Monetising Digital Sustainability for IKEA

KICKOFF

Picking Up the Pieces for Stories

At the outset of the project during the COVID-19 lockdown, we have no idea how the IKEA members behave towards in-store recycling experience as well as specific goals for the waste management.

Without pre-existing insights, I partner with our research team members (Bryn, Shel and Joel) to explore how IKEA staff was getting around.

We start by having an affinity diagram PMP to construct a large set of questions for IKEA based on the concept of Johari window (to understand self and IKEA stakeholders).

We then combine with our other 2 teams for a brain writing to group together similar and related ideas into logical groups with colour coding.

DEEPER INSIGHTS

Solving Real Problems - Working Backwards from Reality Check

Before I jump into designing, it is important to define success and understand the participation in workplace recycling practices at scale. The best approach to find this out is to conduct a reality check.

Prior to the redesign, I suggest conducting a reality check across IKEA sites. I will partner with the sustainability team to help coordinate the research and use this framework to investigate the recycling practices at an actual site around IKEA Canberra.

Here’s what we have found regarding the current disposal practices.

What does the reality tell us?

The recyclables are not appropriately sorted into the correct bins. This makes it difficult for IKEA to achieve its aim of correctly disposing of waste, as we have to spend additional time and resources sorting the recyclables.

The Birth of User Story

With the research, findings and reality check above to assist problem validation, the team reaches to an agreement that we are to provide users a digital experience through an app to address the following needs:

• Know what / how to recycle

• Aware of the location of the bins

• Convenient, fast and motivated to recycle

I generate a user story to help creating a simplified, focused description of our design requirement. This is important in Agile software development to capture a description of a software feature from an end-user perspective:

As an IKEA staff who is excited about recycling,
I need an app to sort to recycle easily, knowing what, where, and how to drop items properly,
so that I feel encouraging, engaging and rewarding to use.
(For IKEA: To achieve zero waste)

HOW WE GOT THERE

Creating the Perfect Digital Recycling Experience for Everyone, Everywhere

Three primary questions informed my design strategy:

1. How do you design for everyone, everywhere?

2. What contexts need to be considered?

3. What’s the perfect digital recycling experience?

I refer to the waste hierarchy as stated in IKEA waste management handbook to reframe our conversations with the stakeholder about recycling practice and actual recycling behaviour from the staff members.

This framework helped shift the focus from unproductive questions like "How can we prevent more waste from going to landfill?" to more productive ones like "How might we create an experience designed to ensure appropriate recycling from the start?".

Working Backwards for Futures Thinking

I started by examining the root causes of the problem and addressing the challenges of recycling.

While dealing with waste can be painful, and often too late to prevent landfill contributions, I realised that as you progress through the waste hierarchy, the challenges associated with recycling decrease.

To stimulate creativity, I reversed the focus of the waste hierarchy.

I discovered that reducing waste before recycling is relatively easy, making the recycling process less painful at this stage.

This led me to consider: What if we design a solution that addresses the root cause of the problem from the beginning, before it's too late?

Putting my Futures Thinking Hat on

I read a quote and it triggers my futures thinking:

If you want to understand the causes that existed in the past, look at the results as they are manifested in the present.

If you want to understand what results will be manifested in the future, look at the causes that exist in the present.

The effect is the result of your cause.

I continued to delve into the root causes of the problem. Three key design challenges emerged:

1. What are the 15% of waste that ends up in landfills? (The effect)

2. Why do we mix items up in the first place? How can we sort them before recycling? (The cause)

3. How can we become better informed about appropriate recycling in the future? (The future)

The question, "Why do we mix items up in the first place? Can we address this issue before mixing occurs with the app we are designing?" kept resonating throughout my design thinking process.

I then realised that if recyclables could be 'SORTED' properly from the beginning, the 15% of waste going to landfills could be reduced over time.

Thus, I introduced an additional step in the process, termed 'SORT.'

And so, the concept of IKEA SORTED was born!

Working Backwards from Sustainability

I reversed the focus of the imperfect recycling practice at IKEA, leading to four key design challenges:

1. How might we improve recycling practices to ensure appropriateness?

2. How might we create a recycling process that minimizes effort and saves time?

3. How might we effectively inform users about recycling drop-off locations using a map?

4. How might we better engage the workplace community to sustain recycling practices?

FROM INCONVENIENCE TO INSTANT

Giving Staff Members Back Their Time to do Recycle Immediately

Understanding the user’s goal of sorting recyclables and accurately locating the recycling bins allowed us to handle the heavy lifting and select the most optimal interaction.

The app needed to be smart enough to enable users to scroll and sort recyclables easily, and efficient enough to provide immediate information on recycling drop-off locations to encourage actionable practices.

I conducted immersive research, where users interacted with the MVP to find bins, sort, and recycle while holding a recyclable in hand. This helped identify which cues or heuristics could be introduced into the ‘recycling adaptation’ to give participants a sense of experiencing recycling in a real workplace setting.

This ‘recycling adaptation’ system was the most complex problem of the project.

Immersive Research & Adaptation Design Based on Not Just Empathy but Compassion

Foundational to the adaptation framework were these concepts:

1. We needed to address user needs to sort recyclables quickly and intuitively. Users should be in control of the recyclables, with design patterns allowing one-handed scrolling (since they may hold the recyclable with the other hand) while searching for bins. The entire recycling journey must be fully manageable by the user.

2. The system needed to be well-informed about the availability and location of bins, including the colours of the bins for appropriate sorting.

3. The system needed to be flexible and motivating, encouraging users to engage continuously. The design should not only be based on empathy but also on a deep compassion for recycling.

FROM AMBIGUOUS TO OBVIOUS

Better Informed Accessibility & Availability, with Perks

The map tracker not only locates and traces nearby bins but also indicates the colours of the bins available on-site, making immediate recyclable sorting actionable.

To enhance the recycling experience, actions are incentivised with rewards such as exchangeable items, refillables, or food from the IKEA café. Points are collected and notified instantly, allowing for immediate redemption.

FROM INDIVIDUAL TO COMMUNITY

You Build the Community While You Create the Journey

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

No individual effort in recycling should be overlooked. Therefore, I designed a system to turn personal efforts into community awareness. The key to achieving this is to create a leadership board-like panel where everyone can give kudos to each other for their contributions.

THE OMNI-EXPERIENCE

One Simple Goal that Utilises Omni-interaction

IKEA SORTED features a user flow designed to keep users engaged at every point of their recycling journey. Users can continue their recycling activities seamlessly at any touchpoint.

In short, it places the user at the centre of the design solution while meeting business objectives. The interaction is crafted to unify the experience, motivating users to complete their entire recycling journey rather than merely clicking on the app, walking to the bin, or sorting recyclables.

THE LAUNCH

The Most Radical Update Since 2017

In the 6 months after my involvement on the project, the team continued to evolve and polish the visual design, as well as finesse the finer functional details as the app was being built. Although I was not part of this process, it was great to see most of my work brought to life using visual key search.

On 3rd February 2021, the app ‘IKEA PLACE’ was updated to version 4.2.2 with updates include loading visual furniture and design system optimisation that is closer to the concept and visual design of ‘IKEA SORTED’ — an impressive achievement by the team, considering that it was a complete redesign and rebuild from scratch. This design platform will be used by the DevOps to further develop IKEA SORTED.

THE IMPACT

IKEA SORTED gets further development

On 3rd February 2021, the app ‘IKEA PLACE’ was updated to version 4.2.2 with updates include loading visual furniture and design system optimisation that is closer to the concept and visual design of ‘IKEA SORTED’ — an impressive achievement by the team, considering that it was a complete redesign and rebuild from scratch.

This design platform will be used by the DevOps to further develop IKEA SORTED.