LeafLens: Wearable design to simplify sustainable living
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
4 Days
Team
4 Product Designers
Platform
Figma, FigJam, Procreate
Project Intro
FigBuild: Figma’s first campus design-a-thon
FigBuild is Figma’s first campus design-a-thon where over 2,000 students (200+ teams) across 8 college campuses spend a weekend collaborating, prototyping, and building bold ideas
Our team won first place out of 200+ teams, and we had the honor of presenting our work at Figma’s company-wide meeting, Fignation.
The Prompt
Imagine you wake up tomorrow with a superpower that helps you tackle a major challenge in your life but without the right tools, that power could quickly spiral out of control
Our challenge is to design a tool, platform, or system that would help you manage your superpower effectively, ethically, and creatively
THE STORY OF OLIVE
Olive’s Carbon Footprint Vision
This is Olive, a 20 years old college student who cares about sustainability
Olive’s superpower lets her instantly see the carbon footprint of everything around her
Like the 1.8 kg CO₂e from driving her car to the store or the emissions from a friend’s bottled water habit. It’s like X-ray vision, but with a more environmentally friendly approach.
Why this super power matters
user research
After Reading 10 Studies, 54 Survey Responses, and 12 Interviews...
Key findings:
What are some of the challenges you face when trying to live sustainably?
GenZ students
C
Eco-anxiety is on the rise, especially among younger generations
59% of youth report being worried about climate, and 45% say it negatively impacts their daily lives.
L
Real-time feedback reduces resource use.
One study found it led to a 22% drop in shower water consumption.
M
Personalized feedback is more effective.
Tailored energy reports drove more sustainable behavior change than generic advice.
Product testing session
It was our first time designing for AR, so we partnered with the Cornell XR Club to test the Apple Vision Pro — learning by doing to validate feasibility and bring our ideas to life!
DESIGN SOLUTION
A Day in Olive’s life with LeafLens and CarbonCuff
Onboarding
Olive goes through a series of onboarding steps with accessibility preferences and sustainability goals, so the system can better support her.
Dashboard
On the dashboard, Olive can see her recommended activities to increase her CO₂ offset, along with her daily CO₂ offset and a quick breakdown—all at a glance.
Item comparison & smart suggestion
When Olive is shopping, she can compare the sustainability of different items on the shelf.
Item comparison & smart suggestion
When Olive shops online, LeafLens displays each item’s carbon footprint and offers sustainable alternative options.
Transportation
When Olive wants to navigate somewhere on foot, LeafLens provides AR-based walking directions to encourage a more sustainable mode of transportation
Transportation: offset suggestion
This time, Olive is in a hurry, so she decides to drive. LeafLens suggests green activities she can do to offset the carbon dioxide emitted from driving.
Conversation: relationship strain
When Olive talks to her friend about sustainability, her friend isn’t supportive. Olive feels stressed, and CarbonCuff detects her discomfort. LeafLens then offers suggestions for what she can say.
Daily CO2 Offset
At the end of the day, Olive goes home and sees her daily carbon dioxide offset and the offset breakdown on her dashboard
IDEATION
Super Power’s Edge Case: Cognitive overload
Constant awareness of carbon footprint can become overwhelming, especially in densely populated or high-consumption spaces (e.g., grocery stores, airports).
Design solution: power off toggle
LeafLens uses dynamic lens modulation to control how much sustainability data appears in real time. Power off mode works like electrochromic lenses—adjusting contrast and light filters to gently dim carbon footprint overlays without removing the glasses.
Leaflens allows Olive to organize and adjust the information that her superpower displays to her
IDEATION
Super Power’s Edge Case: Cannot afford the Sustainable Option
There are situations where the more sustainable product is noticeably more expensive, making it difficult to consistently choose the lower-impact option. This can lead to frustration, guilt, or disengagement from sustainability efforts.
Design solution: smart suggestions
LeafLens offers personalized suggestions to help offset the impact in other areas when a less sustainable but more affordable product is chosen. These suggestions are tailored to the user’s lifestyle making sustainable behavior feel achievable, even with constraints.
Gives Olive sustainable suggestions if the greener path doesn’t work for her in the moment
IDEATION
Edge Case: Relationship Strain in Sustainability Conversations
Conversations about sustainability can get tense—especially when close friends casually dismiss it or joke about not caring. It’s easy to feel caught between staying quiet or risking awkwardness.
Design solution: conversation helper
LeafLens detects heart rate spikes through its partner wearable product, the CarbonCuff, and during tense moments in conversation, offers gentle prompts to support respectful, real-time dialogue around sustainability.
The Carbon Cuff wearable detects Olive’s elevated heart rate during conversations. it gently prompts her using real-time conversation analysis
DESIGN DECISIONS
Olive’s Carbon Footprint Vision
Onboarding
Offset Dashboard
Transportation
Conversation suggestion
Item comparison
THANK YOU FOR READING!
Our Key Takeaways
