Design Ignites Change - Projects

University of Illinois School of Art + Design

Greenbean is an interactive charity operated via Apple iphone application that provides the user with interesting facts about their environment and what they can do to keep it healthy, in addition to providing quick and easy opportunities to make donations on its behalf. All proceeds go the Environmental Work Group (EWP), which is a non-profit organization whose mission is "to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment." The objective was to inform the public of the environmental concerns facing us today by presenting an imaginative and renewable approach to learning more about those concerns.

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November 13, 2010

Here the application name and logo are represented. A short and simple series of ambient and opacity based animations guide the user to the main interface directory, where the game begins.

Here the user chooses paths from a directory. "about" contains information about Greenbean and the (EGP) org, while "technical" contains software/developer info and "profile" begins the user's game.

The game functionality is based on interaction with each fact. Each spherical node represents a fact, and the game clock in the top right corner counts down to when the next fact will sprout.

When all the other facts have been accessed, touching the final node will cause it to bloom a flower and an alert will prompt the user to donate a dollar to the Environmental Work Group organization.

Finally the user will have the option to plant a new bean. Upon accepting the prompt, the bean counter will move to the next color and the next flower will be unique and of the corresponding color.

Their were several challenging aspects of this project, one in particular was designing an aesthetically cohesive interface to the Apple iphone ui that would be easily familiar to the user but also one that would be stylistically indicative of the environment, in addition to maintaining a certain charitable suitability.

The solution was something of a game, but one that would only require the user to play for a moment every day. Each day after the user has planted the bean, a new fact will sprout that the user can touch to access. After 10 facts have been accessed, a flower sprouts, and the app prompts the user to make a small donation.

Project Greenbean

University of Illinois School of Art + Design

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