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Tag
A blockchain-based supply chain tracker aimed at bringing transparency of "sustainability activities" to consumers.
Project Details
Role:
Researcher, User Interface Design
Duration:
15 weeks
Tools Used: Figma, Miro, Adobe XD
Category:
Blockchain, Supply Chain, Sustainability
Goal
Using blockchain technology, to create transparency within the retail supply chain such that consumers are aware of the sustainable aspects of their purchases.
My Role
I served as a UX Designer and UX Researcher on a team of 3
We worked together on most of the research, however my contributions were:
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Desk Research
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Interviews
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Ideation (IA, wire framing and high fidelity prototypes)
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Presenting (creating the visual style of the entire team)
Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothes is either burned or dumped in a landfill.
What's more shocking, is that the average consumer (you) didn't know about this.
So, we thought of uncovering this for all to see.
Using Blockchain
The Solution- A platform that tells you how and where your clothes come from.
Landing page. This explains the purpose of the software platform, and how it works.
A how it works section to visualize the blockchain technology.
The crux of the platform. A scoring system defined by sustainability.
A short dive
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Company officers make profile to view a basic information dashboard
They are shown 'ledgers' which are logs of specific parts of the supply chain.
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Which provides them with a piece by piece information log of their product inventory.
On the User facing side
A browser plugin provides labels to items on clothing websites. Shoopers are able to get the Tag data on the chosen item.
How does this solution fit into the retail industry?
The fashion industry contributes approximately 2.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in a single year, equivalent to 4% of all global emissions
Consumers don’t know who made their clothes and most brands have complex supply chains that lack transparency.
OPPORTUNITY
We imagine a world where
consumers trust brands’ work on environmental sustainability.
With this in mind, we looked at the existing reality of the textile industry.
RESEARCH PLAN
What we looked at
Online surveys of over 45+ people
13 experts interviews
Sectors:
- Sustainability
- Retail
- Blockchain
- Supply chain
- Consulting
Market observations for:
- Retail fashion
- Blockchain
Published articles
White papers
Reports
Market trend articles
Webinars
INSIGHTS
What we found
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Lack of awareness of UN Sustainable Development Goals
Lack of information surrounding: verifiable metrics on environmental impact and if brands’ environmental impact is true vs. what they say
Distrust for customers between brands wanting to seem relevant or "on trend" with their sustainability efforts vs. brands that are actually doing good in the world - don’t know who to believe.
Insights
Create better awareness around standardized & verifiable environmental impact metrics such as the UN SDGs
Provide verifiable & truthful information that consumers actually trust to be true
Empower environmentally conscious decision makers to implement blockchain within their organization.
Themes
Managers/ company owners are knowledgeable but find it difficult to establish a unified message
Sustainability efforts of companies are not easy to verify, because of dispersed supply chains.
No clear guidance or acceptance on “how” to implement verifiable sustainability practices.
Many certifications in the market related to different standards of sustainable but, are very expensive to get especially for smaller businesses.
No method of verifying, tracking, and incentivizing sustainability practices of retail companies because each and every step can be digitized to put on a platform.
How Might We's
Simplify sustainability tracking for textile companies like playing Lego?
Create a verifiable data tracking system like witnessing fireworks?
Help incentivize companies to walk the sustainability talk like babies’ first steps?
Solution Plan
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Design Outcome: To create a platform which provides a real time data of each textile product’s journey in the supply chain, to each stakeholder in the system.
2
Design Outcome: To create a widget extension for web browser that is integrated to shopping wesbites.
Design Guidelines
The guidelines were defined based on how we could offer our blockchain solution via a platform. These helped us with choosing the function, how the platform would be accessed, and not affect the shopping habits of the customer
MUST
Be appealing to customers
Offer clear sustainability information. Be a widget and a separate website / platform
SHOULD
Be appealing to manufacturers and brands
COULD
Showcase more in-depth info regarding the sustainability we present if customer chooses to "learn more"
Encourage customers to demand more information from the brands
WANT
Take customers to another platform
Disrupt purchasing
Over-complicate the purchasing process
Information Architecture
Product Development
We then looked at ways to broaden the product from three verticals for develping an effective roadmap.
Product Branding
To develop a visual style and a product identity
Business and Revenue Modelling
To create partnership opportunities and to generate revenue
Competitive studies
To scope the market for competition and collaboration.
Go-to-market plan
Our 3 year plan accounted for several iterations to the platform, as well all the partners we will need to take on to keep our business sustainable. Our strategy is to start small, and implement what we learn when we expand.
