Big River Birdwatch

Problems

Lack of public engagement ways for local people

In recent years, a significant number of river birds including Mallard and Moorhen birds have been on the Amber, Red list of UK Bird Conservation. However, there are not public engagement ways for local people to preserve the birds and their habitats in the Ravensbourne River in Ladywell fields.

Event Features

Can local people play a role in protecting endangered birds and their river habitats?

The project goal is to create a public event that allows local people to observe, interact with, and learn about endangered birds and their river habitats in the Ravensbourne River in Ladywell fields and contribute to restoring the London River's waterways.

Event Feature 1

Learn About Endangered River Birds

Read endangered bird cartoon books to understand their characteristics including appearances, behaviour patterns, calls, and river habitats.

Event Feature 2

Observe Birds and Their Habitats

Create duck-cam toys and participate in the competition by observing and filming birds and their river habitats.

Event Feature 3

Share footage with local people

Share videos with local people and vote on the final winner on the public website.

Project Process

Field Research

In-depth exploration of endangered birds which inhabit the Ravensbourne River

Before interviewing local people, our team started field research to observe endangered birds and their habitats including Mallard and Moorhen in the Ravensbourne River in Ladywell fields for a week. And then, we created an easy-to-understand field research map.

User Interviews

Limited ways of observing and interacting with river birds for children

Our team conducted in-depth interviews with 50 local people to know how they observe and interact with birds at the site. Half of the children said that they tried to interact with birds in various ways such as imitating bird calls. However, they said that it is difficult to observe birds closely in the river and to know where they inhabit in detail.

Personas

Create potential event participants to emphasise and define key problems

Based on data from interviews and research, I created two personas, Emma and James, who represent potential event participants finding it difficult to protect and interact with birds and their habitats at the site.

User Journey map

Lack of ways for local people to continue protecting river birds and their habitats

Focused on two personas, I created a user journey map to understand the problems they feel throughout the experience of interacting with river birds and to find new pain points and solutions for a public event.

How Might We

Create a sustainable public event that helps local people actively protect endangered birds and their river habitats?

Design Proposals

A design proposal workbook

Our team created a design proposal workbook to gather a variety of ideas before designing an event flow for planning the public event. Finally, we chose ‘Let’s make a duck’ and ‘2023 Birdwatch Competition’ as the main ideas for the event.

Event Flow

Co-design an event flow for event participants and stakeholders

How can we design an event flow that balances the diverse needs of stakeholders and participants? In the process, we focused on identifying engaging activities for event participants and potential areas of collaboration with partner organisations.

Design System

Design system created with 5 keywords

Based on the five main keywords, we designed the event concept with bright and playful feels by choosing yellow and blue, which remind us of children and rivers as the main colours.

Public Event Design

Big River Birdwatch 2023

Big River Birdwatch is a sustainable public event where children and their parents can observe, interact with and learn about endangered birds that inhabit the Ravensbourne River in Ladywell fields.

A Preview Event

Our team held a preview event on 19th March on the Ravensbourne River in Ladywell Fields. During the event, 3 groups of local families participated for 30 minutes to 1 hour each.

An Event Website

I designed an event website where participants can share their footage and connect with the local community, discussing the characteristics and locations of the endangered birds they've encountered. They can also vote for this year's Big River Birdwatch winner and leave comments.

London Rivers Week 2023

Our team including MA Design students from Goldsmiths University participated in London Rivers Week 2023 with a Big River Birdwatch project on 29th May 2023. Approximately ten family teams with less than 50 people participated in our event.

Click to view detailed event results

What I’ve Learend

A storyteller sharing social messages

Out team incorporated gamification like bird observation missions and awards to boost engagement and excitement. We also designed programs and processes that raise environmental awareness. This experience has allowed me to grow not only as visual storytellers with a social voice but also as social designers who inspire community participation.

What I’ve Learend

Communication and collaboration

Leading a collaborative project with diverse team members was not always easy. However, as the leader, I strived to create an environment where everyone's strengths were valued, fostering cooperation and ensuring the project became a collective effort, not just my own. As a result, significantly contributed to the restoration of one-third of the River Thames as part of last year's London Rivers Week.