Here you can watch my elevator pitch for my app for reporting light pollution, with a transcript below.
Have you ever been on holiday and there is a beautiful landscape, but it is polluted by a lot of garbage lying around and you feel really sad and powerless because there is nothing you can do about it? Well, that is how I feel about the night sky when I look at it and it is all orange.
This happens due to light pollution. Many people do not know that light pollution is harmful to the ecosystem, to a lot of animals and to our health. They also do not know what to do about it.
I believe that the first step is reporting it. I plan to design an app where this can be done in an easy way, so that researchers and authorities can access data.
I plan to make it fun by combining education and some fun facts with challenges to encourage its usage.
I feel like I need to do something about light pollution because it makes me angry and I think that through interaction design I can engage more people and raise more awareness.
After a semester of research, I started prototyping. I thought of three possible solutions for light pollution in the interaction design field.
The first prototype I created is a reporting app for the Globe at Night project. It blends the form with a star map, allowing users to learn about the sky and contribute to the monitoring of light pollution. By adding an educational and interactive layer to the form I tested in a previous article, I want to increase its usage.
The star map works with GPS, the compass sensor and AR on your phone and is inspired by the app Stellarium. At the beginning, you are asked to find a constellation. Once you move your phone to the right position and find it on the sky (in this case a black sheet with white dots drawn on it), you can learn about the constellation or report light pollution starting from it. To report pollution, you simply have to tap on the stars you see, which change colour when selected, and then tap on “submit data”.
The second prototype is an app or web app that serves as an aid to the installation of outdoor fixtures in a way that is dark sky friendly. It has 5 steps inspired by the Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting by DarkSky:
Some of them require the usage of the phone camera to check if the actions are performed correctly (direction, brightness, temperature), another one allows you to set timers and motion sensors for the smart fixture.
The third prototype is a game that shows the consequences of light pollution from the perspective of moths. Their sense of orientation relies on the moon, the only natural light source. When they see artificial light, they are trapped in atypical flight patterns, which are exhausting and often lead to death.
In this game, the player puts on AR glasses in a dark room and tries to find the moon, while avoiding artificial lights. They would be distributed in different locations in a dark room. The AR device mymics the vision of moths, so distinguishing natural and artificial light becomes a challenge. After getting too close to a certain amount of artificial lights, the player “dies”.
A bicycle light seen through the goggles.
In this first prototype, the device is a cardboard box that I cut in a way that allows the player to place it in front of their eyes and see through a plastic bag attached on the other side. I used various lights I had at home to represent different light sources. My version is done with “Wizard-of-Oz” prototyping, so at the beginning I play an introductory audio by National Geographic that explains why moths are attracted by lamps. After that, the player can start their mission of finding the moon and every time they reach a light source, I tell them what it is. After reaching three lamps, the game is over.
I chose the first prototype (light pollution reporting app) for a speed prototype reviewing we did in class to gather feedback. Someone asked how the app knows that you are looking at the right constellation and thought that there is not enough feedback telling you if your performed action is right or wrong. The app works with GPS and the compass sensor so it detects when you are pointing your phone in the right direction. Regarding feedback, I could integrate a vibration or sound feedback or a bright coloured outline when the right constellation is being looked at.
Other people suggested me to state clearly at the beginning that data is going to be submitted. While this is mentioned in the introductory paragraph of the first screen, I could make the information shorter and more immediate.
One persone said that if the app had a Tinder profile, its description would be “learn about astronomy and relax“. Someone else appreciated the combination of gaming and science.
Another person argued that the app only is for people interested in astronomy. This might be true, therefore I shall think of ways to make it attractive for a broader audience, in order to draw more attention on the issue.
After creating value proposition map and business model canvas of the app to report light pollution, I wrote a product idea.
Light pollution is not talked about a lot. In addition, there is not a central platform to report it, and the ones that exist are difficult to use. With this product, I want to make light pollution reporting and research easy and accessible for normal citizens and scientists. This way, I aim to raise awareness on the cause and inform people, in order to fight the issue collectively.
We should care about light pollution and take action against it because it brightens the night sky, it harms nocturnal animals and disrupts biological cycles. By reporting it, we allow biologists to track data and solutions can be suggested to authorities.
The solution I offer is an app that merges reporting and instruction: users can fill out a simple form about the condition of the sky they see, see their contributions, sign petitions, but also navigate a light pollution map and discover the sky thanks to augmented reality. There is also a social media function to let people connect.
The target audience includes nature lovers, astronomers, people living in big cities, people with sleep issues, biologists and ecologists. The first ones can use the app to report and learn, while the other ones can analyse data for research.
With this product, attention can be drawn to the issue, changes in light pollution can be studied, solutions can be found and suggested to authorities. Other than that, users can find like-minded people, learn something new and feel like they made a difference.
The app can make money by selling a premium version with advanced features, like more details on the light pollution map and on the AR version of the sky. Other than that, it would rely on government or charity funds.
I created two value proposition maps for my app, one per customer. The first one is for nature lovers and aims to give them a tool to actively protect the environment.
The second one is for biologists and wants to give them a tool to access, filter, organise and export data about light pollution.
I also created a business model canvas to explain the idea.
