PlantFinder App Design

What an exciting journey!

This is my very first design, it was created while completing the Google UX Design Certificate.

The goal is to design an App that helps users find the best plants for their home.

Who is this App for?

During this phase, I focused on empathizing, defining and ideating.

“Local is better”

Age: 20-40

Education: BA

Family: Single, has a cat

Occupation: Parks & Rec

Goals

Find time for hobbies and make sure to support local businesses
Cat-safe plants

Frustrations

Online research is too time consuming
A small space allows only so much sunlight

Problem Statement: User is a busy single, they like to shop local, they need to find plants that will thrive in an apartment with little sunlight, they love decorating their spaces with plants

Hypothesis Statement: If they can use an app that gives them the best local options based on the characteristic of their apartment, then they would use the app and decorate and buy locally

Key Challenges & Constrains

Users need quick and educational advice on what plants better fit and thrive in their environment and lifestyle.

Pain Points

Users should be able to find the plant they need quickly without additional research.

Once users have identify the plant they need, they should be able to share and find the closest shop.

The plant selection should be based on the environment and users should be able to decide based on their needs.

User Research

I conducted user interviews, which allowed me to ask specific questions and follow up when needed. The interviews helped me understand users pain points, needs and wants. I discovered that many users don't know reliable online sources for their gardening or plant selection, and that they usually buy the same type of plants that they consider “safe”. Many are open to try new plants if provided with the basic care information and directions to a nearby place to go buy the materials.

Initial Concept

The initial concept included a few key elements: a quick survey to guide the user towards the plant best suited for their environment; a weekly newsletter to keep the user engaged and a user profile where favorites could be saved and shared.

Wireframes

Result of Testing

During this phase, I identified two main features in the design that needed improvement. First: the Plantfinder page was too busy and overwhelming, so the best way to approach this was to breakdown the survey in separate pages that would require users the select only one option per page. Secondly a side bar menu was needed to make sure users would always locate the quickest way to the pages they were interested into.

Conclusions

This has been a wonderful learning experience which challenged me in so many ways.

During this project I took a deep dive into: the foundations of UX Design, Wireframes and Low-Fidelity Prototypes, the basics of UX Research and High-Fidelity Designs and Prototypes. Learning Figma while exploring the Google UX Design Certification provided me with solid foundations for my UX Design journey.