.
Resource-intensive use, industrialization, and high emissions produce detrimental consequences for the environment and the population.
Industrial symbiosis (IS) facilitates movement towards a sustainable circular economy. This concept prompts industries and businesses to cooperate in exchanging resources and production infrastructures. Manufacturing companies are at the center of this. They have the highest potential for establishing symbiosis relationships.
Research methods used
Methods included:
15 contextual interviews with government workers, institutions, charities, startups, and established businesses, to understand resource waste management tactics and look at differences between what they did.
5 photo diaries were used to document and reflect on the positive and negative interactions they had during resource waste sourcing and disposal, to look for emotional triggers and pain points.
3 contextual observations helped to categorize and evaluate statements given in interviews.
Autoethnography and crowdsourcing helped me empathize and provoke reflection on the causes of habits.
Key emotions and pain points
Pain points, identified by research, were categorized by what frictions were causing them. This insight allowed emphasis on key emotions that were drawn out as result.
Design process
Insights were turned into opportunity statements.
“How Might We?” questions were generated to think of divergent solutions to the issues and put through "Crazy 8's" to push each concept further.
Bodystorming, co-design sessions, and contextual prototyping helped identify features in the design.
Card sorting and the MoSCoW prioritization method were used to polish features, refine the user interface, and make sure user requirements were met.
Context shots
Context shots
Thomas Mott
Adaptive, interactive and meaningful design gets me out of bed
I’ve worn many hats as a designer, working on projects that use product, graphic, service, user interface, and user experience design. I take every opportunity to evolve my thinking to deliver human-centered designs and experiences.
I love working with new technologies; researching new ways to use them and incorporating them with existing techniques to see the variety of results that can be achieved.
Major Project
Assisting UK industrial micro-businesses in sourcing local sustainable material
Awards
Product Design BSc: 1st (78%) Bangor University