Emily Nguyen Portfolio

ReThink

Redefining Sustainability Through Business Innovation at UW Seattle

Type of project:

Redesign for a Registered Student Organization

Role:

Design Assistant Lead

Team:

2 UI/UX Designers and 2 UX Researchers

Date:

5/22/2023 - Present

ReThink is a business-focused registered student organization at the University of Washington in Seattle, concentrating on evaluating and supporting sustainable, local businesses in the Seattle area. ReThink is comprised of various teams, including a research team for business assessment, a marketing team for promoting the club, and a design and development team for the website.

The redesign of the ReThink website aims to rebrand and refresh the club's identity and to expand its reach to a broader audience.

How Might We Statement

Engaging Students and Communities in Sustainable Consumerism

How might we redesign ReThink's website to resonate with students and local communities, highlight sustainable partnerships, and attract a broader community interested in sustainable consumerism?

User Interview

Understand our stakeholders view of the current website

User Research

Understanding primary users and stakeholders

The website should be brighter and more vibrant to foster a welcoming atmosphere and a sense of commitment to environmental sustainability for its users.

Design Lead

I feel like the website should emphasize and highlight each sustainable business more and the mission of the club.

A local business

Branding guidelines Inspirations

Our old color palette consisted only of green and lacked variation. Our team decided to retain green as the dominant color but add brighter, warmer, and more earthy tones inspired by companies like Kodak and Patagonia, which resonate with the Pacific Northwest locale. These colors contribute a friendly and natural aesthetic to the website.

Updated Branding Guidelines

Logo

Font

Colors

Averia Sans Libre

Karma

Logo

Font

Colors

Averia Sans Libre

Karma

Jason Kim

Demographics:

College student at the University of Washington

Age 20

An environmentally conscious person active in college social events

Needs:

Accessible information on sustainable practices and local business partnerships

Engagement opportunities in sustainability events

Brainstorming

Current website

Updated website

The extensive list of local businesses on the website feels overwhelming, as users don't know where to start or what ReThink is all about.

A fresher and more welcoming aesthetic for the ReThink website with completely new brand guidelines and an accessible way to find local businesses.

How our website help Jason (college student)

WHAT Jason wants?

Some other pages that could help Jason

View the prototypes

How our website help Jason more

WHAT does Jason also wants?

Easily accessible details on sustainable practices and partnerships with local businesses.

Opportunities to participate in sustainability-related events and activities.

What we have:

Business Pages

About Us Page

What we have:

Home Page:

Individual Business Page

Calendar Page

The changes to the homepage make it easier for Jason and others to discover our ReThink student organization and showcase our numerous business partnerships without causing information overload. We chose to integrate a map into our homepage to simplify the process of finding local stores nearby. This idea was inspired by mapping interfaces commonly used by large retail chains. The redesigned homepage also includes a concise introduction to ReThink, allowing users to explore sustainable options through the interactive map.

The individual business page has been updated to help Jason and other users find a range of local eco-friendly businesses, including shops, restaurants, and stores. We've refreshed the page's style and integrated the map feature from the homepage, allowing users to easily locate specific stores based on their current location.

The "Contact Us" page would help Jason if he has any questions about ReThink. Since he is environmentally conscious, he could get involved with the ReThink club by applying through the link. I led the design of the "Contact Us" and "Get Involved" pages and decided to combine them because they both facilitate connection with ReThink. My decision to add pictures to these sections was intended to make the pages feel more resonant and welcoming, helping users understand what ReThink is like. I also updated the website's style to align with the revised style guide.

Both the "Promote Your Business" and "Criteria" pages would help sustainable local businesses connect with ReThink and join a community also dedicated to sustainability. These pages aim for local businesses to network with other sustainable businesses and promote sustainable consumerism. The "Criteria" page describes how ReThink evaluates the sustainability criteria based on information from each local business.

In the old "About Us" page, I noticed excessive white space and disorganized team member cards. Therefore, in the updated About page, we introduced a 'filter by team' option and aligned it with our updated style guide, which features cards resembling Kodak Polaroid photos.

Adding a calendar page to the website would help Jason engage more actively with ReThink. I take lead in designing the calendar page. This page would feature all club events, such as Thrift Swap, collaborations with the University of Washington like admitted students day, and business-centric events like case competitions, climate solution summits, and sustainable career fairs. Using a UI similar to Google Calendar for familiarity, the calendar would feature color-coded events to distinguish between types. Hovering over each event would display a small card with details like the name, time, location, and a description of the event.

BEFORE

Criteria Page

BEFORE

AFTER

Promote Your Business Page

AFTER

ReThink Figma

Reflection

What I learned

Design Feedback: Having feedback from other design members on the wireframes is very meaningful because it helps me grow as a designer, allowing me to see what is good about my design and how to improve it.

Design Inspiration: The idea of a Kodak color scheme was inspired by my hobby of taking Polaroid pictures. I realized that incorporating the Kodak theme into the ReThink style guide would brighten the website while still offering an eco-friendly aesthetic. I also think getting design inspiration from internet sources helps me explore more design options and resonate with users more, as features like the map and Google Calendar are very familiar to them.