Brita
Overview
Team & Role
Natasha Centeno, UX Designer & Researcher
Timeline
1 week project
Tools
Figma
Whimsical
Zoom
The problem
Brita released new Test Water Kits to ship their kit to your home. You can send it back, and they have their laboratory where you can see the results.
After sending out surveys, 60% of people would research online, and 0% would order a $60.00 test kit. 30% of other participants said they would test it themselves, and during interviews, another two people told me they would prefer to try the water themselves. Most participants felt that local communities could make a significant difference for the environment and wanted to know what their government was doing to support this.
In addition, there are other well-established water kits on the market that range from $10 to $300.
What if a fundamental right to clean water could be more accessible and profitable for Brita?
The solution
An accessible, easy, and intuitive way to test your water instantly.
On Brita’s website, there would be a feature to click on, use my current location, or enter your zip code to get your results.
To help participants with their goals, signing a petition was the most accessible way most people can contribute. So signing a petition feature was created and a link to learn more about your government's legislators and policies.
Jump to Phase
How did we get there?
Empathize
Research Goal
We want to know how people drink water and if they need a water filter to better their health or the environment. If they use a water filter then, what features could be added to improve their online experience?
Objectives
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What gaps of service are currently missing?
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Learn the reasons why they need to filter their water.
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Learn what sustainability means to people and what features they want to be incorporated online to reflect their values.
Methodologies
The researcher interviewed ten participants over Google Meet.
The first interview had five participants to explore more about what problems and solutions people had regarding water filtration, sustainability, and personal health.
The second interview had five participants testing out the prototype.
The researcher sent one survey out via Survey Monkey. Survey Monkey allowed ten free responses even though the researcher had gathered more than ten responses. The UX designer implemented a balance of qualitative and quantitative research.
Competitive Analysis
While not well known, ZeroWater had some of the best features among competitors. ZeroWater filters the most contaminants, has an interactive element on the homepage to check your local water quality, and proudly works with communities to help better their water.
Brita focuses primarily on funnel conversion. The researcher wanted to build a feature for Brita because their UI is modern, clean, and easily identifiable to users. In addition, another feature for Brita would make them more competitive against ZeroWater.
Key Insights from Interview
100%
100% If they knew they had lead or other impurities in their water they would not hesitate to buy a filter. If everyone had accessible knowledge of their water quality, users would be more likely to purchase a water filter.
90%
4 out of 5 participants felt that corporations focus on making a profit. Hesitant if they would better the environment.
90%
4 out of 5 participants feel that local non-profits make the most difference. Two participants said that for some non-profits, the title is only a guise so they can make more money.
Key Insights from Survey
Zip code 50%
To search for your water quality, 50% preferred a zip code, and 30% preferred an interactive map.
Petition 50%
Particiapnts indicated they would rather, sign a petition 50%
or learn and educate yourself about the environment 40%.
User Persona
The majority of participants from the interviews are passionate about sustainability, saving time, high-quality products.
Some of their pain points include high cost for quality products and not having enough time in the day.
Ideation
Phase 2
Task Flow
User Flow
Interaction Design
Phase 3
Wireframes
Low, medium, and high-fidelity wireframes were iterated throughout the project. The mid-fidelity wireframes underwent usability testing.
Design & Branding
Phase 4
The researcher enjoyed learning and using Brita's design system. Brita uses concise and limited design throughout their website.
This was challenging for the designer due to the high amount of text used to create the new wireframes. Using icons, illustrations, and the careful study of their design system helped achieve the final wireframes.
Test & Iteration
Phase 5
Three people scored it 1. One person scored it 3 and the other 2. Because the Find Your Water quality was not at the top of the page, participants had to scroll quite a bit.
The average of 5 users was 1.6. Rounded up would be 2 Easy. Four people scored it a 1. One person scored it a 4 due to the button to submit.
90% of users find the features easy to access.
Find your water
Sign a Petition
80% of users feel the branding is on par with Brita’s original website.
100% of users said the branding felt like Brita.
80% of the users would want to purchase a water filter if they do not already own one after using the water quality feature.
3 users already own a water filter. Of the remaining 2 users, they said they would want to use the feature and then do more research on what is available to purchase, and if there were any alarming chemicals then yes.
Inclusive as 2 would not be enough to form a conclusion. Additionally, the contaminants are not accurate to the area. Would not get an accurate result regardless.
Recordings
Click play to listen to interview recordings. All participants gave the researcher permission to record and use the audio.
Iterations
After conducting usability testing, the following changes were made.
Users were confused on what this would accomplish and how it would be used. Signing is the only action they would want to take.
Simplified design to the expectations of the user.
Many attempts were made to simplify and group relevant information. For time the second screen was used in the usability testing. The UX Designer and user agreed further work needed to be done to simplify and unify.
Studying the branding and using design principles helped in creating the final iteration.
Learnings & Challenges
Phase 6
Limited variations within the Brita UI kit made it challenging to sort large amounts of text and data as Brita focuses on short information or diagrams.
My interest in the topic spanned sustainability, personal health, and water filtration. Initally the interview questions were general and did not give accurate information. My mentor and I talked about how to refine the interview questions.
When writing better questions, the data became more valuable to the capstone.
It would be nice to conduct two separate studies, one on current water filters users and one on people without a water filter. Both insights were valuable. For me to be more organized and to have equal amounts of participants, separating the two groups would have helped.