"Cleanwave" Track 3 Winner UCR Designathon

Empowering communities to fight against waste in the ocean together

ROLE

UI/UX Designer

TEAM

Alan

Bao

DURATION

May 10 - 11, 2025

TOOLS

Figma, Google Forms, Google Docs, Canva, Goodnotes, iPad

Cleanwave - UCR Designathon Winner of Track 3

A call to action for people who care about the impact of plastic trash in the ocean

Context

This project was completed during a 24-hour hackathon at UC Riverside, with just two team members. This added an additional constraint beyond the already short timeline. We quickly divided responsibilities and prioritized the most essential parts of the research and design process. I led user research and UI design, while my teammate pitched, managed submission logistics, and synthesized our research findings. The limited time and small team size required us to make quick decisions, narrow down key features, and focus on delivering a functional, high-impact prototype. In the end, we won Track 3 out of the five equally weighted tracks in this hackathon.

The hackathon’s theme challenged participants to design eco-friendly products focusing on ocean sustainability, which guided the direction of our solution.

The Problem

Approximately 11 million tons of plastic enters the ocean every year. That’s the equivalent of us dumping 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic into the world’s oceans, rivers, and lakes every single day. This harms marine ecosystems, threatens wildlife, and contributes to long-term environmental degradation. Many eco-conscious individuals want to help, but they often feel unsure of where to begin or how to make a real impact. How might we design a product that reduces plastic waste and encourages more sustainable behavior in everyday life?

[Environment, UN. “Plastic Pollution.” UNEP, www.unep.org/plastic-pollution. Accessed 10 May 2025.]

🧪 RESEARCH

How does plastic waste get into our oceans?

Plastic litter discarded on streets doesn’t just stay there. It often gets swept away by rainwater or carried by the wind into storm drains, streams, and rivers, which ultimately flow into the ocean. Directly littering, especially illegal dumping of waste, also contribute significantly to the growing waste in our oceans.

Understanding how to encourage people to pick up trash.

To explore what motivates individuals to pick up trash, we conducted a user survey (20 respondents) to better understand both the obstacles that discourage sustainability acts and the factors that might encourage people to take action. Our goal was to identify paint points and key features that could guide the direction of our product design.

Key insights:

What people want:

"Big on community engagement"

"Logistics of my own impact"

"Convenient and easy to access"

📓 SYNTHESIZING RESEARCH

Persona

We synthesized our research into a user persona that represents the target audience for our app. This persona highlights key pain points, motivations, and behaviors, which will allows us to narrow down our scope to include the most impactful and relevant features.

✍️ IDEATE

Sketch

I created sketches to explore different user flows and screen layouts. The main goal during this phase was to determine which features should be prioritized and given dedicated space in the app’s navigation. Additionally, sketches also helped me understand what information should be included in each page or section.

✨ FINAL DESIGN

High Fidelity Design

With all of our research and ideas in mind, we created a final prototype that addresses the needs and frustrations of our intended users. With the time and two person team constraints, we focused delivering the following key features: