After careful consideration, I realised I was not enjoying the project. I made a considered and deliberate decision to switch my project basis. I could not come to a solution in terms of paper waste which I originally was supposed to be developing.
So, I moved to a new idea. One that I considered to be more engaging, fun and more enjoyable to design and develop. So what’s the idea..? Vapes.
Disposable vapes can be seen littered on the streets, in the countryside, in bins (where they shouldn’t be) in landfills. Seemingly everywhere they shouldn’t be! I knew I could create a really visually engaging solution and could provide a service of a different kind than other ‘Design for Good’ projects, as I’m targeting a different age group who need different ways to be engaged.
I looked into research to backup my new idea.
Problem Area
I explored the ways in which people are wrongly disposing of their vapes. I felt this route offered more potential and could create a much more satisfying solution.
I explored gamification, looking into incentives that would encourage people to use the app. This lead me to a problem statement. Following analysis of my own work, I was in a much better place in terms of coming to a solution.
I have found that there is a problem in the area of the way in which single-use vapes are being disposed of. it appears a large number of people are disposing of vapes in general waste, when the materials inside the product could be recycled. However, recycling vapes are time consuming as they require disassembly. In my research I will explore the age-range of people using single-use vapes and the prevalence of recycling disposable vapes.
Statistical Research
I looked into the types of people who vape and possible target audiences.
I found key statistics about the ways in which people are disposing of their vapes. Throughout this process I was using awareness and critical self-reflection to ensure I had made the correct choice changing the path of my project. These statistics provided a really strong foundation to my project, giving me a strong backbone that I can develop the project up from. I was now well aware there was an environmental issue I could solve using sustainability methods, but in a visually engaging and interesting way.
Again, I found further figures to show the need for a solution of this sort. Lots of waste is being produced from disposable vapes giving lots of room for a solution.
Lots of vapes are being thrown away. The figures only further show the need for this app.
Competitor Reviews
I found there were no current mobile apps in this problem space trying to find a solution to this problem:
As this is such a wide gap in the competitor space, there are no similar apps available that provide a solution such what I have suggested. There are however websites that offer services that do not function in the same way as my app suggests, but provide ways for a user to recycle their vape. My product is an entirely new way for users to recycle their disposable vape, in the form of a mobile application.
I felt I could take some aspects of these services, while bringing my own aspects and create a solution that provides the current mess of solutions with very poor execution in one single place. A mobile app, best suited to the age group would work best.