Greenery
A mobile app to identify and learn about plant species.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Timeline: July 2022
Role: UX/UI Designer
Background
Plant blindness, defined as the human tendency to ignore plants, is prevalent in today’s world. We are dependent on plants for life and health in many ways, and due to shifts in climate and habitats, conservation efforts are growing more and more important. To keep plants from fading into the background, it’s important to allow people to learn more about plant species. Owning house plants is becoming increasingly popular, and this growing interest can also be extended to outdoor plants.
Edtech is a rapidly growing field, with mobile technology making learning easier and more accessible than ever. Our smartphones allow us to scan items, take photos, and receive information at the touch of a screen. What if we could learn more about plants through a simple scan and receive more information about a plant species, where it’s from, and its scientific or cultural values?
Objective
Create an app concept that allows users to learn more about a plant species by scanning its leaves with their smartphone camera. This app utilizes image recognition technology to identify plant species based on leaf shape and morphology, whole plant form, and occurrence data.
Features can include being able to “favorite” a plant, viewing their occurrences on a global map, and anything else that users would like to see based on user research.
Market Research
Competitor Analysis
Market Analysis
Key insights on plant identification apps:
Most apps use some form of image recognition software to identify plants using a smartphone camera
Some apps are geared more towards houseplant-owners, with features that allow them to diagnose plant diseases or keep track of their species and watering schedules. Few, including Seek, are catered towards people who are avid outdoorsmen or people who like to spend time in nature. These few apps incorporate an educational component, but the amount of information presented can either be too much or not enough.
Some apps allow users to interact with each other, mainly for the purpose of collective identification.
Key insights on educational apps:
These apps act as efficient mobile field guides, designed for on-the-go usage. The main task is straightforward to access, but could use some technological advancements due to the nature of the task (scanning the night sky, taking a photo of a bird from far away).
The search function for these can be limited, as users are not able to filter through subjects easily.
USER RESEARCH
EMPATHIZE & DEFINE
User Personas
Empathy Map
User Flow
Users need a quick, seamless method of identifying plants when they are outdoors or on the go. The “extra”, bonus functions include being able to see which retailers carry a plant, adding a plant to a user-generated list, and being able to upload a user’s previously taken photo. These tasks can be done when users have time to spend on the app, but if users want to quickly be able to aim their camera at a plant and learn what it is, they are able to complete this task in a matter of a few clicks and steps. Users are also able to view the daily challenge on their home screen, which allows them to decide if they would like to complete the challenge or to save this task for later.
IDEATE
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
UI Style Kit
I chose green earth tones with a pop of blue, along with darker and lighter monochrome colors for text readability. I matched my palette to the splash page photo, and chose a simple, sans-serif font to aid readability and enhance the simplicity of Greenery. I also added a 15px rounded border around title elements to add a unique look to Greenery, and chose to use icons that had a thicker weight and simple lines.
High-Fidelity Wireframes
Second Iteration
After two rounds of peer review from fellow UX design students, I decided to:
Re-design the navigation bar and non-button elements
Add an error page in case a plant species could not be identified
Add a function that allows users to upload their own photo
Add a daily challenge countdown to take into account timezone differences
USER TESTING
Prototype
Task: Scan a plant by clicking on the Camera icon, learn more about the plant, view local retailers, and add it to your favorites list.
Key Takeaways
Major Iterations
FINAL DESIGN - full Figma file
CONCLUSION
What I Learned
User testing is crucial
This, I already knew based on my coursework and my past projects, but it became even more apparent while working on Greenery. My user tests not only allowed me to gain crucial feedback and help me see from my app from another perspective, it let me see exactly where I needed to make edits. I was able to view heat map clicks and see exactly where I went wrong with putting buttons, not labeling items, and placing elements. Unlike desktop websites, mobile apps (or a mobile website) don’t let you know which elements are clickable and which are not. Seeing where my users were tapping, or clicking, allowed me to put my app in the user’s perspective and take a step back to view it with fresh eyes.
Keep it simple
I initially wanted Greenery to fulfill the needs for all ranges of personas - outdoorsmen, hikers, avid gardeners, beginner gardeners, houseplant parents, plant enthusiasts, plant experts, everyone! However, once I started to think through the design process, conduct interviews, and gather feedback, I knew that I needed to focus on the main user task. Greenery needed one main function at its core: to identify plants and allow users to learn about them. This way, any of the aforementioned personas would find this app useful, while also potentially finding usage in one of Greenery’s many other features.
Next Steps
The next step to enhance app usability would be to make sure Greenery’s image recognition software is up-to-date and accurate. We could add a community-based social feature that allows users to help each other identify species or provide identification feedback to correct any errors. This would further allow users to utilize the “friends” function, in addition to simply seeing what their community has identified or accomplished.
Greenery could also potentially partner with conservation and ecological organizations to further the connection between plants and the planet. This could mean anything from simply learning more about these organizations to being able to donate a certain amount of money once users obtain a “badge” or a “tree” accomplishment.