Role: Student Service Designer (team of 5)
Partner/Client: Accenture Song
Industry: Environmental Sustainability
Project: EVE
Year: 2022 - 2023
Challenging the paradox of unsustainable nightlife in London by introducing a space for environmental engagement during a night out.
This collaborative project with Accenture Song explored innovative ways to integrate environmentalism into the entertainment and leisure industry. This was a complex proposition as sustainability is a vast, multi-faceted issue, and is rarely connected with leisure activities.
For our two-month speculative design project, we explored how London’s nightlife could actively contribute to climate action. Our goal was to uncover creative ways for partying to become part of the global effort against climate change. We began by redefining the brief:
To create a new service proposition that unites London’s party culture with environmental action, enabling Londoners to enjoy the escapism of nightlife while protesting the lack of climate action and delivering real-time environmental benefits.
Our solution was EVE - a cooperative social enterprise promoting sustainable practices in the hospitality sector. EVE creates visibility for better choices through its platform, placing people, planet, and purpose before profit.
Discover
Charting user journeys and nightlife touchpoints, we identified common habits and rituals among London party-goers. We also analysed the economic, social and political context surrounding London and its party scene. This resulted in a challenge typology that grouped key insights into:
Conditions of the nightlife landscape
Participant engagement issues
Underlying issues of designing in this space
Despite complexities, a lack of existing design work addressing nightlife and environmental sustainability paved the way for innovative solutions. To make a difference and deliver a valuable output, we had to carve out an idea using opportunities rather than overcoming problems. Addressing market conditions and finding innovative methods to draw out the strategies for value generation/conversion. The key is that we had to bring something new to the market, something more radical and out of the box, to deliver environmental value in nightlife.
Define
How might we bring environmental value into the economic and/or social value exchanges of a night out?
In order to influence sustainable behaviours, we had to also consider the landscape in which these behaviours take place. Therefore, there was an opportunity to allow both members to thrive, in a better way.
Through changes in behaviour, we can choose better.
Through changes in the landscape, we can support better.
Consequently, this will cause everyone to change for the better.
There are plenty of social and economic value exchanges within hospitality. Our hypothesis to create ‘change for the better’ was to hijack these moments and leverage industry relationships to bring environmental value into the social and economic value exchange of a night out. To do this, our aim was to decrease the barrier of sustainable choice, making it easy for people to engage, and helping all stakeholders realise the impact of their actions.
Design
EVE is a social enterprise connecting and rewarding customers with verified eco-conscious hospitality businesses.
EVE is a service that self-regulates environmental standards in the hospitality sector through a collective model with mutual benefit (financial & environmental). EVE delivers as an environmental accreditor, by recognising and running initiatives to constantly improve industry practices collectively, a digital marketplace to connect eco-conscious customers to EVE-verified businesses, and a rewards program to incentivise and reinforce choices. EVE was the product of the teams conceptually imagining what Groupon or Timeout would be if it mission was to reduce environmental damage.
Features: Customer
Curated Guides
EVE reduces the mental load of choosing sustainably with curated guides, filters, and weekly spotlights. Over time, tailored recommendations are built from customer preferences and loyalty activity.
Passive
By integrating with Google Maps, EVE makes sustainable choices effortless, nudging users toward verified venues even when they’re not searching for them.
Social
EVE makes sustainability exciting by showcasing unique eco-friendly events, like zero-waste supper clubs, that create buzz and new experiences to enjoy with friends.
Guilt-Free
EVE shows how venues earn accreditation, so customers feel good about supporting businesses that align with their values. Proving that fun doesn’t have to come at the planet’s expense.
Affordable
Sustainable nights out become more accessible through venue-specific discounts and offers. Customers earn loyalty points when they spend at verified businesses, which can then be redeemed across the wider EVE community.
Features: Businesses
EVE Verification
EVE accreditation boosts sustainability credentials and brand reputation by recognising businesses in eco-friendly initiatives.
Customer Loyalty
EVE helps businesses build lasting connections through a rewards and points scheme.
Increased Revenue
Businesses gain visibility through targeted promotions and app spotlights. Discounts and offers (like 2-for-1 cocktails) encourage trial visits, helping venues convert new customers into regulars.
Climate Action
EVE builds local networks of like-minded businesses to collaborate on climate initiatives, setting sustainable standards and growing community impact.
Service Flow
Front-end: Mobile-First Engagement
Our design centred on a mobile-first approach, reflecting the rituals and habits uncovered during early journey mapping. Customers engage through multiple digital touchpoints:
Social media for promotion and reach
App for venue discovery, reward collection, and other interactions
Third-party integrations (e.g., digital wallets, maps) for passive engagement and data capture
Whether customers want to be highly involved or interact passively, the system offers flexible options to suit their level of engagement.
Back-end:
Hospitality businesses partner with us to adopt sustainable practices and initiatives, both individual and community-based, that strengthen their environmental credentials. EVE also recognises and accredits third-party services working towards eco-friendly goals, such as Too Good To Go restaurants.
Impact
To summarise, EVE drives a cycle of changed behaviour, context, and attitudes to create visibility of people's ability to change for the better:
Choosing better: Promotes sustainable choices and offsets guilt.
Supporting better: Creates a community that is driven by environmental value that can be easily acted upon.
Changing for the better: Evolving practices will tackle the environmentally damaging problems from its core and be able to garner more systemic support from governments.