For the past 8+ years, I have worked at the intersection of customer experience research, product design, and business strategy— predominately working to design transportation systems and places that encourage more sustainable behaviors.
Seeking to understand the needs of all stakeholders and customers, I help organizations navigate towards systemic and sustainable (environmental and financial) growth.
links to selected work
Designing a B2B SaaS solution to manage streets safely & sustainablyRe-designing civic services to be more equitable AND sustainable
Nudging sustainable consumer decisions with behavioral design
Reducing commuter emissions through data-driven decision-making
Measuring the impact of street transformation pop-ups
Publishing best practices on designing streets for kids
Re-designing streets to save pedestrian lives
Launching the first-ever lifespan methodology for e-scooters (link to report)
core skills
Sustainable service design
Visual design (Adobe CC & Figma UI)
Urban design for all ages & abilities
Agile management
Market strategy
Making the case for safety
UX research
Measuring & evaluating impact
Iterative prototyping
let’s connect
@katgowland on all socials
e: katgowland1@gmail.com
A multi-disciplinary humanity-centered-designer at the intersection of research and strategy— passionate about cities, behavior change, and addressing the climate crisis.
quicklinks to selected work
Co-designing a safe & sustainable way to manage trafficA roadmap for a equitable resident-government relationship
How to measure the impact of street transformation pop-up projects
Best practices on designing streets for kids
What must be considered in an e-scooter lifespan methodology?
Painting streets to save pedestrian lives
key skills & interests
Measuring & evaluating impact
Making the case for safety
Iterative prototyping
Participatory research & testing
Agile management
Visual communication design
Sustainable service design
Urban design for all ages & abilities
Market strategy
let’s connect
@katgowland on all socials
e: katgowland1@gmail.com
Nudging sustainable consumer deecisions with behavioral design
Designer & Strategist, with IIT Institute of Design (ID), 2022, for Mars Wrigley
Context
At IIT Institute of Design, I took a Behavioral Design workshop course, in partnership with the Mars Wrigley BioDesign Challenge. I worked with a team of four on a design sprint to explore the following research question:
How might the moment of deciding whether to purchase a product be redesigned to encourage more sustainable consumerism?
Contributions
As a team of four, we engaged in rapid, iterative prototyping to test customer responses to different design interventions at the point of purchasing product at a gocery store in Chicago, as an international resident. After defining the scope of work and research criteria, we conducted a screener survey to filter participants based on demographic diversity and shopping habits. We then held 1:1 interviews to better understand those users habits and needs, before rounds of usability tests with our focal group on a suite of 16 protoypes that simulated a redesigned purchasing experience.
One example of a protoype we designed and tested was an AR app that would enable customers in grocery stores to scan unfamiliar produce and get a variety of information about ripeness, seasonality, common flavor pairings, and recipes from different global regions (Image A). This prototype ended up being quite motivating to research participants to try Brussels sprouts for the first time.
Image A
Capabilities
Sustainable service design | UX research | Iterative prototyping | Measuring & evaluating impact
Outcomes
Upon completion of the research sprint we had an engaging panel discussion with a range of Behavioral Design specialists who were intrigued by the matrix that we designed to synthesize insights and compare prototypes (Image B) and said they would use it as inspiration to inform future studies.
Image B
This matrix was used to summarize the results of our rounds of usability tests. We used a heat map to highlight which prototypes in the matrix performed in a way that was more motivating to research participants. Prototype H, the try-before-you-buy method, most successfully encouraged research participants (international students) to decide on the spot to buy a new type of (sustainable, in season, local) produce.