Research

I started with a business analysis to understand Sydney Water’s current approach to encouraging people to use water responsibly and adopt water-saving habits. I found that Sydney Water provides tips and services on their website to help reduce water usage, but this raised some important questions:

• How likely are people to visit the Sydney Water website on their own?

• Even if they do, are the tips motivating enough to change behaviour in the long run?

These insights shaped the direction of my research:

The solution needed to be more engaging, accessible, and effective to make a real impact.
We reviewed Sydney Water’s existing services, such as:

• Water-saving tips on their website

• Smart metering and leak alerts

• Community education programs

We identified gaps in personalization, motivation, and community engagement.

Competitive Analysis

I analysed sustainability and utility tracking apps to identify best practices and improvement areas.
Key takeaways:

• Simple UI with data visualizations improves user retention.

• Personalized goals keep users engaged.

• Many apps lacked actionable steps beyond tracking data.

BJ Fogg's Behavior Model

I looked into BJ Fogg's Behavior Model, developed by the American behavior scientist, which states that

a behavior occurs when motivation, ability, and a trigger come together.

Behavior = Motivation × Ability × Trigger

• Motivation → the person needs a reason (desire, fear, hope, reward).

• Ability → the action has to feel doable (simple, easy, within reach).

• Trigger → something prompts the behavior at the right time (a reminder, notification, cue).

User Surveys & Interviews

Next, I ran a survey with 14 participants to gauge people’s motivation to save water. So the survey began with a simple question: Do you make an effort to save water? If they said yes, I explored their actions, reasons, and goals. If they said no, we uncovered the barriers and what might encourage them to start.

Key Findings

A survey (n = 14) revealed:

• 92.9% already make an effort to save water

• Main motivations include environmental concern (83%), and energy conservation (58%)

• 88% of users didn’t know how much water they used monthly.

  Key Insights

"We found that:

• Most people do try to save water (over 90%).

• The top reasons were caring for the environment, knowing water is limited, and saving energy — not necessarily to save money.

• Many reuse water, take shorter showers, and fix leaks.

• What they wanted most was:
  ✅ To track their efforts,
  ✅ See how much they’re saving,
  ✅ And share their impact with others.

For the less engaged users, the problem was usually a lack of knowledge or belief that their actions could matter."

Personas

Based on our survey, we created two key archetypes:

1. Eco-Ella (25-40, environmentally conscious)

“I want to see how my small actions make a big difference.”
Needs: feedback loop, impact tracking, social sharing
Pain Points: no way to see her real contribution

2. Budget-Ben (35-50, family man, cost-conscious)

“Saving water helps my bills and my kids' future.”
Needs: efficiency tools, simple tips, occasional rewards
Pain Points: hard to stay motivated long-term

Ideation & Concept

We brainstormed multiple solutions and narrowed our direction using these criteria:
✅ Easy to adopt
✅ Tracks water-saving efforts
✅ Offers social or motivational feedback
✅ Scalable for the Sydney Water ecosystem

Final Concept: “DropWise” – Your Water-Saving Companion

A mobile app designed to:

• Track water use habits

• Offer personal impact stats

• Let users share and celebrate efforts

• Deliver gentle prompts and nudges

• Reward users with badges and optional challenges

• Solution

Key Features & Design Approach

• Daily Water Tracking: Users log water consumption by syncing with smart meters.

• Smart Insights: Personalized tips based on user habits.

• Progress Visualization: Simple, interactive graphs show consumption trends.

Design & Prototyping

The UI followed a clean, minimalistic approach to reduce cognitive load. Water usage was tracked using color-coded water consumption indicators (Green = efficient, Red = high usage) and microinteractions were integrated for a smooth, engaging user experience. The Stark plugin ensured compliance with WCAG standards.

Testing & Iterations

2 rounds of user testing was conducted with 6 participants. Improvements include bar chart visibility on My Rooms pages, screen transitions, and the addition of clickability on the My Usage page.

The prototype can be seen and interacted with here.