Carbon Footprint Calculator
Among the many design and research projects I completed at Karbon-X, the Carbon Footprint Calculator was a tool necessary to help businesses measure their carbon footprint with precision. The tool was not only instrumental in assisting businesses gain insights into their emissions, but also exposing many industries and markets to the importance of tracking and reducing emissions for the sake of our planet.
Background on Karbon-X
Karbon-X is focused on creating real-world solutions for carbon reduction. Through verified climate projects, we help individuals and businesses take action against climate change by investing in environmental sustainability.
Carbon Footprint Calculator Overview - Physical Locations and Sites
Identifying the Problem
I was a centralized designer and researcher at Karbon-X with a focus on web, and it was my responsibility to conduct strategic research into what our users require of a tool necessary for calculating emissions.
Foundational / secondary research found:
All Encompassing Data
to be a huge factor when trying to understand the full picture on emissions for businesses. This meant including multiple sources of metrics and data into the total calculation, including sites, fleets, flights, employee commute methods, and compute resources such as hardware and cloud infrastructure.
Detailed Inputs
were instrumental in getting accurate data for background calculations. This meant our users needed to be able to change amounts and units to best suit the information that they had available on hand. Giving our users choice meant designing an interface that was familiar yet understated and easy to scan at a glance.
The Ability to Save Information
a pain point when using other calculator tools across the web. Making a calculation, then having to recalculate to retrieve the same answer later, or not being able to summate multiple inputs was frustrating. It was important to keep this in mind when running through the design process.
Simplicity and Usability
to be crucial when designing a calculator tool. Navigating from one section to another should be intuitive and recognizable. Employing trusted methods such as tab groups for different sections like sites meant the user could easily jump between them. Grouping information into cards also meant the user can easily see their individual calculations and inputs at a glance.
Carbon Footprint Calculator - Fleet
Carbon Footprint Calculator - Flights
Research and Design Roadmap
Using my foundational research as a baseline, it was important to form a roadmap and create study plans that also accounted for the design process as I was the sole researcher and designer on the web team. Collaborating with our developers, engineers, and PM's, we followed an agile methodology that prioritized iteration and efficiency.
This meant using our foundational knowledge to ideate, then design, prototype, and validate using heuristic evaluations, internal interviews, and surveys. Throughout the iterative design timeline, I continued to conduct qualitative and quantitative research using tools such as UserTesting.com, Google Forms, and FigJam.
Businesses Page Overview - Sites
Business Page Overview - Fleet
Research Methodology, Usability Testing, and Challenges
Working in an agile manner, using research to inform design decisions, and also balancing stakeholder requirements and deadlines meant finding opportunities to recruit and conduct external usability testing a challenge at times.
A solution to this problem, while still somewhat of a compromise, meant conducting usability testing within the organization across various departments. Karbon-X had many employees all over the globe, which made for a diverse pool of participants. Thus, while we couldn't always get external recruits, it meant we could mimic unbiased testing by dipping into a wide range of personalities and people.
Reflection
Based on my research and designs, our developers were able to finalize and deliver a user interface for the Carbon Footprint Calculator tool that drew customer engagement and retention. Through analytics and testing, we found that businesses consistently revisited Karbon-X's website, to either use the tool, or to find other useful information regarding carbon offsetting. The Carbon Footprint Calculator became a fundamental part of Karbon-X's customer retention strategy and a useful tool for businesses looking to offset their carbon emissions.
View the Carbon Footprint Calculator, plus everything else I've designed at Karbon-X
