UX DESIGN
Planted
A concept mobile application to help users find, care for, and maintain plants.
Role: UX Designer
Time: 11 Weeks
Tools: Figma
Background
The Problem
Considering routines and habits, I suspected that plant owners are over or under watering their plants due to varying watering and environmental requirements.
The Solution
A solution would be to provide an app that matches plants to people based on their lifestyle and living environment.
Discover
Why research this problem?
Our goal was to research how plant owners care for their plants. As plants accumulate, the question arises, “How can I effectively maintain multiple plants with different requirements?” Plants are beneficial and can contribute to sustainability if they are cared for properly.
User Interviews
It was necessary to conduct interviews to determine if there were common behaviors among plant owners ranging from very experienced to novice. I interviewed three participants to assess the routines within the range of plant owners. The purpose was to understand what plant owners find challenging about plant maintenance.
Interview Questions
How many plants do you have in your home?
How many people live in your home?
How do you decide what kind of plant you want to purchase or plant?
What are important things you consider when making your decision to buy a plant?
What is your approach to keeping track of plant watering recommendations?
How do you know when each plant needs to be watered?
Tell me your experience of what you did when you noticed a plant was not receiving proper care.
What is your approach to avoid over or under watering your plants?
What is your experience with using apps to monitor routines and schedules?
How would you feel about using an app that tracks the watering schedules of your plants?
Insights
Users will take the time to become informed about their plants.
Users are unable to look for signs of improper plant care.
Users will benefit from getting help with their plant care.
Define
After reviewing my research, I discovered that plant owners do not care for plants properly because they are uninformed of what each plant needs. This lack of knowledge is a problem because each plant may have different care requirements to thrive. I found subjects with different experiences owning plants to see if I could find any differences between their routines and habits with plant care. I collaborated with my cohorts to analyze the responses from the user interviews.
Goals
Wants plants to be healthy
To be more informed about plants
To acquire more plants
Motivations
Cares about home aesthetic
Needs to learn more about plants
Wants a proper care routine
Behaviors
Googles info about plants
Waters plants at random
Dying plants get thrown out
Pain Points
Unknown watering needs
Does not know signs of decay
Lives with others who water plants
Design
When creating the wireframes for the Planted prototype, I focused on adding features that would encourage organization and reminders for users to water their plants. I focused on the user pain point of providing information about the plants added to their list that would give more detail about proper care methods.
I created a prototype design for users to complete a quiz by inputting information about where they live, the type of climate, lifestyle habits, etc. The app then presents a list of plants to users that would best suit their needs and where the user can purchase each recommended plant.
The user can keep track of all the plants they own and information on when each plant needs a specific care action. Users can also build a knowledge base of their own plants and determine which plants would be best for them without using the plant match quiz.
Prototype
Login/Signup
Users will be able to easily log into their own accounts that stores their plant information.
Plant Search
The search feature enables users to search for plants to add and can see descriptions and images of plant vaireties.
Dashboard
From the Dashboard, users will be able to access the plants they own, see notifications, and view plant care tips.
Takeaways
My biggest takeaway from this case study was that users search for information to learn more about their plants. Users are also more likely to look up information about their plants when they are not doing well. The user interview analysis disproved the initial hypothesis. The fact that the users had trouble maintaining a watering schedule was a minor pain point. For future reference, I would like to expand my research to users in other areas and a range of ages. It will also be crucial to consider the type of climates a variety of users may live that would determine how well plants may thrive in a particular environment.