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Timeline

Oct-Dec 2020

Plantly

Product Design
UX/UI Design
Branding

Ovierview

Plantly is a mobile app designed to support beginner plant hobbyists and create a passion for plant care, through tools like plant/problem identification and personalized watering reminders. This project was completed as part of BrainStation's UX Design Certificate Course (Dec 2020) and applied the design thinking process to create a high-fidelity prototype by the end of the course.

Project Goal

I want to bridge the knowledge gaps that beginner plant hobbyists have and create a passion for plant care in them by giving them the tools they need to succeed.

Tools Used

Figma 
Canva 
Procreate

01 Define The Problem

02 Collect Information

03 Brainstorm & Analyze

04 Improve

01 Define The Problem

To gain a deeper understanding of the problem space I came up with a variety of "how might we" statements.

The statement I thought best captured the problem was "How might we help urban professionals in lockdown starting to get into plant care easily care for their new plants?"

02 Collect Information

Through nine user interviews with beginner plant enthusiasts, very specific plant care pain points emerged. Participants also shared their emotional connection to plant care and identified opportunities for additional app features they might find valuable.

Introduction:
  1. How long have you been interested in plant care?
  2. What initially got you interested in plant care?
  3. How many plants do you currently have?
  4. Can you tell me about where you currently get your plant care info?
  5. Where do you currently purchase your plants?
Pain Points:
  1. Can you tell me about some challenges you’ve encountered as a beginner hobbyist? 
  2. Is there any general plant care information you wish was more readily available?
  3. What type of plant-specific information would you find valuable?
  4. Can you tell me about a time you had an issue with one of your plants and how you resolved it?
Potential Value:
  1. What do you get out of taking care of your plants?
  2. What is one feature you would find valuable in a plant care app?
  3. What are some specific sources you get your information from and what do you like about these sources?
  4. Is there anything I didn’t ask you about today that you think would be valuable for me to know?

Insights

Beginners interviewed have a hard time finding concise information for specific problems they're experiencing

Beginner hobbyists are driven by the interior décor aspect of plant care and want a community hub where they can share content and get inspiration for their homes

Beginners interviewed have a hard time finding concise information for specific problems they're experiencing

03 Brainstorm & Analyze

Using my research insights I created two separate user personas, both of these personas had similar pain points but different driving factors behind them.

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Persona 1, Jenny, was mostly driven by the feel that plants bring into their living spaces while

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Persona 2, Devon, was driven by the regular maintenance that goes into plant care.

04 Develop Solutions

I Started by Creating a Site Map to map out how users would interact with every feature I wanted to include.

I decided to focus on two user flows because while I was conducting my research I noticed that though my users have similar end goals, they have very different motivating factors.

 

 

Some people enjoy the hobby aspect of plant care and want to know all the tips and tricks to make their plants thrive. Other people enjoy decorating their homes with their plants because seeing all the greenery makes them feel happy and relaxed. These two very different motivating factors are what inspired my two different user flows.

I began planning my sketches by listing everything I wanted displayed on the home screen.

This included:

  • Plant basics tutorial

  • A camera feature that identifies plants and problems with plants

  • A list of all of the plants the user owns

  • Community to share/save inspiration for the home

  • Search feature

After testing my sketches, I translated them into wireframes on Figma, using low-fidelity white and grey wireframes to focus on the layout of everything before adding more detail.

05 Improve

Learning Outcomes

As my first introduction to UX design, I learned a lot about the research and design considerations that go into creating great UX design. I learned how critical user interviews are at the beginning of the design process to ensure the product fulfils all of the user's needs, and the designer's role is to provide users with tools they didn't even know they needed.

Iterations

Over time as I learn more about design I like to go back and challenge myself to improve the previous design

Original login screen I made for my prototype

Iteration #1

The original home screen I designed for my prototype. I included buttons that link to the user's plants, and community, and a guide covering plant care basics. I also included a newsfeed with home decor inspiration. I thought these things would be the most useful based on my interview inisghts.

Iteration #1 After taking a UI Design course I wanted to try improving the interface of my original design so I removed the "my plants" button because it is already in the navigation bar and I replaced it with plant care reminders since those weren't originally easily visible to the user and will likely be used the most often

Iteration #2 After completing my first web design project I wanted to try redesigning the home screen again. I removed the link to the community so that I could add a visual reference to the watering reminders so users don't have to memorize the names of their plants

Up Next

 Borks

Conceptual web and mobile app to help pet owners easily manage their pet's needs

After completing my low-fidelity wireframes, I began to add more detail. Using Figma I created a high fidelity prototype for my two user flows.

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