A concept app that rewards skipping the single-use cup at local cafés. No branded bottle to buy; any mug counts. Four of us, three months: survey, flows, brand, three animated prototypes.
ROLEProduct designer
TEAM4 people · class project
TIMELINE3 months (one semester) · 2022
TOOLSFigma · Whimsical · Qualtrics
What it isRewards for bringing a reusable mug to local cafés. No purchase-gated cup: any mug counts.
My partThe persona and brand identity were mine; survey, flows, and wireframes were shared team work. [ADD: which final screens and prototypes are yours — this is the first thing reviewers ask about group work]
StatusUnshipped concept Wireframes tested; the hi-fi design was never tested or launched.
HOW TO READ THIS PAGE — artifacts carry disclosure labels: MEASURED real, checkable data · RETROSPECTIVE made after the project to document reasoning · SIMULATED illustrative, no real participants · PROPOSED a goal or plan, never an achieved result.
WHY PEOPLE SKIP THE REUSABLE CUPTOP 3 OF 60 SURVEYED
35%
FORGET TO BRING ONE
21%
SEE NO REASON TO
13%
DON'T HAVE TIME
MEASURED The top three barriers from our Qualtrics survey of 60 college students who don't use reusable cups. [ADD: the remaining 31% breakdown, or link the survey summary]
OVERVIEW
We cared about this one: less cup waste, and local cafés competing with the chains' loyalty apps. People already know waste is bad; our bet was to make the sustainable choice the convenient one.
RESEARCH
Forgetting and hurry are practical barriers; "see no reason to" is motivational. Reminders and speed fix the practical half. Rewards give the indifferent 21% a reason that isn't ideology.
“How might we make being sustainable the convenient choice, not the extra chore?”
THE HMW THAT GUIDED THE DESIGN
PERSONA
From the survey I developed our persona, Sydney: a student grabbing coffee most mornings, usually in a hurry, fluent in apps like Starbucks'. Time and money motivate her first, sustainability second. Every trade-off defers to her convenience.
PersonaRestyled in the final brand for presentation.
JOURNEY
The journey map tracks the habit change and marks where an app can step in: reminders when resolve is fresh, progress tracking when it fades, rewards at the register.
Journey mapA habit-adoption journey rather than a day-in-the-life.
IDEATION
A competitive scan showed the gap: everyone rewarded buying; nobody rewarded bringing. We mapped flows and wireframes around six features:
Accounts tracking every cup saved, over time and per café
A feed where friends see and nudge each other's savings
Saved payment for faster ordering and instant discounts
Custom avatars: a mug made yours
A barcode front and center
Local café recommendations, spreading traffic beyond the chains
Competitive scanTwo findings mattered: rewards gated behind branded cups, and nobody pointing traffic at local shops.Sitemap & flowPayment and barcode sit one tap from home.WireframesFirst pass, before testing (below).
WIREFRAME TEST
We tested an interactive wireframe [ADD: how many participants, how recruited]. Even participants with less-sustainable habits got interested once the rewards were concrete. Two changes followed:
"Sendable links with first-time promos would get more people to download it."
PARTICIPANT, WIREFRAME TEST · WE ADDED REFERRAL LINKS
Card reloads read as a chore, so we cut them for direct payment.
TEAM DECISION AFTER TESTING · ONE LESS STEP AT THE REGISTER
BRAND
The brand identity was mine end to end. Greens carry the sustainability story; red is saved for the two moments that pay the user, rewards and the barcode. Recoleta Bold for headlines (friendly, retro, café-chalkboard warmth), Montserrat for body, Montserrat Alternates for captions.
BrandTuned to feel like a good local café rather than an eco-guilt app.
THE FINAL CONCEPTPROTOTYPE, IN MOTION
01
Sign up, then straight in
Social sign-in or a quick account, customize your mug, and you're in.
02
Cups saved, cafés found
Home counts saved cups and recommends local shops; the barcode sits center-stage.
03
ECOmmunity
Friends' saves and streaks, plus the cafés they love. Accountability without the lecture.
HIGH-FIDELITY SCREENSFIGMA
OPEN QUESTIONS
What a launch would need answered that a semester didn't:
Verification. "Any mug counts" is the pitch and the hole. We designed the customer side only.
The café economics. We claimed cafés benefit but never interviewed one. The discount has to come from somewhere.
Hi-fi validation. The final design was never tested; its green-on-white text deserves a contrast pass.
RETROSPECTIVE The verification mechanic I'd design first:
The customer's barcode scan already tells the register who is paying. Verification only has to answer did they bring a mug, a yes/no the barista knows on sight. The scan fires the discount as "pending"; one barista-side tap (or an existing modifier key) confirms it. No new hardware, and a wrong tap costs one small discount: cheap enough that speed beats policing. Multi-register cafés and rush-hour honesty drift stay unsolved; both are pilot-testable.
SIMULATED The café-side study we should have run. No real baristas participated; profiles and quotes are illustrative:
Objective: would independent cafés fund a bring-your-own-mug discount, and can verification survive a rush? Method: 15-minute intercepts with 5 staff across 3 independent cafés (2 owners, 2 baristas, 1 shift lead), off-peak. Limitation: intercepts surface objections, not adoption behavior.
Simulated finding
Product implication
Proposed response
Confidence
Owners frame the discount as marketing spend, not margin loss — if the app demonstrably brings new faces
The café pitch must lead with discovery, not sustainability
Surface "new customers from Mug" in a merchant view
Low — needs real intercepts
Baristas reject anything adding >2–3 seconds at the register during rush
Verification must ride the existing scan
The pending-discount tap above
Medium — consistent with POS research generally
Mixed on fraud: some owners shrug ("it's a coffee discount"), others want control
Policing is a setting, not a feature
Per-café toggle: auto-approve vs. confirm
Low
"If it slows my line at 8am, I don't care what it saves."
SIMULATED BARISTA VOICE — ILLUSTRATIVE, NOT A REAL PARTICIPANT
"I'd fund 25 cents a cup if it walks students in the door."
SIMULATED OWNER VOICE — ILLUSTRATIVE, NOT A REAL PARTICIPANT
PROPOSED How success would be measured if this shipped:
Metric
Definition
How
Goal (not a result)
Limitation
Repeat bring-rate
% of users whose 2nd+ visit includes a mug scan
Scan events per user
Baseline first, then grow it
Confounded by discount size
Register time delta
Seconds added per transaction at pilot cafés
Timed observation, 1 rush hour per café
≤3s or the mechanic fails
Small sample; observer effect
Café retention
Pilot cafés still active after 8 weeks
Merchant dashboard
The business-side truth test
Tiny n in a pilot
WHAT I TOOK AWAY
Incentives reached the people that ideals didn't: the clearest signal from our wireframe test, and why the app centers on rewards.
Concept statusunshipped · wireframe-tested
Cut after testingcard reloads → direct pay
Any mug countsno purchase required; verification unsolved
