Clearo

Design

Inspiration

Clearo began with a simple observation: almost everyone around us has thousands of unread emails sitting in their Gmail inbox. People rarely clean them, not because they don’t care, but because inbox management feels overwhelming and low-priority. At the same time, we learned that storing these unused emails contributes to unnecessary digital waste and energy consumption. This connection between daily digital behavior and its real-world environmental impact inspired us to explore digital sustainability. We wanted to create a tool that makes email cleanup effortless and meaningful.

What it does

Clearo is an AI-powered email organizer that helps reduce digital carbon footprint by cleaning up unnecessary emails.

How we built it

We began by brainstorming different sustainability topics and noticed that digital sustainability is often overlooked. To validate this direction, we ran a survey and collected 20+ responses, which helped us confirm our problem statement. We then used Manus AI for deep secondary research and competitive analysis to understand the landscape. With these insights, we shaped our HMW questions, defined our persona, and mapped the user flow. Finally, we created high-fidelity UX designs and built a complete interactive demo of Clearo’s end-to-end experience.

Challenges we ran into

Choosing the right topic At first, it was hard to choose our focus. We looked at texts, photos, and emails. Photos needed extensive personalization and privacy work, which was out of scope. Texts didn’t have enough volume to show the power of AI. Emails were the best option because people collect a lot of them, and they clearly connect to digital sustainability. Our survey also proved that email inbox overload is a real user problem.
Finding what motivates users Another challenge was figuring out how to motivate users to clean their inbox in our app. We first thought about gamification or social features, but they didn’t feel right. In the end, we decided on a simple system: when users delete emails, they earn credits and get sustainable rewards. This creates a small, positive loop that encourages more cleanup, both digital and physical.
Making AI automation trustworthy We also needed users to trust the AI. If the AI deletes emails right away, people might feel unsafe. So we created stages. First, the AI only scans the inbox and gives a summary. Nothing is changed. Then, after the user does some manual cleanup, the AI learns their habits. Only after that does the automation start. This step-by-step offloading process helps users feel comfortable and confident using our product.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud to have identified an important issue: the environmental impact of our digital habits, and turned it into an actionable solution within just 24 hours. Our team conducted end-to-end research, ideated, and built a working prototype that combines AI automation with sustainability-driven design. We created a closed-loop system where users declutter their inboxes, earn rewards that encourage sustainable purchases, and, through those actions, become more aware of their overall environmental impact, motivating them to continue using the app. Most importantly, we’re proud of how we integrated creativity, technical skill, and purpose to design a solution that encourages sustainable living through everyday technology.

What we learned

Through this project, we became more aware of the often-overlooked issue of digital sustainability. How daily online habits, from storing unread emails to cloud attachments, contribute to invisible CO₂ emissions. We realized that sustainability is not only about physical waste, but also about the carbon footprint of our digital behavior. As we explored user motivations, we found that abstract ideas like “reducing data emissions” can feel distant. To make the impact tangible, we designed a reward system that bridges digital and physical life, turning inbox decluttering into visible, real-world actions. This led us to see sustainability as an ecosystem, where digital habits influence physical choices and vice versa. By connecting these two worlds, Clearo encourages users to cultivate mindful, eco-friendly routines that go beyond the screen.

What's next for Clearo

Our next step is to move beyond the prototype stage and conduct usability testing to understand how users interact with Clearo. This will help us identify which parts of the design need improvement and ensure the experience is intuitive and effective. We also plan to expand Clearo beyond emails to help users manage other areas like photos and files. We also plan to partner with AI companies, like Manus AI, in the reward systems to help motivate users to maintain sustainable digital habits.