1. OVERVIEW

Problem

If the next generation can't identify and name local wildlife how we expect them to protect and conserve some of our most important species. 

Solution

How might we make wildlife identification just as interesting to the younger generation as other competing activities?

"Harness gamification from Pokemon Go to make wildlife identification fun and playful"

2. ASSUMPTIONS

3. DESK-BASED RESEARCH

The focus on my desk-based research was to:

Determine the extent of the problem;

• Findings: Significant enough for there to be a potential market for this app

Discover trends in competing activities to wildlife spotting e.g. toy design and functions, most popular computer games (designs etc.);

• Findings: Competition from computer games that are focused on collecting objects, creating new worlds, characters you can personalise, and team games e.g. Fifa. Roblox and Minecraft are incredibly popular and use simple graphics. 

The age range and users to target for the app and why;

• Findings: 7-9 years old because of the national curriculum for year 4 (8 to 9): “pupils might work scientifically by: using classifications systems and keys to identify some animals and plants in the immediate environment. They could research unfamiliar animals and plants from a broad range of other habitats and decide where they belong in the classification system”.

Discover, analyse and test competing apps, and other competing solutions, on the market. 

• Findings: All of the apps have limited incentives for people to keep using the app - with the exception of Seek, which has challenges and badges - and whilst they are all educational they are missing a playful and engaging element for children. The main two - Seek and PlantSnap - have a community for users to anonymously share their observations and findings. Only one - Pocket Pals - uses playful fun characters reminiscent of the Minecraft and Roblox computer games in its augmented reality (AR) trail app.

4. SURVEY & INTERVIEWS

5. USERS

6. PROTOTYPE (FIGMA) & USER FEEDBACK

For the first prototype I wanted to focus on one user - the primary caregiver of the "busy bumblebee". Their children are generally fans of the outdoors and thus will be more willing to use the app than the other personas. 

Furthermore, I really want to develop a prototype that could be used to test which incentives resonate with children that are competitive but have other outdoor distractions. 

As this user group loves stickers and is competitive, the first prototype was inspired by a sticker book. 

The criteria for the app was based on desk-based research and the surveys and interviews. 

Jobs to Be Done

The three main jobs that the app needs to do are:

• When I am outside with my kid, I want to be able to upload a photo and receive information immediately on what we have spotted so I can keep my kid engaged in the wildlife identification process. 

• When I am using the app with my kid, I want to receive child-friendly incentives  so I can motivate my child to identify more wildlife. 

• When I am opening the app for the first time, I want to have the option to not share any data by having the option to "not log in" so I can feel safe downloading the app. 

Red Routes

The three main tasks the app needs to do is:

1. Upload a photo 

2. Use a photo recognition API to match wildlife to known species 

3. Receive information about species matches

Main Red Route for the Prototype

Even though these three tasks are the minimum steps needed for the prototype, the prototype needs to be fit for purpose and meet the three jobs to be done.  Therefore, the red route for the prototype testing included:

1. The user having to take a photo in the field and upload it to the app instead of uploading a photo from their photo library. This is because the app will be mainly competing with other apps on the market and not these apps and other solutions for in-home identification e.g. wildlife identification sticker books and activity packs. 

2. The user being given an incorrect species match for the photo they uploaded and therefore needed to self-select the correct match in a quick and simple way. This is because the wildlife recognition APIs used in competing apps often give incorrect matches. 

3. Incentives that reward the child (and their parent) for identifying wildlife and also encourage them to go outside and identify more wildlife. These incentives including having a species card that looks like a football card to motivate the kid to go outside and look for this specific species, a virtual buddy for them to collect, and an alert later for them to go out and collect more buddies. It also did not include a log in requirement to use the app. 

Designing with the User

All user testing of the different iterations of the prototype was done remotely using interactive low fidelity and high fidelity wireframes.

For the first testing of the prototype, I decided to test the two scenarios - species card (the user looks at a species card first then finds the bumblebee) and flower photo (the user notices a flower, takes a photo and tries to identify it).

The feedback from this testing was:

1. There needs to be instructions in the app that are clear, straightforward and repeated.

2. The "tinder-style" options for self-selecting species matches is unclear.

3. The virtual sticker book is very confusing. 

Due to time constraints, the next iterations of the prototype were designed alongside the user remotely. 

The scenario for the last prototype developed (see below) was that the parent and the child decide to go outside to look for wildlife. They notice that there are bumblebees in the area and want to find out more about them before they go looking for them. They spot one, take a photo, and then use the app to make sure it is a match. Several months later they receive a notification about more new species in their area.

The main feedback from testing of this prototype is that it is still not obvious that if you click on the grey space for the species in the sticker book, you will open a species card pop up.

This is something I will A/B test in the next iteration - pop up instructions versus the current instructions tab on the sticker book page in the app. 

7. DESIGN SYSTEM

8. NEXT STEPS (USERS, RESEARCH, DESIGN)

9. ASSUMPTIONS FOR LAUNCH

• None of the existing wildlife identification apps on the market e.g. PlantSnap, Seek and iRecord release a more kid or family friendly version of their apps with better gamification, because these apps are likely to already have an existing user base of parents, grandparents and teachers with young children and it would be more difficult to gain market share. 

• A major brand e.g. LEGO or National Geographic does not launch a competing app within 6 months of launch. 

• There are no competing apps being launched at the same time, especially through crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter and CrowdCube, that are focusing on the UK market. 

• There is not a going to be successive waves of the coronavirus that would restrict parents and grandparents going outdoors for wildlife identification with their kids. 

• There are no significant barriers for using anonymous data from the app to create maps of locally spotted wildlife.People are willing to pay for this app e.g. micro-payments in a freemium model.

10. MONETISATION

The first route to explore is the Freemium/Premium/Free trial model because monetisation through in-app adverts would be challenging for an app focused on 7-9 year olds due to ASA UK Advertising Regulations.

This could be combined with a crowdfunding campaign to pay to scale an MVP, and government grants/funding bodies. 

In order to get enough users using the app to create maps of wildlife, there would need to be a significant period of time where the app was free. Therefore a free trial period must be available for a few months and not weeks. Then there would need to be something like a "pay-per-use" model for additional wildlife sticker packs until there were enough users and user trust to implement

A partnership with an online educational provider might be needed to get enough users to initially download and use the app for free. 

Later on, strategies for growth could be through partnerships with brands who can pay to set identification challenges for users of the app. 

Monetisation models for other wildlife identification apps

• Plantsnap -  Initially it was a paid app ($3.99) model (2017) then a Freemium model was introduced (free app with in-app adverts and "unmonetized" retail and e-commerce; a pro version of the app - ($19.99; and subscription options)  as they scaled. There was free promotion of the app through partnerships who promote the app to their visitors e.g. American Public Garden Association. This startup launched several crowdfunding campaigns to both promote, develop and scale the app. 

• Seek - app developed through a partnership between National Geographic (potentially as a sponsor) and the California Academy of Sciences. 

• iRecord - app partly funded by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology / Joint Nature Conservation Committee. 

Source: https://clevertap.com/blog/how-plantsnap-built-a-global-user-base/