Cubeco

Inspiration

The sustainability practice in Sydney is foreign to many of the more than 208,000 international students who move to NSW to study in tertiary institutions. Upon speaking to 30+ international students studying in Sydney, we noticed a majority (87%) had favourable attitudes towards reusing and recycling goods. However, they struggled with adopting environmentally friendly habits in their daily lives due to lack of understanding about local recycling systems.
Many international students who are new to Sydney often feel confused about what they should buy and where to find it. As a result, they may end up buying more than they need and things they don't really need. Additionally, international students often find it challenging to understand and follow the local recycling systems, and they are often unsure of how to properly dispose of items they no longer want.

What it does

Our solution is a combination of a social enterprise and digital platform which is run by and run for international students in Sydney. We allow for international students to: understand local recycling systems, easily buy and sell essential items, and develop sustainable living habits through education and community.

Key Features

🛍️ Marketplace - A safe and seamless digital space for international students to find, buy, and resell household goods reducing both effort and waste. We design for the various cultural differences and intricacies of our users.
♻️ Learn Zone - Comprehensive interactive resources to foster a lasting commitment to sustainable living. Students can complete certification modules at their own pace, test their sustainability knowledge and be rewarded with LinkedIn certificates and university course credits.
🧊 The Cube (Hub) - A physical space on campus for students to gather and connect about building an eco-friendly lifestyle. Students attend workshops, drop off their unused items at The Cube. Social enterprise model allows for students to get involved volunteering and spread their passion and knowledge for sustainability.

How we built it

We followed the Double Diamond approach to tackle the design brief. Utilising exercises like Crazy Eight and User Personas to fuel our brainstorming. Through surveying and interviewing our target users we were able to refine our Cubeco's goals and make sure they solve the user pain points. We used Figma to plan, iterate and design the prototype of our application. Our branding and assets were created using Procreate.

Challenges we ran into

It was challenging to prioritise and figure out what we need to deliver given that we have a very limited amount of time. This. Furthermore, many of us were relearning Figma and figuring out how to use it as we went along and we were designing.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud of what we got up to in the mere span of 24 hours from brainstorming to researching to designing and pitching our solution! It was crazy to think that this was all done within the span of a day.

What we learned

Throughout this hackathon, we honed our rapid prototyping skills and learnt to effectively use tools like Figma and Figjam. We learned a lot about the brainstorming and iterative process of design and how the initial idea you have is not always the best one. This designation further solidified our practice of user centred design, making sure to avoid confirmation bias and leading questions in the process of understanding our users.

Feedback from users

“My culture emphasizes more on giving away to the less fortunate for reuse and I really love this idea. This promotes charitable behaviour within the community and giving back to the community is something I stand for.”

“I believe that reselling and reusing are very important. They not only help protect the environment but also allow more people to obtain items at lower prices.”