Beebox Project

The interdisciplinary team of the Master HES-SO Innokick was mandated by the company Beegreen, based in Curitiba, Brazil. This Master's thesis took place in two phases. During three months, the first steps were initiated on the spot. The second part was carried out remotely, in Switzerland, for the same duration as the first. The main mission was developed according to the progress of the project and finally raised awareness in the form of a problem:

"How to replace Marmitex (disposable Styrofoam packaging) with a reusable packaging service and enhance it in restaurants in Curitiba? "

The deliverables:
 

• A trend book
• A notebook of ideas
• A scenario book
• A preliminary concept book
• A final concept book
• A functional specification
• A schedule of implementation

• A marketing strategy
• An intellectual property strategy
• A provisional budget
• A project management schedule
• 3D visualization tools
• Prototypes of products
• A promotional video

Methodology

To achieve the desired objective, many steps have been considered and carried out. All of these approaches have been focused on innovation and are linked to "design thinking". It is based on concrete research and extensive field studies that the BeeBox project was developed.

BeeBox is a concept based on the reuse of food packaging. They will be made of polypropylene. This inexpensive material is used in the making of many of today's Lunchboxes. Its rigidity gives it a high life cycle. Once this cycle has been completed, it is one of the plastics whose end-of-life treatment is the easiest, without the release of toxic substances. It is 100% recycling.

My role

This project was carried out with two engineers and I was responsible for UX research, Interaction design, Visual design, and UX writing.

The Design process

01

Discover

Stakeholder interviews, user surveys, desk research, and workshops. To understand the problem and define the next steps.

Desk research

.

User surveys and stakeholders interviews

 In this part, interviews and quantitative and qualitative questionnaires were made in order to collect as much information as possible for the project.

A total of about 200 end consumers responded to the questionnaires, through Beegreen's extensive communications network by google forms.

If we synthesize all the responses obtained, we see that the targeted end consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the environmental impact they generate. According to them, mainly through the production of waste and the release of carbon from transport. This is why they are increasingly trying to limit these sources of pollution.

02

Define

From discussions and reviews of the concept and ideation, this step often led to some paths such as benchmarks, internal surveys, or user testing.

The generation of ideas was first carried out within the Beegreen company in a place favorable to the generation of ideas. The application of brainstorming techniques, before and during the session, allowed judgments to be suspended and thus fostered imagination and communication.

Once the 208 ideas were collected, they were selected, sorted, then distributed in the different clusters shown below. The categories are established according to 3 main clusters namely:

Personas

The first step is to validate the concept. In order for the report to be readable, the key elements that emerged during the numerous interviews were highlighted and summarized in the form of fictitious personas.

The exchanges, the environment, and the actors of the project have also been studied and available following the personas.

Business model canvas & the value proposition

03

Develop

Conducted concept and usability tests to understand what were the main pains in the flow. Then took more specific prototype tests using the lessons from the previous steps. All to understand all perceptions of experience.

The market research led to many improvements to the preliminary concept. The final concept was developed after multiple iterations and research.

This concept is called "Beebox". It is based on one of the four main principles of reuse, "return on the go" by Ellen Macarthur Foundation.

Beebox Flowsheet

 
This concept is made up of two distinctive elements which are food packaging, the "Beebox" and the mobile application, the "Beeapp".

Before implementing this concept, the Beeboxes will be optimized and injected in Biplast and the mobile application development will take place in the company that created the Beegreen website.
Once ready, Beegreen will undertake to implement the concept in restaurants that have signed up to the eco-responsible partnership of the Beebox project.

Flow mapping
 

Doing more research, I created an ideal flow mapping for the application. in which it is divided into two segments for Beegreen: end customers and restaurants:
 

Sketch & wireframes

Our information architecture was based on the needs that the application needs to fulfill:

1. Connection by e-mail or social networks
2. Push notifications
3. User location
4. Map and itinerary
5. Chat with restaurants
6. Payment within the application
7. Access to the Beegreen website
8. Bank card reader
9. QR code reader
10. Point system (gamification)

Thus, a low complexity prototype, starting from the sketch below, was developed to understand what and how the paths within the application would be once the concept was explained.

Assumptions validation & testing

This step consisted of two parts. The first one with stakeholders, to discuss the pros and cons of each idea and understand the business point of view.

The other one with the user, restaurants, and end customers to understand its point of view and if the solution was usable.

04

Delivery

3D models: Beebox and Beestand.

The Beeboxes will be displayed in all partner restaurants, in a tailor-made stand. Ideally, they will be placed close to the checkouts in order to have good visibility with potential users and to avoid any risk of theft. These Beeboxes are developed in a simple and efficient way, in order to limit production costs and to meet the needs of as many users as possible. Regarding the physical appearance, design and ergonomics have been studied and worked with finesse, in order to encourage the target audience to adopt them and even that they are tempted to keep them for personal use. This food packaging will be injected in plastic, more particularly polypropylene which offers many possibilities in terms of aesthetics. Its rigidity gives it a high life cycle.
Note: 3D modeling was carried out by a member of my team, Donovan Maury.

In order to optimize this concept and improve its marketing aspect, it will be planned to store food packaging on a small wooden stand, cut with a laser cutter. This includes the Beegreen logo and all the explanations necessary for the user to fully understand the concept. The presence of various ways of acting for the environmental cause and the savings achieved through the use of a Beebox are described on this Beestand.

BeeApp

A full working prototype of the application has been developed by me using the functionality offered by the Adobe XD program. From the wireframe to the final prototype of the application, it is possible to design a navigation simulation within the application using the resources provided therein.

Respecting the standards of the visual identity of the company Beegreen, the application is essentially composed of 3 colors in addition to white and black, namely navy blue, green, and beige.

It is possible to simulate navigation there from the creation of a user/restaurant account until the moment of purchase.

The "BeeApp" has not yet been implemented. As this is a master's thesis, it is up to the Beegreen company to implement the Beebox project in the market.
It's important to note that a lot of confidential data of this project has not been presented, such as the investment plan, etc. Since part of the project is confidential.

To finish, a promotional/explanatory video was created with the aim of explaining the user journey of this concept.

Kevinpanchaud@gmail.com

- 2024