PROJECT
Aquios Mobile App
INSTITUTION
Chico State University
TEAM 
Mary Trujillo
DATE
2014

THE CHALLENGE

Sustainability education was integrated into the graphic design curriculum as part of the conservative and “green” efforts taken by Chico State. Professors in the design program were equally passionate about conservation and sustainability, and sought to educate and inspire our graduating class with the following design challenge:

Create a mobile app that effectively motivates, educates, and rewards users for conserving water.

OUR GOALS WERE TO:

• Partner with another student and create a mobile app that motivates users to conserve water
• Include an aspect that relies on social accountability
• Educate ourselves about the severe 2014 California drought
• Develop our HTML, CSS, and Javascript skills by building a working prototype

PROJECT PLAN

Fellow design student Mary Trujillo and I paired up to tackle this design challenge. Our small team kicked off the project by identifying three project phases that would help us complete the mobile app – the Research Phase, Analyze Phase, and Design & Build Phase.

SMART WATER METER

Modern technology was already being utilized to help with the drought. When we looked into these technologies, we quickly uncovered the Smart Water Meter.

Smart Water Meters allow utility companies to digitally monitor each household or business’ water usage using real-time information. They are installed similarly to traditional water meters, offer vital information regarding leaks, and can be extremely efficient during a drought. During the time, Smart Water Meters were being installed in California homes at an exponential rate. More information on Smart Meters here. 

Could sharing real-time information on water usage motivate users to conserve more?

5-STAR APP REWARDS SYSTEM

The Five Star app aims to support local businesses by providing them with a simple customer loyalty platform. The platform allows small business owners to create a rewards and referral program for their customers, offer discounts, and send text notifications.

My teammate and I were already both members of the Five Stars program in Chico, and we noted the positive outcomes of the system – we were both motivated to keep visiting these businesses because of the new deals we received. We thought there may be an opportunity to offer a similar rewards system in our mobile app.

Would integrating a rewards-based system influence users to conserve?
Could connecting the app with local businesses help create a sense of community for users?

SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE

Recent California drought news had been reporting stories of a social media movement using the hashtag #DroughtShaming. People were publicly calling out their neighbors and local businesses for wasting water by blasting them on social media.

The hashtag increased conversation about the California drought and inspired people to “join the movement.” After uncovering the success of this campaign, we knew we wanted to integrate a similar social sharing feature into the app.

Could adding a social challenges and sharing feature into the app help
create “brand evangelists?"
 Would this help motivate app users to influence others to conserve?

ANALYZE PHASE

DEFINING THE TARGET AUDIENCE

Time constraints and project requirements limited our ability to conduct viable user research. We chose to create our own proto-persona in an effort to help us make rapid design decisions. Victoria, our proto-persona, is based on secondary research and our own educated assumptions. We hoped to validate our proto-persona with a few rounds of user testing at the end of semester.

FEATURE DEFINITION

After developing our proto-persona, we synthesized our research and began developing the features we wanted to include in our mobile app. We focused in on aspects of user motivations by leveraging modern, real-time technology with social challenges and a points-based rewards system.

HOW THE APP WORKS

The Aquios mobile app works by connecting users directly to their home’s Smart Water Meter. This meter feeds real-time information directly into the app’s dashboard, letting users know how much water they’ve consumed. The app motivates users to conserve water by offering rewards points in exchange for “meeting or beating” the Daily Water Goal set by the California State Water Resources Control Board. 

Points can be redeemed for offers from local businesses, such as free coffee or discounted purchases. To earn additional points, users create challenges between themselves and their friends and share their progress and challenges.

Users are also provided a database of water conservation tips to help them stay motivated and meet their goals without having to leave the app.

DASHBOARD

The Dashboard page is the main hub of the Aquios app. After connecting their Smart Water Meter, users can check their water usage in real-time, or hour-by-hour by using the pull-up menu at the bottom of the screen. The Dashboard page also displays their rewards points and total “lifetime” gallons saved. When a household uses more water than the set daily goal, the Dashboard updates and rewards points are deducted.

REWARDS & REDEEM

The Rewards page displays all available rewards that users can redeem their points for. These rewards range from free items to discounts, chosen by each participating local business. New rewards are continually added as a way to inspire users to frequently check back.

CHALLENGES

The Challenge Page allows users to create conservation challenges between themselves and their friends to earn points and unlock rewards. Challenges are displayed in a leaderboard format and allow users to share their status on social media.

CONSERVATION TIPS

The Tips page helps users meet their goals by offering additional water conservation tips, right inside the app. Tips are divided up by various parts of the home and are continually updated to keep users coming back.

DESIGN PHASE

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