irena

Litterbug

Gamifying Environmental Action

TEAM

Irena Zheng
Jaycee Helmer
Hannah Blum
Matt McConnell

TIME FRAME

10 weeks

TOOLS

Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Optimal Workshop

ROLE

Visual UI/UX Design
UX Research
Concept Development

 

Overview

Litterbug is a gamified mobile app that motivates users to clean their environment through rewards, competition, and education. By transforming litter collection into a fun, community-driven activity, Litterbug empowers individuals to make a tangible environmental impact. 

Problem

Littering damages ecosystems and threatens public health, yet existing solutions fail to engage and motivate individuals to take consistent action.  

Goals:

1. Educate users on proper litter disposal to foster environmental awareness

2. Encourage competition among users to motivate sustainable behavior

3. Utilize gamification to inspire sustainable habits and long-term action

4. Create opportunities for partnerships and collaborations with businesses

 

First, we wanted to find out if gamification will actually encourage litter collection.

Literature Review

We analyzed three key articles, all with great insights:

  • Dahlstrøm (2017): Gamification can foster intrinsic motivation if designed to support user autonomy and competence.
  • Hsu & Chen (2021): Rewards and playful interactions are effective in encouraging sustainable behaviors.
  • Li et al. (2021): A blend of cognitive and emotional engagement is necessary for long-term impact and meaningful behavior change.

This confirmed that gamification can significantly increase participation in sustainable behaviors when utilized correctly as a tool. It guided our design decision to incorporate goal-setting, rewards, and educational content.

Feature Comparison: Litterbug vs Competitors

Feature Litterbug Litterati TrashTag Recyclebank
Gamification (Points, Rewards, Leaderboards) Yes No No Yes
Social Features (Friend Activity, Challenges) Yes Yes Yes No
Educational Content Yes No No Yes
Progress Tracking (Personal Stats, Goals) Yes Yes No Yes
Focus Area Litter Collection Litter Collection Litter Collection Recycling

While competitors like Litterati and Recyclebank encourage sustainability, they lack interactive gamification elements to sustain engagement.

Interviews

Participants: 7 individuals (ages 22–29)

Goals: Understand users’ attitudes toward litter collection and gamification.

Insights:

  • Users value competition and rewards (e.g., leaderboards, badges).
  • Educational content should be subtle and non-intrusive.
  • Visualizing long-term environmental impact is motivating.

Persona

We synthesized the most prominent motivations, goals, and frustrations from our interview data into a single, cohesive persona to represent our target user. 

 

Armed with these insights, we began to imagine what Litterbug could look like...

We focused on creating an experience that was both fun and intuitive. 

Key features we conceptualized to drive user engagement:

  • Leaderboards: Encourages friendly competition by showing users’ standings among friends and community members.
  • Rewards System: Points earned can be redeemed for eco-friendly prizes from local businesses.
  • Integrated Education: Subtle environmental facts that inform without interrupting the user journey.
  • Trash Talk: A feed where users can engage with friends and follow along with their cleanup efforts.
  • Personal Zoo: A playful tracker where users “collect” animals as rewards for completing litter collection challenges.

Mid-Fidelity Prototype

My low-fidelity sketches were transformed into mid-fidelity wireframes for a more refined look before any testing with users.

 

We tested eight users' ability to navigate the prototype intuitively. 

Key Insights

First Click Test

High Success Rates for Core Features: Tasks like uploading a litter photo (100%), checking goal progress (100%), and redeeming rewards (100%) were highly intuitive, indicating that the core functionality was well-designed.

Navigation Pain Points: Participants struggled with secondary features like the Personal Zoo (12.5% success rate) and Friends’ Activity Feed (12.5% success rate). Feedback indicated that the icons for these features were not self-explanatory.

Confusion Around Rewards Access: While 50% of participants successfully located the rewards page, others were unsure whether rewards could be accessed through the points widget on the profile or the navigation bar.

Positive Feedback on Layout: Participants praised the overall layout as “well-defined,” “organized,” and “intuitive.” The progress bar and goal tracking features were particularly well-received.

 

High Fidelity Prototype

Based on the First Click Test insights, we refined the mid-fidelity prototype into a high-fidelity design by enhancing icon clarity on the profile page and main menu to reduce user confusion, while also incorporating the main branding colors into the UI for a more cohesive experience. We also finished prototyping the key flows that would be most important for a MVP. The following screens went through major changes after usability testing. 

UPLOAD LITTER DISPOSAL

 

REDEEM REWARDS

 

MORE SCREENS

 


  • The majority of users could not tell what the icon for the activity feed represented.
  • Many users were confused by the "Rewards" page icon symbol with a hand holding a gift box. The icon was not immediately recognizable. 


  • To improve visibility as the icons are at a small scale, we replaced the "Rewards" page icon with just a gift box. 
  • The feed icon was replaced with two figures and chat bubbles to better represent its function. More testing will be needed to gauge the clarity and impact.