TireRevive

User Research Service Design Mobile & Web UI Design

Timeline —

Sep. 2024 - Nov. 2024

Collaborator —

Role —

Tools —

Individual Project

Figma Rhino Blender Photoshop

"Tire Revive" is a comprehensive service design that aims to address the problem of illegal tire dumping, while promoting land remediation efforts and raising awareness.

This service design leverages a app and a web platform to streamline the reporting and recycling of discarded tires for land remediation.
The mobile app allows users to report illegal tire dumping and exchange them for land restoration, simplifying the task for farmers and citizens. The web platform connects community agencies with waste recycling companies: the community gives the company scrap tires, and the company sells remediation to the community.

01. Background Research

During my time as a college student in Pittsburgh, I observed firsthand and read in the news that illegal tire dumping is a growing problem in the city. This practice not only harms the environment, but also poses significant risks to public health and community well-being by accumulating waste, attracting pests, and polluting waterways.

01. The Problem

02. Problem Context

How will tires influence us? How serious is this problem in Pittsburgh?

On the negative sides…

On the positive sides…

Treated tires have multiple uses that can benefit farmers and support agricultural growth.

“Tires being pulverized into small pieces are important alternative materials for amending the soil and thus increases soil quality conditions for supporting plant growth” (William and Shenker, 2016)
“The limited research in this area suggests that tire chips are also effective as adsorptive materials in removing Pb and Cu ions” (Shahrokhi-Shahraki, 2020)

Who dump? Why dump? I concluded three major groups from online data and interview.

Citizen: Don’t know how to legally dispose it.
Company: Don't want to pay a lot of money for legal disposal.
Retailers: Collecting a disposal fee but still illegally dispose it.

Environmental Protection Agency

Sell the remediation toolkit: User identify problems &solutions
Technology matrix: screens restoration technologies

03. Current Solution

However…

They have limited resources
Only help with remediation, not cleaning
Information is too complex

Allegheny CleanWays

Conduct weekly volunteer cleanups
Provide a map of all dumping sites
Citizens can easily find reporting channel

However…

Map on the website doesn’t have a localization function
Too much specialized information to provide when reporting

Pittsburgh Government

Have weekly cleanup and state soil remediation
Organized by the government, recruit volunteers
Help repair the land

However…

Lack of advertisement of the reporting phone number
Handling of illegal tires and land restoration are not linked & hard to find on the official website

04. Summary

Tire dumping is increasing, disrupting cities and contaminating soil with heavy metals, yet there's no targeted solution for dumping and soil problem.

“How might we create an easy-to-use, convenient, and thorough process to address tire dumping and other related soil problems?”

02. Field Research

I conducted a comprehensive questionnaire to gauge citizens' understanding and awareness of the issue, and received 61 valuable responses. These responses provides valuable insights.

01. Questionnaire

“Don’t know where to report.”

“I don't want to spend time trying to figure out how to report and report it.”

“More general information about it and why it' important to solve.”

Since soil is directly affected by tires, I want to understand the perspectives of those closely connected to it. That’s why I chose to focus on farmers to research.

I also conducted three interviews with local farmers in Pittsburgh to gain insight into their current solutions and perspectives on the issue of illegal dumping.

02. Interview

03. Synthesis and Analysis

76 insights, 11 themes, 5 main groups

01. Affinity Clustering

People need comprehensive & easy-to-understand impact information
Farmer & Community want visualized public data that shows the current situation & tech to help organize volunteer

People are particularly interested in seeing the city's impact, especially in areas close to them

People need a easy system to report and guide them on how to solve the problem
People need coherent guideline (cleanup - treatment - prevention)
People need customization: different service for different case

People need customized guidance to better address the problem

Farmer & Community & Recycle company want easy communication channel
People need trackable process for clean-up & remediation to increase efficiency

Community & Citizen want online communication system & platform

Farmers want the community to help, not the government, because they don't want the government to interfere with agricultural production.

Farmer want community rather than government

Community want long-term collaboration with waste recycle company for tire treatment & create products with tire
Community want public organization raise awareness with multiple ways (education / online news / reward)

Community want collaboration with others to raise attention / reuse the tire

02. Persona

I created two personas to represent key user types, synthesizing insights from interviews, questionnaires, and the distinct goals and needs of various groups.

User journey maps then help me visualize the steps, emotions, and pain points users experience while interacting with the service. By combining research insights with storytelling, these maps highlight opportunities for solution design.

03. User Journey Map

04. Solution Concept

01. Design Concept

Simplified reporting process, citizens can now report the illegal tire they saw in a few steps on app. Web for municipalities and waste management.

Easy

Reporting, cleaning & soil remediation become a connected experience.

Thorough

Enjoyable

Reward system give people a sense of accomplishment and fun during illegal tire dumping.

Sustainable

Collected tires can be reused in the daily lives of citizens, saving the community huge costs in tire processing

02. System Map

Before: Linear solution model

After: Circular Sustainable Solution Model

The service blueprint illustrates the collaboration between the front-end community and the back-end recycling company, detailing how they work together to ensure the service operates effectively.

03. Service Blueprint

05. Design

I also tried to simplify and streamline the process of recycling tires. This machine contains three parts, which are cutting crushing and magnetic separator, preparing waste tires to become tire powder. Tire powder will become part of soil remedies, and after some final treatment, the remedies will be resold to citizens.

01. Hardware Design

Final Model

This information architecture outlines the structure of both the app and website, designed specifically for citizen users. The app centers on four key functions: learning, reporting, finding support, and earning rewards. The website, tailored for community use, focuses on monitoring and addressing reported cases.

02. App & Web Information Architecture

APP

Web

The image with interfaces showcases my initial mid-fidelity prototype. After creating it, I conducted two user tests to gather valuable feedback, which primarily highlighted the need for clearer guidance on the current stage and next steps.

03. Interface Development

User testing suggestions:

Report history at the start report page is currently too small and unclear; providing additional access to view and track reported cases could improve transparency and usability.
When scanning, users want to understand the reason behind a failed scan.
Some users prefer not to share their home address due to privacy concerns.
Where can users check their saved drafts?

Final mid-fidelity interfaces and user flows.

Provide features to advertise the problem, reward system and platform for sharing experiences

Fleshed out solutions for dumping and remediation

04. APP Feature

The reporting process has fewer steps and the user no longer has to enter a lot of information by hand
Users can easily track the status of their reports

Streamlined reporting process