Picking Up Neighborhood Trash

PUNT

Author

Environmental

Date Published

08/24

Stage 1. User Research

Engaged with over 120 community members, including students, teachers, and local residents, through surveys, interviews, and field observations to understand attitudes toward litter and barriers to participating in cleanup efforts. This phase revealed a strong desire for hyper-local, action-based tools that make environmental stewardship feel accessible and rewarding. These findings shaped distinct user personas ranging from eco-conscious teens to civic-minded educators.

Stage 2. Ideation & Conceptualization

Held collaborative brainstorming sessions with environmental advocates, student leaders, and tech mentors to generate ideas for features like real-time litter tracking, reward systems, and team-based challenges. Created user journey maps to simulate different cleanup scenarios, ensuring the app’s concept would drive motivation and community impact through gamified participation and visible progress tracking.

Stage 3. Design Execution

Wireframing: Sketched over 50 wireframes focusing on intuitive features like geo-tagged litter reports, cleanup leaderboards, and event scheduling. The layout prioritized ease of use to encourage frequent engagement among busy students and volunteers.

Prototyping: Built interactive prototypes in Figma to simulate key actions, such as logging a cleanup or joining a team challenge. These were tested with actual users during school events, gathering valuable feedback on usability and flow.

UI Design: Developed a bright, modern interface using greens and earth tones to reflect the environmental mission, paired with clear fonts for readability. User input refined key elements like iconography and onboarding screens to ensure accessibility and enthusiasm across age groups.

Stage 1. User Research

Stage 2. Ideation & Conceptualization

Stage 3. Design Execution

Stage 4. User Testing & Iterations

Conducted in-person and virtual testing sessions with over 30 students and community members, using feedback forms, screen recordings, and direct observation to assess usability and motivation. Patterns in user behavior revealed opportunities to streamline navigation and simplify the litter logging process. Iterative improvements, such as larger buttons, clearer task prompts, and progress animations, significantly boosted engagement and user satisfaction.

Stage 5. Final Presentation and Documentation

Compiled a full report outlining research insights, design logic, and testing feedback, along with annotated wireframes and prototype links. Presented the final version of PUNT to a panel of educators, developers, and environmental leaders, showcasing its potential to transform community action into an accessible, student-driven movement. The documentation served as a blueprint for future scalability and policy-aligned integration.

a pair of cell phones on a concrete block

a cell phone with a yellow rectangular screen

Reflection

PUNT showed me the power of community action and how small efforts can lead to meaningful change. By organizing cleanups and engaging with others, I saw firsthand how collective responsibility can shift habits and attitudes around waste. This project taught me the importance of leadership, persistence, and building systems that empower others to take initiative in their own neighborhoods.

Reflection

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