SRC CRM UX Case Study – Christine Niu

Play4Nature

What if helping the planet felt easy and addictive (in a good way)?

Team

1 Designer, 1 Developer

Timeline

March 2025 (24 hours)

Tools

Figma, Swift, xCode

Problem Overview

People genuinely care about wildlife, but that care rarely turns into action.

But why is there a gap between caring and doing? The research surprised me.

A study in Gua Ma Lu National Park revealed that locals are often less informed about nearby conservation efforts than visitors. People living right next to the problem don't even know about it.

If they can't contribute big, it doesn't feel worth contributing at all
Small organizations doing the most local impact have almost no visibility
Negative attitudes toward conservation are often linked to low awareness and education

A study in Gua Ma Lu National Park revealed that locals are often less informed about nearby conservation efforts than visitors. People living right next to the problem don't even know about it.

If they can't contribute big, it doesn't feel worth contributing at all
Small organizations doing the most local impact have almost no visibility
Negative attitudes toward conservation are often linked to low awareness and education

This isn't because they don’t want to help; it's because action isn’t visible, impact doesn’t feel immediate, and there’s no social reinforcement. If helping the planet doesn’t feel rewarding in the moment, it gets delayed or never happens.

“I want to help… but I don’t know what I can actually do.”

The Opportunity

What if conservation felt more like a daily social behavior; something you do, share, and build identity around?

Instead of searching for ways to help, users can act instantly.

Product Goal

Goal

Spread awareness and education on local conservation and make conservation feel social and engaging

Design Focus

I prioritized speed using 60 second or less actions, camera-first interaction to reduce decision friction, and social identity to make impact visible and shareable.

Retention & Engagement Loop

Open, Capture, Reward & Impact, Share!

The Experience

Micro-actions that feel doable

Users see daily wildlife facts, nearby conservation issues, and a quick quest they can complete in under 60 seconds.

They can take simple actions to make impact visible and achievable.

From Passive Action to Camera-Based Action

Users act in the moment and learn about local nature through camera-powered, location-aware quests.

Instead of deciding what to do, they now have actionable steps to grow awareness and contribute positively.

This screen was developed after the hackathon to further refine and expand the concept.

Beyond Quests

Map of local events for participation
Badges & rewards tied to impact (unlock species you’ve helped)
Real-world shop with eco-friendly rewards

Translating User Needs into Design Solutions

I based every feature off of the principle that behavior change happens when repeated actions reshape neural pathways (neuroplasticity) and become part of identity.

Design Decisions Under Constraint

Time constraints and 1 designer means tradeoffs

I primarily focused on the core user flow of discover, act, and earn/impact to manage the scope.

Instead of abstract badges and rewards existing for the sake of being, well, rewards, I designed rewards to map directly to the species being protected and show the user the impact they're making.

Result

In 24 hours, I designed 8 interactive screens solo in Figma with full end-to-end flows. The designs were handed off to my developer teammate who built a working prototype in Swift and Xcode that was demo-ready and functional at judging. We won Best Overall Hack with highest scores in visual design and social good.

This was just the first 24 hours. But what if it went beyond that?

If this were to become a real product, I would focus on key features and measure success through key engagement and retention metrics, including quest completion rate to assess task follow-through, sharing rate to evaluate social and community participation, camera opens as a signal of active feature use, and user retention across Day 1, Week 1, and Month 1 to understand sustained behavior change over time.