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Mobile UX / Behavior Change

GreenClick

Contribution

User research & competitive analysis

Synthesized insights - gap - opportunities

Designed IA & user flow

Designed app

Time

2 months

Platform

Mobile Application

GreenClick is a sustainability-focused behavior-change UX project that helps users reduce their digital carbon footprint through real-time feedback, low-effort actions, and habit-forming rewards.

Background

As digital technology becomes more embedded in everyday life, activities such as streaming, browsing, and cloud storage are consuming increasing amounts of energy which also contribute to carbon emissions.

Watching 10 hour of online video can produe about 4.4kg CO₂e - roughly like driving 11 miles.

With more time spent on phones and online platforms, the environmental impact of digital behavior is becoming more relevant in discussions around sustainability.

*Sources: Carbon Trust (Carbon impact of video streaming; includes per-hour estimate used here) and U.S. EPA (typical passenger vehicle CO₂ per mile).

The Problem

Everyday digital use can contribute to carbon emissions, but this impact is often hard to notice, easy to lose awareness, and difficult to act on without positive reinforcement.

Invisible Footprint

The environmental impact of digital behavior is difficult to perceive during normal device use

Low Daily Awareness

Users may care about sustainability, but often do not connect it to routine digital habits

Habitual Behavior

Because these actions feel automatic and consequence-free, they are easily repeated without reflection

Target Audience

Young urban users who are highly engaged with digital platforms, have basic sustainability awareness, and are more open to small, behavior-based lifestyle changes.

Demographics

• Ages 22-35

• Urban residents

• High daily smartphone use

• Comfortable with app-based tools and digital services

Behaviors

• Spend significant time on phones, streaming, and social media

• Rely on digital tools for work and study

• Already practice some low-effort sustainable habits

• Want to do more for climate

Motivations

• Care about climate impact

• Want actionable steps

• Prefer low-effort solutions

• Value transparency

• Respond to social proof

Research & Competitive Analysis

To better understand the problem space, I combined user research and competitive analysis to examine both user behavior and existing solutions.

User Research

Interviews

Surveys

I conducted user interviews and surveys to understand

What makes behavior change difficult

How users think about digital sustainability

What kinds of support feels motivating and realistic in daily life

Insights

Users are more likely to act when sustainable choices feel simple and easy to maintain.

Users stay more motivated when their actions are met with visible progress or positive feedback.

Even when users care about sustainability, digital carbon is often not a strong priority in everyday decision-making.

Competitive Analysis

Existing Carbon Trackers

Apps like Commons, Klima

✓ Good at education

✓ Raising awareness

✓ Provide general sustanability information

✗ Lack of feedback

✗ High manual input required

✗ More focuses on broader lifestyle not everyday digital habits

Habit Apps

Apps like Streaks, Habitica

✓ Excellent behavior reinforcement

✗ Not context-aware

✗ Generic, not eco-focused

The Gap

There is still a gap for an app that not only calculates digital carbon footprint, but also helps users build more sustainable digital habits over time.

Design Goal

Make digital footprint impact more visible

Create clearer ways for users to notice the environmental impact of their digital behavior in everyday use.

Reduce effort in sustainable action

Design lower-impact choices that feel easier to follow and maintain within existing routines.

Support repeatable behavior through reinforcement

Use feedback and encouragement to help small actions feel meaningful and easier to continue over time.

Information Architecture

First, I created an affinity mapping to group related features into pages and better understand how the app’s core content should be organized.

User Flow

Design Iteration

The design evolved significantly from early concepts focused purely on awareness to a behavior-driven system with a complete feedback loop.

Low Fidelity Wireframes

Onboarding

Home Page

Digital Footprint Report Page

Character Page

My Profile Page

Quick Suggestions Page

This first round of low-fidelity wireframes helped define the overall structure of the app. From there, I continued refining more detailed low-fidelity elements to develop key features and interactions before the high-fidelity stage.

Footprint Visualization: Made the data display more intuitive and visually engaging.

Monthly/Yearly Comparison: Improved clarity for easier long-term comparison.

Reward Selection: Shifted to a more visual layout for quicker interaction.

Final Solution

Every feature directly addresses specific user pain point or behavior barrier.

Onboarding

A short onboarding that introduces digital carbon footprint and the main character.

Address:

Raises initial awareness of digital carbon

Boosts engagement through a friendly character

Makes the journey feel approachable with a light tone

Real-Time Footprint Dashboard

A dashboard that visualizes real-time digital carbon by estimating emissions from system-level app usage data (with user permission), tracking time spent across apps in the background.

Address:

Make impact more visible in real time

Helps users notice their daily footprint more easily

Bring awareness into everyday decisions

Keeps it effortless with a glanceable layout and one-tap entry to Report / Offset

Yearly/Monthly Report

A report page that breaks down digital carbon by category including comparison over time.

Address:

Makes digital carbon feel more important

Makes digital impact feel less abstract

Helps users better connect actions with impact

Provides a clearer direction for continued action and habit-building

Offset Recommendations

Behavior-specific recommendations regarding to users’ digital footprint analysis.

Address:

Reduces effort in behavior change

Makes lower-impact actions feel easier to follow

Turns awareness into practical next steps

Events

A feature suite for finding offline eco events, understanding impact, and earning rewards.

Includes: browse/filter, event details, map locations, progress, points&rewards

Address:

Extends action beyond the screen

Makes sustainbale behavior feel more meaningful

Adds external motivation through milestones, points, and share participation

Reduce effort by presenting information in a clear and accessbile way, making it easier for users to connect with relevant opportunities

Character Growth

A character-based reward system that visualizes progress and reinforces repeatable actions over time.

Includes: character growth levels, earned points, unlockable items, customization options, progress tracking, feedback of locking new reward

Address:

Boosts engagement by making the experience feel playful and approachable

Provides positive reinforcement

Supports ongoing motivation

Encourages repeatable habits

Community

A social space where users can share progress, join shared activities, adn stay motivated together.

Includes: Community feed, leaderboards, shared challenges (join group goals or community missions), reactions&comments, invite friends/connect

Address:

Supports ongoing engagement throgh social reinforcement

Boosts motivation by making effort visible and shareble

Makes sustainablity feel less individual by building a sense of collective impact

My Profile

A personal hub for tracking progress and managing preferences.

Includes: Status overview (footprint, offset progress, points/level), activity history & achievements, account info, and settings (notifications, tracking, privacy)

Address:

Support long-term engagement

Reinforces motivtion through visible achievements and milestones

Helps habit-building by showing consistency over time

Final Solution

A cohesive system that transforms behavior through real-time feedback, low-effort actions, and positive reinforcement.

Make Digital Impact Felt

The experience turns abstract digital carbon into a clearer, more tangible signal that can fit into everyday decision-making.

Enable Action Across Contexts

Instead of relying on one action type, the solution supports both quick daily adjustments and meaningful participation, helping users move from intention to follow-through.

Sustain Change Through Reinforcement

A combined reinforcement system—progress visibility, rewards, and social participation—helps small actions feel worthwhile and encourages repetition over time.

Reflection

This project showed me that awareness alone may not lead to lasting behavior change—users are more likely to stick with small, low-effort actions when they can see immediate feedback and progress.

Limitations & Next Steps

Since GreenClick is a concept design, key assumptions (tracking accuracy and long-term engagement) still need validation.

Next, I hope I can

Prototype and test the core “moment-of-use” flow: check if users can quickly understand the dashboard, notice prompts, and complete a suggested action without extra friction.

Validate the recommendation quality: test whether suggested actions feel realistic and “worth doing,” and refine copy + ordering based on what users actually choose.

Strengthen the character as an IP layer: expand the character system into a clearer “brand mascot” with more personality (tone, micro-copy), more interactive moments (responses, reactions, small animations), and richer customization so the app feels lighter and more engaging.

Make rewards feel more connected to impact: tie character growth and unlocks to specific behaviors/events so progress feels meaningful rather than decorative.

Test long-term retention: run a short multi-day or multi-week pilot to see which combination of prompts + character feedback + community participation best supports repeatable habits.

This project showed me that awareness alone may not lead to lasting behavior change—users are more likely to stick with small, low-effort actions when they can see immediate feedback and progress.

Limitations & Next Steps

Since GreenClick is a concept design, key assumptions (tracking accuracy and long-term engagement) still need validation.

Next, I hope I can

Prototype and test the core “moment-of-use” flow: check if users can quickly understand the dashboard, notice prompts, and complete a suggested action without extra friction.

Validate the recommendation quality: test whether suggested actions feel realistic and “worth doing,” and refine copy + ordering based on what users actually choose.

Make rewards feel more connected to impact: tie character growth and unlocks to specific behaviors/events so progress feels meaningful rather than decorative.

Test long-term retention: run a short multi-day or multi-week pilot to see which combination of prompts + character feedback + community participation best supports repeatable habits.

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2026