Grow
During my UX certification program, I researched and built a responsive mobile application that combats the struggles of plant care owners.
Duration
3 months
Role
Sole UX Researcher
Sole UX/UI Designer
Sole Brand Designer
Toolkit
Figma
Google docs
Notion
Adobe Creative Cloud
INTRODUCTION
Problem + Goal
What’s the problem?
With the rise in popularity with plants, there are a lot of people that lack necessary knowledge about their houseplants and how to care for them. The information that is needed is usually inaccessible and too complicated to understand without extensive research and time.
What’s the goal?
The goal of this project was to create a mobile app and responsive website that could help new or existing plant owners with taking care of their plants.
INTRODUCTION
My Design Framework: Double Diamond Method
For all designs, I try my best to follow the Double Diamond Method. Shoutout to my Design & Business Professor, Giustina Parisi, for introducing me to this method.
DISCOVER
DISCOVER
DISCOVER
Secondary Research
Before diving into any design work, I wanted to learn more about the benefits and challenges of having a plant.
I wanted to understand why people got plants and hopefully use that to my advantage when it came to the app.
DISCOVER
Competitive Analsysis
Plant care is a popular topic and app idea, so I decided to analyze what it already on the market and what I should include, avoid, or reinvent in my app.
Surprisingly, there were no gamification interperatations of a plant-care app.
DISCOVER
User Interviews
To understand real pain points with plant owners, I interviewed 3 individuals that have or had had a plant to understand real paint points with plant owners.
“I mean, I forget to water my plant a lot, so its not the healthiest.”
“My plants always die, I don’t really know why”
“My plants always die, but I enjoy caring for them. It can be frustrating, but also rewarding”
DEFINE
DEFINE
DEFINE
User Personas + Journey Maps
After doing the research, I decided to create user personas and journey maps based on the discover phase.
I designed these user personas keeping in mind that my primary audience was inexperienced plant owners (13-60 years old) and that my secondary audience was experienced plant owners (13-60 years old).
This step is important because it lets me empathize with the users through interview and secondary research.
DEFINE
Turning Data into Core Insights
Plant owners frequently forget to water their plants.
Taking care of a plant is overwhelming and frustrating sometimes.
Many plant owners don't know all the details about caring for their plants.
DEVELOP
DEVELOP
DEVELOP
Creating Solutions for Users
An interactive user flow that helps users stay consistent with plant care through a virtual garden and smart watering reminders.
A searchable database that helps users explore plant types and related information to expand their knowledge and confidence in plant care.
Reduces the stress of plant care by gamifying the experience—using a virtual garden and rewards system that celebrates real-life plant care tasks.
DEVELOP
Userflows
I mapped out how users would achieve their goals using my proposed solution within the app, iterating between user flows and wireframes during ideation.
Key User Flows:
Use the app to receive reminders and consistently water your plants.
Search for information on a plant you’re interested in buying.
Complete a challenge designed to motivate and support ongoing garden care.
DEVELOP
Wireframing
While developing user flows, I began wireframing screens and flows in my sketchbook. After exploring multiple concepts on paper, I transitioned to Figma to create the key wireframes for the app.
DELIVER
DELIVER
DEVELOP
Lo-Fidelity Prototyping
Building on the key wireframes, I developed additional screens for the prototype and added interactive elements to enable users to navigate the app and complete their goals.
DELIVER
User Testing Insights
Eight users completed three tasks on the low-fidelity prototype. Following revisions, I conducted a second unmoderated test on the high-fidelity prototype.
Insights from both studies are outlined below.
Users were having trouble understanding certain features or pages because of labeling.
Users thought the UI could be simpler and less cluttered.
Users wanted more information about the plant doc because it was a page, but not part of the main user flows.
DELIVER
Highlighted Features
Keeping users motivated in watering their plants
This feature reminds users to water their plants, tackling a common pain point while tying into the gamification system to keep them on track.
Searching for plants and using a AI LLM for asking questions
Learning about plants was a major pain point for users. I created a search feature with general plant info and added an AI chatbot to answer more specific questions, ensuring users could always get the guidance they needed.
Reframing the plant-care experience as a reward-based game
The app’s biggest feature is a coin reward system that makes plant care fun, motivates users to complete tasks, and helps them become better plant owners. The more they use the app, the more coins they earn, keeping them engaged.
DELIVER
Key Screens
Below are a few key screens that show off the cohesive UI design, the features listed above, and the overall look & experience of Grow.
DELIVER
Responsive Web App
I designed a responsive website accessible on desktop, tablet, and mobile, giving users full access to all app features.
WRAPPING UP
WRAPPING UP
WRAPPING UP
Challenges
First UX Design Project
Designing my first end-to-end app involved constant learning and iteration. I initially mapped out user journeys, but doubts about their accuracy led me back to the interviews. By refining the journey maps, I strengthened the empathy behind my design decisions, creating solutions that genuinely resonated with users.
Designing for Gamification
This project was both challenging and fun. I had little experience in game design, so I explored gamification methods and psychological techniques like positive reinforcement and visible goals to create a system that would effectively motivate users.
WRAPPING UP
Final Prototype
Here is a demo of the grow app on mobile!
WRAPPING UP
Future Plans
Although this was an early conceptual project in my design career, I would love to revisit the app to further refine the UI and expand the UX by incorporating additional psychological principles to keep users motivated and engaged.
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