Lasso Loop In-home Recycling APP
Lasso Loop In-home Recycling APP
Product Designer + Researcher • IoT Product • 3 Months
Team
1 Founder, 1 Software Engineer, 2 designer (🙋♀️ me), 2 Researcher(🙋♀️ me)
Overview
The Lasso Machine is a home recycling appliance that lets households recycle and sell materials while boosting efficiency and recovery rates. To maximize its value, users needed a simple way to monitor and control the machine. The Lasso App was created to bridge that gap, making recycling easier, smarter, and more rewarding.
1
Discovery
We Researched for:
Who are we designing for?
What do they need during the interaction with Lasso?
What makes them love or enjoy using Lasso?
Who are we designing for?
What do they need during the interaction with Lasso?
What makes them love or enjoy using Lasso?
Who?
Who?
What Interaction they need?
Need?
Why they love it?
Why they love it?
We Used:
Competitor Analysis
To explore and prioritize design patterns and features, we did a competitor analysis.
Competitor Analysis
To explore and prioritize design patterns and features, we did a competitor analysis.
Competitor Analysis
To explore and prioritize design patterns and features, we did a competitor analysis.
Interview
Interviewed 2 stakeholders to understand appliance capabilities and 17 future users to identify needs, motivations, scenarios, and expectations for an ideal app experience
Interview
Interviewed 2 stakeholders to understand appliance capabilities and 17 future users to identify needs, motivations, scenarios, and expectations for an ideal app experience
Interview
Interviewed 2 stakeholders to understand appliance capabilities and 17 future users to identify needs, motivations, scenarios, and expectations for an ideal app experience
Surveys
Gathered 22 survey responses from Lasso pre-sale users to explore feature and visual preferences
Surveys
Gathered 22 survey responses from Lasso pre-sale users to explore feature and visual preferences
Surveys
Gathered 22 survey responses from Lasso pre-sale users to explore feature and visual preferences
We Found:
We Found:
Scroll Right
Who?
What Info They Need
Why Love Lasso?💛
Eco-enthusiast
Appliance Status
Footprint
Education Element
Recycle history
The Impact They Made
Cash-back recyclers
Appliance Status
The selling Price
Cumulative earning
How much they earned
Neighborhood Hub
Appliance Status
Which User Is Using
Contribution
Deeper community connection
Who
Eco-enthusiast
Cash-back recyclers
Neighborhood Hub
Need
Appliance Status
Footprint
Education
Recycle history
Appliance Status
The selling Price
Cumulative earning
Appliance Status
Which User Is Using
Contribution
Why Love Lasso
Impacts
Money earned
Community connection
We concluded three design tenets:
Make simplicity design with minimal interaction
Make simplicity design with minimal interaction
Make simplicity design with minimal interaction
Integrate Pervasive Educational Elements
Integrate Pervasive Educational Elements
Integrate Pervasive Educational Elements
Motivate users through showing impacts
Motivate users through showing impacts
Motivate users through showing impacts
Design Process
From Research to Product
Phase 1. Rapid Ideation
Initiating the design process, we established user flow and roughly sketched ideas. We rapidly tested these ideas by asking peers to complete simple tasks and asking their first impressions and explorative thoughts.
Individual Brainstorming
Group Discussion
Crafted User Flow
Phase 2. Variants and Preference Testing
We created two variations of low-fidelity prototypes, then conducted 4 preference testing sessions.
Variant 1: Tab-less approach
Recycling Process on the landing page, other features nested under the hamburger menu.
❌ This variant created a navigation challenge, requiring users extra effort to learn the flow.
Variant 2: Four Tabs Approach
Bottom navigation with four distinct tabs: Home, Schedule, Scan, and Profile.
✅ Conventional navigation and modern interface was favored, makes it easier to use.
Phase 3. Usability Testing and Repeated Iterations
Optimized navigation system
Balanced Business Goals & Usability
Phase 4. Increasing Fidelity and Heuristic Evaluation
Increased Fidelity
Standardizing the color system
Covered Edge Use Cases
Design Solutions
Home: Appliance Status & Recycle History
Clear Hierarchy + Minimal Interaction
💡Users need a low-effort way to check machine status so they know exactly when it’s ready to recycle. “I just want to know when it’s ready to recycle and what do I need to do. I don’t have time to play around with it.”
👍The home screen surfaces appliance status, indicating whether it’s connected and ready to load. No phone input is required. Users interact only with the appliance, and the status updates automatically in the app.
💡Users need a low-effort way to check machine status so they know exactly when it’s ready to recycle. “I just want to know when it’s ready to recycle and what do I need to do. I don’t have time to play around with it.”
👍The home screen surfaces appliance status, indicating whether it’s connected and ready to load. No phone input is required. Users interact only with the appliance, and the status updates automatically in the app.
Real-Time Machine Feedback
The app passively reflects the appliance’s state during bottle loading, using machine signals to surface only the most relevant information at the right moment.
The app passively reflects the appliance’s state during bottle loading, using machine signals to surface only the most relevant information at the right moment.
✅ Bottle loaded successfully
✅ Bottle loaded successfully
❌ Bottle failed to load
❌ When the loaded bottle is drained
Container & Pick-up Scheduling
Business Needs vs. Users' Needs
💡Lasso Loop benefits from predictable, lower-frequency pickup behavior, which allows the company to consolidate routes and minimize unnecessary pickups.
💡Users need to monitor their container fill levels and schedule material pickup when needed.
👍 Our solution is to notify users only when one or more containers are nearly full, and provide a clear, centralized shortcut for scheduling pickup through an obvious call-to-action.
💡Lasso Loop benefits from predictable, lower-frequency pickup behavior, which allows the company to consolidate routes and minimize pickups.
💡Users need to monitor their container fill levels and schedule material pickup when needed.
👍 Our solution is to notify users only when one or more containers are nearly full, and provide a clear, centralized shortcut for scheduling pickup through an obvious call-to-action.
💡Lasso Loop benefits from predictable, lower-frequency pickup behavior, which allows the company to consolidate routes and minimize unnecessary pickups.
💡Users need to monitor their container fill levels and schedule material pickup when needed.
👍 Our solution is to notify users only when one or more containers are nearly full, and provide a clear, centralized shortcut for scheduling pickup through an obvious call-to-action.
👍 To account for edge cases where users may want to clear the Lasso machine before containers are nearly full, pickup scheduling is also available in the Settings page.
Contextual Eco Education
Eco Education in Everyday Moments
💡 Users care about environmental knowledge, but don’t have time for lectures.
👍 We included an on-demand scanning feature to help users identify recyclable materials in everyday life.
💡 Users care about environmental knowledge, but don’t have time for lectures.
👍 We included an on-demand scanning feature to help users identify recyclable materials in everyday life.
👍 Because AI recognition improves with real-world data, we added a feedback loop that lets users correct errors while helping engineers retrain the model.
👍 Because AI recognition improves with real-world data, we added a feedback loop that lets users correct errors while helping engineers retrain the model.
Learning Through Container Insights
👍 Material details are surfaced when users check containers, with a call to action to scan items in real life for clarity.
👍 Material details are surfaced when users check containers, with a call to action to scan items in real life for clarity.
Learning While Using the Machine
👍 We show material type, impact, and value at load time, and explain rejections with clear recycling guidance.
👍 We show material type, impact, and value at load time, and explain rejections with recycling guidance.
👍 We show material type, impact, and value at load time, and explain rejections with clear recycling guidance.
Impact Is Why Users Love Lasso
Motivation With Minimal Interaction
💡 Research showed low interest in gamification and a strong preference for minimal interactions and outcome-driven value: financial, environmental, or community.
👍 We surface key milestones tied to these outcomes through lightweight notifications, with a single call to action to explore the Impact page in more detail, without adding friction to the core user flow.
💡 Research showed low interest in gamification and a strong preference for minimal interactions and outcome-driven value: financial, environmental, or community.
👍 We surface key milestones tied to these outcomes through lightweight notifications, with a single call to action to explore the Impact page in more detail, without adding friction to the core user flow.
Three Motivations, One Experience
💡 Financial return, environmental impact, and community contribution are the three primary reasons users engage with the Lasso machine.
👍 We present trend graphs across these three dimensions and allow users to interact with the one they care about most.
💡 Financial return, environmental impact, and community contribution are the three primary reasons users engage with the Lasso machine.
👍 We present trend graphs across these three dimensions and allow users to interact with the one they care about most.
Reflection
Reflection
Good Design Comes From Discussion And An Open Mind
Good Design Comes From Discussion And An Open Mind
I’m in the back row on the right.
Strong outcomes through collaboration
We ranked at the top of our class and received highly positive feedback from our client.Discussion leads to better design decisions
There were many discussions around which design direction was strongest and which research questions were most essential to ask. These conversations led to confident design decisions, which is what I love about working with thoughtful designers.Open-mindedness is essential in IoT design
Designing for an IoT system meant understanding the machine, constraints, and user needs simultaneously. Balancing business goals with user advocacy required active listening and an open mind when working with both teammates and the client.
Strong outcomes through collaboration
We ranked at the top of our class and received highly positive feedback from our client.Discussion leads to better design decisions
There were many discussions around which design direction was strongest and which research questions were most essential to ask. These conversations led to confident design decisions, which is what I love about working with thoughtful designers.Open-mindedness is essential in IoT design
Designing for an IoT system meant understanding the machine, constraints, and user needs simultaneously. Balancing business goals with user advocacy required active listening and an open mind when working with both teammates and the client.
Thanks for Reading!
Thanks for Reading!
Check out more of my projects:)
Check out more of my projects:)
Let's connect and see what's next!
© 2025 Yidi Lin. All Rights Reserved.
Contact
Let's connect and see what's next!
© 2025 Yidi Lin. All Rights Reserved.
Contact
Let's connect and see what's next!
© 2025 Yidi Lin. All Rights Reserved.
Contact