Neutral

Context
Neutral is a browser extension that helps users shop more sustainably by measuring their carbon footprint and offset it at checkout. It’s been featured in articles on FastCompany, TechCrunch, and was a Product Hunt 2021 Golden Kitty Awards Finalist.
Overview
Throughout my time on Neutral, I helped to redesign core features from their MVP, build new ones 0-1, and created illustrations and marketing material for the product.
Role
Product Design, Interaction Design, Visual Design, Brand Design
tools
Figma, Adobe Ilustrator, Miro
timeline
Aug 2020 - Mar 2021
team
2 Product Designers
2 Product Manager
2 Developers
2 Marketing + Business Analysts
Challenge
Online shopping is large contributor of the world's carbon emissions but many are not aware of the impact their purchases have on our planet, nor do they bother to search for it.
Solution
A browser extension to help you shop sustainably, and seamlessly — online.
impact

1500+

downloads in 6 months

130,000kg

of CO2 offset

$30,000

dollars raised

700+

trees planted

260+

purchases offset
Problem discovery
It’s all in the stats

15,000,000

of CO2 was emitted from Amazon in one year

86%

of people are increasingly looking for green products and services

20%

of customers will verify the environmental impact of their purchases
What’s stopping people from trying to reduce their carbon footprint?

61

User interviews
3 main insights
Convenience trumps all
Shoppers turn to cheap, convenient and easily disposable products rather than repairable and quality goods
Lost in Translation
We may live in a world of big data, but we’re numb to big numbers
Feeling disconnected
Many feel like their individual impact isn’t enough to make a difference
Defining the problem
How might we allow users to see the direct impact of their purchases in real time?
Create a seamless fit
Shoppers turn to cheap, convenient and easily disposable products rather than repairable and quality goods
Provide insight
Shoppers turn to cheap, convenient and easily disposable products rather than repairable and quality goods
Reward impact
Shoppers turn to cheap, convenient and easily disposable products rather than repairable and quality goods
User flow
Where does Neutral fit in the shopping experience?
Since Amazon is the most popular e-commerce platform, we created a user flow of Amazon’s typical shopping journey and highlighted opportunities for Neutral to fit
Design explorations
We went through multiple iterations for each  step of the shopping journey
Product page/buy now
Taking up less real estate
  • User feedback and testing revealed users dislike obstructed product information and displaced components on Amazon's site.
  • The final iteration prioritizes our offset CTA, while maximizing white space and minimizing product description obstruction
Exploration 1

↓

Final design
View cart
Establishing patterns
  • Donation amounts were prioritized as people look towards monetary amounts at this point of the shopping journey
  • Placing the summary in an absolute corner helped establish consistent interaction patterns across features, combined with other features like carbon credit summaries
Exploration 1

↓

Final design
Order confirmation
Recognition and reward
  • With more white space on the screen, we opted for the version with no hidden states
  • Placing the summary in an absolute corner helped establish consistent interaction patterns across features
Exploration 1
Exploration 2

↓

Final design
Final product
Shop Neutral – Understand your impact instantly and offset your emissions, right from your shopping cart.
Carbon Impact Report
Learn about your emissions – at a glance
When I joined the team, this feature had released it’s first iteration and received live feedback from users.
Carbon credit summaries
Your potential impact, summarized in your cart
Carbon credit summaries remind users how much their offset donation will be, their remaining wallet balance, and gives them that final push to offset their purchase.
post-purchase
Recognition and reward
Post purchase summaries are the perfect place to congratulate a user, celebrate their efforts towards shopping sustainable, and make them feel like part of a community.
Takeaways
Don't underestimate individual impact
Whether it's your individual contributions on a project, or your efforts towards helping the climate crisis, no action goes unseen.
Advocate for design!
In the process of delivering features quickly in a small team, it's important to remember to advocate for design and not cut-corners when getting to implementation. Whether that's communicating your design decisions well, or making sure they are shipped the way you intended, advocating for design is key in making sure the user experience you wanted is delivered to the end-user.