In a nutshell

The Grave Issue

Individual donors, who make up 70% of funding, saw climate change as distant, overlooking it. Active Philanthropy's tools lack engagment due to cognitive overload, failing to trigger emotional response.

What We Created

An immersive game to make the topic of climate tangible by breaking it down to individual impact. It highlights the effects of climate disasters on different people, making it easier to identify funding options.

What Happened Afterwards

Climasaga, aligning with 8 SDGs identified by the United Nations, was beta tested with client's current donors, and was adopted by an organization for climate education, indicating its effectiveness.

The Client

Active Philanthropy

Active Philanthropy is a group of consultants that aim to create a bridge between philanthropists and climate NGOs. Their aim is to bring Climate Emergency to the mainstream, help philanthropists recognise the value ininvesting in projects that address climate mitigation.

DETAILS

Role

Product Designer
UX Writer

Key Responsibilities

UX Research
Game Design
Prototyping
User Testing

Houston Has a problem

Exploring Misconceptions and Emotional Connections in Climate

Emotions drive individual donors, who contribute 70% of global giving, yet only a fraction supports climate initiatives. We looked into Active Philanthropy's current clients, who revealed their deep emotional connection to projects, leading to prioritization of funding for those in need over climate causes that appear too complex in Active philanthropy’s communication and resources.

5

Interviews

Henry Lamotte Food
Active Philanthropy
Client Earth
Non-Climate Donor
Non-Climate Donor

60+

Survey Respondents

To test the effectiveness of different climate change visuals and communication touchpoints of individuals.The questions were divided into multiple choice, ranking and free responses.

On the quest for insights

Key Insights

We crafted six statements using the 3-Why framework. This approach allowed us to not just understand the status quo, but also its underlying reasons, and potential opportunity areas.

1.

Global Preference

People are more drawn towards imagery of people who are being affected by climate change of developing nations as opposed to developed nations.

2.

Climate Intersection

Donors are willing to fund climate change projects, but they find it hard to understand the connection between climate change and children/education.

3.

Communication

Communication between donors and Active Philanthropy is not inspiring and text heavy, which often results in them leaving. The tools including the climate mitigation tool, used during the entire user journey are too similar and the onboarding is also quite traditional.

4.

Touchpoints

People feel connected to a cause when they are able to a person who then enables others. This is why people give more willingly when someone they know asks or recommends.

Understanding the System

Looking at the big picture aka the system of philanthropy, we identified key factors like impact of visuals and donor emotions. Mapping out how they connect helped us identify leverage points.

The Big Idea

Using immersion and empathy as a lever to encourage climate philanthropy, Climasaga assists donors in developing a personal connection with the projects that they fund. By becoming a part of the climate story, they will understand how climate change impacts the most vulnerable members of the society.

Analogue Cards

Portable, sleek box, earthy branding representing nature, making climate change tangible and accessible.

Climasaga App

App for mobile and tablet to host character introductions and disaster impacts. It complements the climate narrative with digital content, enhancing user experience through gamified features like card scan playing instructions.

Onboarding Screens

The onboarding explain the core values of the games followed by a detailed instructional video for seamless gameplay

Card Scanning

The in app camera allows players to scan the character and disaster cards

Video Libraries

After scanning the character disaster card, the players can get to know the characters and how disasters impact them.

Testing the Critical Functions

How did testing improve the UX?

To test the most critical aspects of the game, including its connection building and game flow, we tested the full game with the client; Active Philanthropy, Donor (User) and gaming experts.

“Add depth to characters to really acquaint the players with their characters”

Response: Added additional information like their family, Co2 footprint, household income and dreams,

“Simplify the process of saving. Give the players more power to create an impact”

Response: Replaced saviour cards with detailed funding projects with enabling acts i.e., protecting lives, futures, assets and health.

“The QR Codes are breaking the game flow and isolating players”

Response: Added a content repository app to host all videos and instructions in one place.

“Add a winning aspect to drive players to finish the game”

Response: Introduced a winning rule to keep 60% of the characters alive.

Final Thoughts

Learning Along the Way

At first, I wasn't sure how Climasaga would help with climate action. But after extensive research and testing, I saw how Climasaga could be both fun and serious. It made me confident in its ability to engage people with climate issues.

Journey to Validation

Seeing a children's organization use Climasaga for climate education showed me that it really works in communicating the climate urgency. It went from being a question mark to a success story

Designing for change

Exploring the power of design and to address wicked challenges lke climate change was truly an awakening in my journey as a designer

Climasaga