Plant Nature Responsive Mobile Web App
Plant Nature is a mobile app that helps people care for their house plants, including identifying plant types, creating water and fertilizing schedules.
My role
UX/UI designer
Tools used
Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
Scope
Jan. 2023 – proceed
What I did
Logo Design, Competitive Analysis, User Research, Information Architecture, Mobile design, User Journeys & Flow, Card Sort, Sitemap, Usability Study, Product Design
The Problem: How do we help people care for their house plants?
The challenge
I set out to develop a mobile application that would help people quickly find plants, including identifying plant types, creating water and fertilizing schedules.
The Background
The appeal of houseplants goes back a long way. History is full of examples of humans taking plants and putting them into pots to keep around the house – whether for cooking or medicine, to add a splash of colour or act as a much-needed air freshener!
The Industry
Data Bridge Market Research analyses that indoor plants market was valued at USD 17.93 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach the value of USD 26.23 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 4.87% during the forecast period of 2022-2029. In addition to the market insights such as market value, growth rate, market segments, geographical coverage, market players, and market scenario, the market report curated by the Data Bridge Market Research team includes in-depth expert analysis, import/export analysis, pricing analysis, production consumption analysis, technological advancements and patent analysis.
The Iterative Process of Designing Plant Nature
When working on Plant Nature, I have adopted the Double Diamond Strategy which breaks the design process into four stages: Discover, Define, Deliver & Develop. I found this process particularly powerful in validating design decisions, allowing enough space for creative exploration while giving a focus point to come back to.
DISCOVER
What's there: Plants apps and Plant Nature
I conducted a competitive analysis of Plants apps with a focus on UX analysis: to evaluate their navigation, layout and overall usability. This helped me understand what Plant Nature had to deliver to differentiate itself from the competition.
Here’s a list of competitors:
Planta, LeafSnap Plant Identification, Blossom, Vera, Plant Identifier & Care – Greg and Flora
I also did a detailed SWOT analysis of the competition and found their strengths and weaknesses, which greatly helped build Plant Nature’s competitive advantages.
User Research: Can you walk me through your process?
It was time to see what house plants enthusiasts thought about the competitors. Equipped with the preliminary research discoveries. I conducted 2 user interviews with people who have different levels of experience with Plant apps. My research goals were:
1. To understand the general attitudes and processes.
2. To uncover what (common) difficulties people might face.
3. To discover if they use any apps or websites to help them achieve their goals.
DEFINE
The Research Analysis: Moving Forward
After the Research phase, I reexamined my assumptions based on the insights from the User Interviews. It was clear that:
• People are looking for an app that will give them the information they need.
• They require an application with good feedback.
• They require the application to be easy and accessible to users.
• They want to find a plant app that is closest to their requirements.
Revision of Problem Statement
I revised my hypothesis problem statement to align better with the users’ needs and goals.
Plants apps’ users need to find the right app for their needs. They expect to receive quality service, flexible app, user-friendly navigation, security for their personal data, and this to help achieve their goal.
User Journeys: What would Petya’s experience with Plant Nature be?
Informed by each persona’s experience, attitudes & goals, I have created User Journey Maps to outline the processes needed to achieve their individual goals within Plant Nature app. This allowed me to focus on possible critical pain points and plan how to address them in the following design decisions.
User Flows: How would Petya go about finding plants on Plant Nature?
I set out to map out their User flows. This step helped me keep the design user-centered, by showing me what pages or screens of the app will be needed from the perspective of my user personas.
Sitemap after Open Card Sort.
Before starting to work on initial sketches of each feature, I visualized the Information Architecture of the app into a sitemap, based on the user flows. The first version of the sitemap was tested through an Open Card Sort.
DEVELOP
Wireframing: From sketches to first clickable prototype.
Ones the Sitemap information architecture was decided, I began sketching paper wireframes progressing them.
Mobile Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Mobile High-Fidelity Wireframes
Usability Study:
Focusing on navigation and main features, I designed clickable prototypes for Mobile versions of the responsive web app. It was tested in a usability study, conducted remotely with 2 users. The issues, discovered in the usability test were addressed and fixed.
Designing the Look & Feel of Plant Nature: Style Guide
Plant Nature app has a stylish and practical design that aims to help people use it easily and affordably.
I used the Style Guide as a starting point and developed a more detailed Design Language document. It’s purpose is to ensure consistency and communicate the language of Plant Nature app to designers and developers.
DELIVER
Final Showcase.
When I started working on this project, my goals were for the app to help people take better care of their favorite plants by learning to recognize, maintain and give them a longer life. I believe Plant Nature app has achieved the goals as it has its own distinctive style and branding but also offers an easy user journey for customers and their experiences.
