University Park: Designing a Digital Platform for Collective Sustainability

Role: Lead Product Designer – Vision, Strategy, and Execution

University Park, an innovative residential community, set out to transform sustainability from a distant aspiration into a vibrant, everyday reality. As Lead Product Designer, I spearheaded the creation of a digital platform that inspires, educates, and activates residents—combining behavioral science, gamification, and community engagement to spark measurable, lasting change.

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The Challenge

How do you motivate hundreds of households, spanning ages and backgrounds, to not just learn about sustainability but to make it a visible, rewarding, and shared part of daily life? The platform had to be intuitive for all users, scalable for future growth, and robust enough to support both resident participation and committee oversight.

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Discovery & Research

  • Resident Insights: Conducted interviews and surveys across the community to understand motivations, digital fluency, and barriers. Residents wanted practical, actionable tips and opportunities to celebrate small wins together.
  • Expert Collaboration: Partnered with sustainability experts and benchmarked leading eco-communities, drawing on models that blend education, shared resources, and accessible design.
  • Committee Workshops: Worked closely with the Sustainability Committee to clarify needs around data collection, engagement, and program management.
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Strategy & Information Architecture

  • Persona Mapping & Card Sorting: Facilitated workshops to define clear, intuitive structures for sustainability topics and resources.
  • Community-First Features: Prioritized peer-to-peer support, knowledge sharing, and visible progress—mirroring best practices in sustainable community design.
  • Dual Experience Flows: Crafted tailored journeys for residents (actionable practices, progress tracking, community connection) and admins (real-time insights, easy content management, scalable program tools).
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Design & Prototyping

  • Design Sprints: Led four rapid ideation sprints, iterating on features and interfaces based on resident and committee feedback.
  • Gamification: Introduced leveling, digital badges, and physical rewards (plaques, community merchandise) to drive engagement, inspired by successful green apps and platforms.
  • Community Forum: Designed a digital space for residents to share progress, ask questions, and celebrate achievements—fostering belonging and shared purpose.
  • Admin Dashboards: Built intuitive editing tools and real-time analytics for committee members, ensuring accessibility for non-technical users and supporting future growth.
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Testing & Iteration

  • Usability Testing: Ran multiple rounds with residents of all ages. Early feedback led to a clearer onboarding flow and a prominent “Our Mission” section to ground the platform’s purpose.
  • Navigation Refinement: Simplified information architecture, making it easy for residents to find relevant actions and track their impact.
  • Visual Engagement: Streamlined profile pages to showcase personal and community progress, balancing gamification to appeal to both families and adults.
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Final Solution

For Residents:

  • Seamless onboarding with clear value propositions.
  • Curated library of sustainability practices with actionable steps and community-sourced tips.
  • Gamified progress tracking, recognition, and an active community forum.

For Admins:

  • Real-time dashboards to monitor participation, impact, and program health.
  • Simple tools for updating content, launching new challenges, and managing household activity.
  • Scalable design system ready for future initiatives.
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Impact

  • The platform became the central hub for University Park’s sustainability movement, driving measurable increases in engagement and eco-friendly behaviors.
  • The Sustainability Committee gained powerful new tools for managing, tracking, and celebrating progress, freeing up time for strategic initiatives.
  • The project established a replicable model for other communities seeking to foster sustainability through digital design and resident empowerment.

Reflection

This project was a masterclass in aligning community values, behavioral science, and digital product design. By listening deeply, prototyping quickly, and iterating with real users, we built a platform that not only educates but also mobilizes and connects an entire community around a shared mission for sustainable living.

Interested in the design system, gamification flows, or admin dashboards that powered this transformation? Let’s connect—I’m happy to share more.