Ethical Lens

How I improved ethcial shopping choices

Project Type

Case Study

In a world where buying takes just a click, the real cost is often hidden; paid by people and the planet.

Overview

Ethical Lens is a browser plugin designed to transform the way people shop online. In a marketplace built for speed and convenience, Ethical Lens adds consciousness back into consumer decisions by instantly rating products based on ethical standards like sustainability, labor practices, and environmental impact. It empowers users to shop with awareness, suggesting better alternatives when needed, without interrupting their flow. This project reimagines how ethical choices can be seamlessly woven into the fast-paced digital shopping experience.

My Role

As the sole designer and researcher, I led the project end-to-end, conducting:

User research
Competitive analysis
Ideation
Wire framing
Prototyping
Usability testing, and
Iterative design refinement.

I worked across both UX strategy and UI design to ensure that Ethical Lens was intuitive, impactful, and integrated naturally into the online shopping journey.

‍

‍

After conducting user interviews, I synthesized the findings by categorizing insights into needs, pains, desires, and observations.

Our users

No items found.

The Process

No items found.

Through this process, I uncovered a recurring but often overlooked pain point:

Some users actively try to avoid unethical stores, but feel frustrated because brands often hide or manipulate information to secure sales.

‍

Some interesting thoughts from the interviews

Competitive Analysis:

What's Missing Today?

After identifying ethical transparency as a recurring frustration for online shoppers, I saw a potential opportunity:

‍What if ethical information could be made more accessible?

‍Before jumping into solutions, I paused to explore how other tools and platforms were already addressing this space.Doing a competitive analysis at this point helped me validate the opportunity, if others are trying to solve it, that means it’s real and worth exploring further. But it also let me see where existing solutions fall short, and where there might still be room to do better.

Direct

Good on you website/app
DoneGood website
The Good Shopping Guide website

Indrect

Google Search – Users manually search “Is [brand] ethical?” or “best sustainable [product].”
YouTube/TikTok Reviews – Influencers breaking down sustainability of brands.
Reddit Threads – Communities like r/sustainablefashion or r/ethicalconsumer for peer advice.

Key Findings

Opportunity Gap

This analysis confirmed a major opportunity:

‍While some tools provide ethical information, most require users to leave their shopping flow, dig through external sites, or trust unclear or inconsistent rating systems.

‍There was no seamless, real-time solution that met users where they already are, inside the shopping experience itself.

This insight validated the opportunity space and set the stage for ideating a better-integrated, user-centered solution.

Enough scrolling.

Let's Talk