CONS - Ethical Consumption App

Inspiration

From shifting towards paper straws to the rise of electric vehicles, and from collectively shaming SHEIN to the rise of Trader Joe’s, we can see that consumers are increasingly more concerned about ethical practices. So we chose to create our app, Cons, and ethical consumption app, to reflect these values for grocery shoppers, but we make it easier. The hardest part about being an ethical consumer is knowing how ethical the things we consume are, and Cons can fill this knowledge gap. Our app will give consumers this information, making it more easily accessible and allowing them to purchase more ethically.

What it does

With our app users will be able to shop and easily search the product in their hands. We provide a rating and insight on how ethically sourced the product is and offer alternatives in cases when they’re not so ethically sourced.

How we built it

We built Cons using Visual Studio Code, React-Native, and an Android Emulator to see our work as we go. The project took three parts: research, setting up the environment, and executing our plans with the app, each having their own challenges.

Challenges we ran into

Within our research, we found that many brands and companies were intertwined with one another and funnel into the same parent company, making our data overwhelming and confusing. We quickly resolved this issue by honing in on one company and a couple of their products.

We also struggled with setting up our environment with React-Native. With all of us being new to the framework, progress was slow but we were tenacious and steady. We had the same encounters with setting up an Android Emulator, but again, we were able to overcome this barrier.

And lastly, we struggled with the design of our app as we were also unfamiliar with the languages. But still, in the end, we overcame this barrier and were able to learn and refine our skills with the languages.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're very proud of being able to present a working app that does all of the things we wanted it to! Despite each member having their own responsibilities and duties, we were able to come together and develop our very own app.

What we learned

We've learned so much about working as a team as well as learning so much about React-Native.

What's next for CONS - Ethical Consumption App

Later, we will focus on making the app even easier for users by adding a barcode scanner. We will also be expanding our database within the app—more companies and more products, as well as bettering our search bar capabilities.