Grabbage
Turning Trash to Cash
Angel Yu UI Designer + Brand
Domenica Socola UX Designer
Mrunmayee A Strategic Designer
Domenica Socola UX Designer
Mrunmayee A Strategic Designer
@FigBuild Design-a-thon
April, 2025
April, 2025
Timeline: 3.5 Days
About
For the FigBuild 2025 design-a-thon, the prompt was to create a tool to help users manage a superpower that addresses a common pain point in everyday life.
Problem
New York City is bustling and vibrant, but if you step outside, the first thing you notice are the piles of garbage scattered across the streets. You've seen them. (And you’ve probably smelled them too.) The truth is, most people ignore it. In fact, we’ve all become desensitized to it.
How can we make New York cleaner and turn everyday trash into an opportunity?
Research
To understand the impact of trash on New Yorkers, we conducted research by analyzing waste management challenges in the city and interviewing residents about their frustrations.
These firsthand accounts highlighted the urgent need for a solution to make the city cleaner and address the emotional and physical toll trash takes on its residents.
These firsthand accounts highlighted the urgent need for a solution to make the city cleaner and address the emotional and physical toll trash takes on its residents.
Solution
Interact with the camera icon to take a photo of trash and watch the magic!
Ideation Board
This is our ideation board for the FigBuild 2025 design challenge, where we explored everyday frustrations and brainstormed superpowers that could solve them. Each team member shared their personal challenges, such as forgetting someone's name or carrying a coat in the morning, and we came up with imaginative solutions, like voice recognition or a coat-disappearing superpower. After discussing and refining our ideas, we narrowed down our final choices, ultimately landing on the unique concept of converting trash to cash as our superpower.
Competitive Analysis
Existing Apps to identify their strengths and where Grabbage could better serve New Yorkers.
Existing Apps to identify their strengths and where Grabbage could better serve New Yorkers.
App Flow
The Grabbage app flow is designed to be intuitive and engaging, guiding users from the playful loading screens with the trash bag logo to a seamless onboarding process that explains how to remove trash and earn money.
The home page and profile display key stats like earnings and waste removed, while the camera feature makes trash identification and real-time removal effortless. Each step is designed to provide instant feedback, making the experience both rewarding and motivating for users.
The home page and profile display key stats like earnings and waste removed, while the camera feature makes trash identification and real-time removal effortless. Each step is designed to provide instant feedback, making the experience both rewarding and motivating for users.
Visual & Brand System
Brand
Grabbage is vibrant, engaging, and user-friendly, using bold neon colors and intuitive icons to enhance navigation and highlight key metrics. The playful trash bag logo and cohesive design effectively communicate the app’s mission to make waste removal fun and rewarding.
Reflection
The FigBuild 2025 design challenge was an invaluable experience that deepened my understanding of team collaboration and the power of working together to solve problems. Through brainstorming, ideating, and iterating as a group, I learned how to align diverse perspectives to create a cohesive and effective design solution.
Key Takeaways:
This experience reinforced the importance of collaboration in the design process and taught me how to design as part of a team, where each member’s contributions are essential for success.
The FigBuild 2025 design challenge was an invaluable experience that deepened my understanding of team collaboration and the power of working together to solve problems. Through brainstorming, ideating, and iterating as a group, I learned how to align diverse perspectives to create a cohesive and effective design solution.
Key Takeaways:
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Collaboration: Working closely with my team to bring different ideas together.
- Team dynamics: Learning to communicate, share feedback, and leverage each team member’s strengths.
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Design iteration: Collaborating through multiple iterations to refine the user experience.
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Problem-solving as a team: Tackling challenges and adjusting our approach together.
This experience reinforced the importance of collaboration in the design process and taught me how to design as part of a team, where each member’s contributions are essential for success.