Overview
Role
UX Researcher, UX/UI Designer
Timeline
2020 - 3 weeks(80 hrs)
Tools
Pencil & paper, Sketch, Maze.Design and InVision
Project
Design a mobile app. Foli (fictitious plant blogger) spends most of the time helping its followers find the best plants to fit their space while keeping in-mind what maintenance level is best for them. Having such a big following of new plant owners, Foli decided to create an app tailored specifically to their needs.
Problem
Foli’s blog has a ton of information on plant finding and maintenance but does not have a centralized database that is easy for it’s followers to access.
Challenge
Finding the perfect balance of information being given to the user that allows them to learn the basics of managing their plants, while also allowing them to expand their knowledge at their own pace.
The Process
Research
Secondary Research
1:1 Interview
Persona
Define
Feature Map
User Flow
Sketches
Ideate & Testing
Wireframes
Prototype
Usability Testing
User Interface Design
Branding
UI Kit
Mock-ups
Research
I began by doing some market research to better understand house plants, who is adding it to their space and why. And as a millennial myself I was not surprised when seeing that my generation has revived this industry. According to the National Gardening Association, houseplant sales in the U.S. have increased 50% to $1.7 billion in the last 3 years. This increase is mainly caused by millennials new found love for houseplants.
Though many millennial's love owning plants, they are also terrified of killing them. Many don't realize what it takes to take care of one and how each plant has its own needs. OnePoll (a market research company) and Article (a popular online furniture store) recently surveyed 2,000 millennials, ages 25 to 39, about their houseplants to explore how that investment really makes them feel. This study showed that seven out of 10 are proud plant parents but they worry a lot about keeping them alive.
Having a better understanding of the market I did a competitive analysis to understand what other apps are focusing on (finding plants, maintenance reminders, education, etc).
With all this information I started my 1:1 interviews to see for myself what drives millennials to add plants into their space and what needs need to be met to remove their fear of "killing" their plant. There were many similarities in participants' needs and pain points. Most of them were driven by the plant itself, home decor and/or fulfillment. Listening to their experiences with their plants showed that they needed a bit more guidance and easier access to resources. Below are needs and pain points found throughout my interviews.
Pain Points
Finding next plant purchase
Overwhelming amount of information online
No confidence on adding more complex plants
Needs
Way to track progress of plant
Finding plant based on where it will live
Centralized place for helpful information
Jessica Powers was born out of my research. She loves the idea of adding plants to her home decor but when ever she starts her search online the amount of information becomes too overwhelming. Outside of what it will bring to her home she wants to learn and grow her knowledge on planting. Her persona will be the foundation of Foli's design.
Define
I decided on creating a feature map not only to layout all the features that Foli should offer to its users based on their needs, but also to prioritize what features are a must at time of launch. Foli is not just a plant watering scheduler or a plant finder like its competitors, it really focuses on the beginner that wants to find a plant that is right for their space but also to gain knowledge so they feel confident on maintaining their plants. For the launch of this app I feel it was crucial to stick to the core features for that user.
Having the "must-have" features decided, I went on to creating user flows. This user flow shows current user, Jessica. She watered her ZZ plant the other day and did not add into her plant's journal. She also wanted to find a new plant for her kitchen and check to see if her other plant was due for watering.
This user flow is able to show that a plant’s watering can be updated within the plant journal or in the calendar feature. Giving the user the 2 options gives them more flexibility on how they keep their plants up-to-date.
My research showed other apps that were to “alert” for plant maintenance did not keep the user engaged and eventually lost its user. Adding the journal feature gives Jessica a way to stay engaged in her plants health and learn what works best based on the plants history.
It was important for me to sketch out a few different ideas for layout and design. This part of the process is very challenging yet my favorite. I get to be creative while solving a problem at the same time, making sure that Jessica’s needs and pain points are being met.
Being overwhelmed with information is one of Jessica’s biggest pain points, so I knew I wanted to keep the navigation simple and the pages easy to read and navigate. My Plants feature is where Jessica would spend most of her time on the app, it allows her to add plants, take plant quiz and view her plant profiles. The plant profile would hold all the plant’s information and journal where Jessica would be able to log the plant’s progress.
It was crucial to make these pages simple and easy to navigate. Breaking up plant description from its journal would solve this issue while still remaining within the plant’s profile. After my initial sketches I made slight changes, still keeping both information and journal separate, but living on one page .
The Calendar feature gives Jessica an overview of all of her plants water reminders and past maintenance that has been logged. For the plant quiz sketch, I was only able to write out a few questions but this would only be designed after I was able to consult with a house plant expert which happened during my wireframes.
Though I took inspiration from Foli’s competitors, I kept Jessica at the forefront of my mind through the process. I struggled with my initial sketches on how the layout would look through out the app but in the end I was pleased with the final ones and was ready to move on to wireframes.
Ideate & Testing
From my sketches I created my wireframes. Even in this stage I already began to make a few iterations from my sketches. I had to keep in mind that Foli is for the beginner that is eager to learn so I wanted to make sure that a plant's information was easy and simple to understand but also giving user the option to do a deep dive.
I planned on doing in-person usability testing, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic that was no longer an option. So after creating my prototype I decided to add it into Maze.design project, which in the end worked out very well. Their reporting was very detailed and useful for my iterations. I had 30 participants, all of which were beginners with house plants. Overall I received positive feedback but definitely with room for improvement. Below are my takeaways.
When tasked to add a plant, participants had a 40% mis-click rate. I knew there was a high chance for this to be the case but I wanted testing to confirm it.
Participants also voiced concerns of “My Plants” becoming too cluttered with current plants and wish list living on the same page
On the calendar feature, participants struggled on how to check-off the plant to be watered.
Many users during the plant quiz did not know how to define the lighting in their space.
User Interface Design
For branding I reviewed my interviews for some inspiration. Adjectives like warm, growth, simple and natural were often in participants responses and I felt that they were perfect descriptors for Foli's branding. Keeping the design clean was very important since most pages carried a ton of information and I did not want to overwhelm all the content with bold designs. I believe the end result balanced that very well.
In my high-fidelity mockups I made a few changes based on the feedback I received from testing. Below are a few screens that evolved the most from beginning to end. You can view my prototype here.
Takeaways
This project was very heavy on research and all of the findings were extremely instrumental in creating this unique app for Foli. There are apps out there that schedule watering or help you find the right plant, but my research showed me that new plant owners needed a little bit more help. Guiding users on how to find the best plant for their space, giving important information on each plant and making users proactive in their plant’s life takes that beginner to the next level and instills more confidence in their planting.
There were other features I felt could be useful, which I added in my feature map, but ultimately I felt that it was important for the launch of the app to start with the core features. Launching the app and learning from it initial users will be a great opportunity to improve on its foundation and be better equipped on deciding future additions.