Overview
The Sustainability Page is a project by Gochiso Inc. Ltd., the creators of the Mamoru sustainable living app. It’s a data and communication platform that enhances transparency and drives sustainability transformation. Businesses can create dynamic pages to streamline sustainability data collection, analysis, and communication. Gochiso Inc., a Japan-based social startup, is powered by a diverse volunteer team. I joined the project last year to support its mission of normalizing and expanding access to sustainability.
ROLE
Product Designer
TEAM
Product designer in the Product Growth team, consisting of 7 members.
PROCESS
Weekly product development team meetings and design feedback.
Monthly all department review sessions.
TIME
Volunteer remote work of 8-10 hours per week
Milestones
February 2024
Awarded "Best Overall" in MassChallenge, Japan
March 2024
Selected for Phoenixi Incubation Program (a funding program by Phoenixi targeting worldwide investor support for startups in Japan).
April 2024
Beta 1.1 launched
June 2024
Alpha 1.6.2 released and tracking
Problem
Additional details: From here on out, I will use the following terms to describe different groups in the research process:
-
Users: Sustainability companies ensuring transparency in their initiatives.
-
Stakeholders: Consumers seeking information on these initiatives.
For this task, we focused on streamlining the onboarding process for faster, simpler account creation. My role included researching solutions, conducting competitor analysis, and testing user pathways to explore different approaches. I also created low-fidelity designs to enhance onboarding efficiency. Throughout, I collaborated closely with the founders and product team to refine the designs based on feedback.
Process
Research
Application
Testing and Iterations
Research
We conducted user testing to assess account creation ease and supplemented it with competitor analysis to identify effective onboarding features.
User Profiles and Pain Points:
User Type 1 : SMEs with Certifications
Key Tasks:
Report on sustainability goals annually to maintain certifications, including scoring over 80 points, documenting initiatives, and sharing data publicly.​
​
Pain Points:
-
Streamlining data management and feedback collection.
-
Storing data, feedback, and adding events/news.
-
Enhancing transparency of initiatives.
​
User Type 2 : SMEs New to Sustainability Reporting
Key Tasks:
Choose appropriate initiatives and certifications, and report sustainability policies, risks, impacts, and KPIs.​
​​
​
​​​​Pain Points:
-
Enhancing transparency and trust with stakeholders.
-
Adding events/news and collecting feedback.
User Testing Findings
-
Users struggled to navigate the site when customizing initiatives and had difficulty progressing through onboarding steps.
-
Initiative options were overwhelming, with users unsure of which were relevant to them.
Competitive Analysis and Research Findings
-
Generalized questions speed up form completion.
-
Users should see the entire setup process upfront.
-
Simplifying steps and allowing content edits in the same process improves efficiency.
-
Visualizing changes helps users understand their impact.
Sources:
-
Resources, Guide, and More Information about the B Corp Movement and B Corp Certification. https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/resources. Accessed 18 May 2024.
-
ESG Reporting for SME: What to Expect & Challenges. https://www.greenomy.io/blog/esg-reporting-smes-what-to-expect-and-challenges. Accessed 18 May 2024.
Application
We decided to proceed with the onboarding process outlined below. The final designs are still under discussion, and further evaluations are ongoing. The current flow is based on our initial plan from user research and competitive analysis.
Current onboarding process (in progress)
Framework Selection:
After signing up, the user selects relevant frameworks for their company. The default framework is suggested based on industry, highlighted in gray, while user-added frameworks are in green.
Profile Customization:
The user completes a yes/no assessment to refine suggestions, which generates a customized profile page.
Additional Profile Information:
Users can add initiatives, links, pictures, and a summary of company goals. Those who didn’t finish the assessment during onboarding will be prompted to complete it, with estimated time shown for convenience.
Test, improve, and repeat...
After creating the wireframes, we identified issues with new users selecting initiatives and the platform’s varying value for different user types. Based on this, we revisited user profiles and pathways to address these challenges.
General user flow diagram
User Type 1 Pathway Findings:
Home Page and Feature Organization
​The Home page lacked curation, which is essential for User Type 1 to establish platform credibility.
​
Solution
-
Featured logos of well-known companies and added the mission statement to clarify the platform’s purpose.
Previous home page:
Featured general organizations without curation.
Updated home page:
Displays logos of prominent organizations using the platform.
Feedback and Share Page
-
No email sharing option—only social media.
-
Limited flexibility for custom questions.
-
Results page didn’t offer sufficient data for User Type 1’s reporting needs.
​
Solutions
-
Add a default email template for profile sharing.
-
Enabled customizable question formats on the Feedback page.
-
Provided more detailed feedback summaries by stakeholder type.
Current Default Forms
Current Result Page with Total and New Feedback Summary
Current Default Questionnaire
Current Share Options
User Type 2 Pathway Findings:
Explore Page
The Explore page overwhelmed User Type 2 with too many organizations listed.
​
Future Solutions
-
Curate the Explore page to show relevant organizations and initiatives aligned with User Type 2's goals.
Current Explore Page
Displays a number of general initiatives from various organizations.
AI analysis, and benchmark
User Type 2 found the Benchmark and AI Analysis page helpful but lacked context around score explanations and frameworks.
​
Solution
-
Added a summary explaining the score and suggestions for improvement.
-
Future updates will include explanations for each available framework.
Updated Benchmark Page
Includes an explanation of the score and suggestions for improvement.
Other Design Tasks
I also assisted with various UI tasks, including creating a standardized design system, improving specific UI functions, and making minor UI fixes.
1
Crop Image Function Improvement
Previous Lo-Fi
The shape options area felt crowded, and the text with the icons was repetitive. The goal was to simplify the choices while keeping them intuitive.
Revised Lo-Fi
I removed the text to create more space. The inclusion of the circular shape option is still undecided, but if added, the crop picture area would extend to cover the entire width of the shape options.
Final Version Lo-Fi
The final version excluded the circular shape option. Fewer options were chosen to reduce decision time, allowing users to focus on other areas.
2
Design System for Sustainability Page
Design guide for box styles
I created guidelines for card types to standardize layouts and minimize reproduction time.
Font Style guideline
These fonts detail line weight, size, and spacing for headings, subtitles, and body text.
3
Expand Function State Adjustments
Default state
The default expand icon opens the initiative card to edit.
Hover state
In the hover state, we used a repeated gray color from the app's color system.
Ongoing/ Next chapter:
Our key goals moving forward:
-
Incorporate sustainability report data to build trust among businesses.
-
Establish the platform as a trusted hub.
-
Focus on collecting and generating credible data to drive future action.
Upcoming actions
-
Release Beta 1.0: Refined core features, updated payment plans, and improved infrastructure.
-
Launch Alpha 1.7: Added framework assessment feature and new onboarding process.