EcoTree

Inspiration

Since education in poorer communities and combating climate change are some of the most prominent issues in today's society, we decided to combine these problems together with a simple solution. Our answer is project EcoTree, an apple ios application where we focus on promoting a "green" culture that also focuses on educating people about our rapidly changing environment.

What it does

Our app updates and posts articles and videos about climate change. Watching or reading these articles will reward the user with energy points, which can be used towards growing a virtual tree for a virtual forest. The more trees one has, the more rewards one will earn at certain intervals from 0-100 trees. Energy points in the future would be able to purchase environmentally friendly products as well, such as reusable water bottles or other rewards. There is also a daily tasks section, where one can perform certain tasks, such as recycling 50 bottles or walking 1000 steps in order to gain energy points. Lastly, there is a page where you can track your progress in helping the environment. The app first displays how large of an ecological footprint an average American has and then shows your current carbon footprint. The more tasks and trees you plant, the smaller that footprint will be.

How we built it

We decided to create a general prototype of the app on adobe Xd and used a variety of graphics to make the app the way that it is. The graphics were made with adobe illustrator and graphics. We used a monochrome color palette to make the app more visually appealing.

Challenges we ran into

There were many challenges we faced. such has originally having 4 team members but two were unable to come. We also were pretty busy and had to manage our time as best as we could. There were also challenges with the backend of the app since we both preferred frontend development.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

This was our second hackathon and we were proud that we were able to create a prototype of the project. This was also the first time working with project Xd and it was difficult to learn at first, but we were happy to create a working project.

What we learned

We learned that time management and effective communication are both very useful skills for working on projects such as these. Learning Adobe Xd and working with canva/adobe illustrator were really useful skills to know as well.

What's next for EcoTree

We're looking to maybe further develop the app's functions using swift Ui and creating a backend using firebase/or AWS. Were also looking to promote the app to others to encourage a culture of a green community.

Built With

• adobe
• adobeillustrator
• adobexd
• appleuikit
• canva
• ios