A city game for Ansan City Hall. Ansan has one of the largest foreign populations in Korea, and the trash rules exist only in Korean. I led a two-person team from research to a product tested with real users, and retention tripled between sprints.
Six calls that moved the project, from the first interview to the handoff to City Hall.
I planned and led the research. 20 in-depth interviews and 74 survey answers from foreign residents of Ansan.
I set the team rhythm in data sprints. Each sprint ships something real, measures it and decides the next move.
I chose a working prototype with usage tracking over static screens, so every decision came from what people actually did.
When 34 of 40 people left in a week, I reframed the problem. They had learned the rule and had no reason to return. Sprint 02 gave them one.
I designed the product look. A calm green forest, yellow for the rare find and an italic serif that reads like a field guide.
I turned the app into a service the city can run, with a user journey and a service blueprint for every step on their side.
01TrashRush
Before any screen, we listened to the people who sort the trash.
People wanted to sort it right. They just weren't sure how.
02TrashRush
Testing the same group twice isolates the design change from any difference between samples.
Sprint 01
6 of 40 still playing after a week
An educational game. The journey peaked at the first correct answer, and after that there was nothing to come back for.
Sprint 02
18 of 40 still playing after a week
Same game base, new trigger. QR codes around Ansan unlock rare seeds, and a forest grows as you play.
03TrashRush
The look follows the idea. Every correct sort plants something, and the city becomes the map.
04TrashRush
An app alone does not change a habit. City Hall got the plan for its own side of the service.
Shared by link with usage tracking, ready to test with any group of residents.
From the first wrong bag to the forest, with the moments where people drop and return.
Who installs and maintains the QR codes, how group plantings enter the city calendar and what the city has to provide. QR upkeep is flagged as the critical dependency.