Plant Friend
Designing a Seamless Plant Care App: Connecting Users to Expert Advice
Project Type
UX Certification Final Project
Role
Sole UX Designer
Team
I received feedback from my mentor and my tutor.
Timeline
5 months, 2023-24, full-time
For my project as part of the CareerFoundry UX Certification, I received a briefing to create an expert app for a topic of my choice. Being a plant lover myself, I know how difficult it can be to keep plants healthy and happy, so I chose this as my focus.
I created a mobile application that allows plant lovers to set plant care reminders and enables them to contact plant care experts to receive actionable advice on their questions.
Tools
Figma
FigJam & Mural
Lyssna
OptimalSort
Google Forms
Pen & Paper
Responsibilities
Research
Prototyping
Information Architecture
Testing
Wireframing
High-fidelity design
Highlights
Prototype Walkthrough
Watch the video above to let me walk you through a demonstration of Plant Friend's features or click through the prototype yourself :)
Impact & Outcome
Better Plant Care Habits, Healthier Plants, and Loyal Users
User Impact
Spoiler alert – this is a fictional project, so I can’t provide hard numbers.
By gaining easy access to personalized plant care advice, users can maintain healthier plants and revive struggling ones. This reduces the need for plant replacements, saving money and eliminating time spent searching for care tips.
Business Impact
This is what I’d monitor if this was a real project.
Positive app ratings, indicating that plant lovers find the app useful and enjoyable
Increased app usage, implying that users rely on the app for regular plant care tracking
Growth in sign-ups, indicating that more plant lovers discover the app
More repeat purchases of expert advice, suggesting that users frequently consult experts
Increase in plants added to the app, reflecting increased confidence in plant care skills
Problem
Plant Care Can Be Overwhelming Without Personalized Guidance
Generic advice isn’t enough to meet diverse plant needs
Conflicting information often leaves plant owners confused and overwhelmed.
Plant lovers need a simple, reliable tool that tailors care instructions to their specific plants, saving time and reducing frustration while helping them confidently care for their greenery.
Process
Building Plant Friend: A Research-Driven Design Process
From discovery to high-fidelity design:
Translating user insights into a thoughtful, user-centered app design.
Market Research
Competitor analysis revealed a gap in the market regarding the availability of real-time exchange with plant care experts.
User Research
Through user interviews and surveys, I gained clarity about the expectations and needs of the core target group.
Analysis
Based on research insights, I created personas, user journey maps, task analyses, and user flows.
Prototyping
The deliverables created from the analysis served as foundation for designing the information architecture and wireframes.
Usability Testing & Iteration
Through usability testing, I iteratively improved the high-fidelity UI design.
Insights
Revealing User Needs to Create Tailored Plant Care Solutions
Understanding users’ core needs
Identifying which plants they own and how to best care for them
Keeping track of infrequent plant care tasks like fertilizing and repotting
Quickly receiving actionable advice for any issues a plant might show
Preventing feelings of guilt or sadness for killing their plants
Saving money in the long run by not having to constantly replace plants
Three key features emerged from one question:
“How might we support users in caring for their plants as best they can?”
01
An easy way for users to add their plants to the app with automatic plant identification
02
A way for users to set care reminders and receive and snooze notifications
03
An overview of care information related to each plant
This led me to another question:
“How might we provide users quick and easy access to reliable and actionable advice tailored to their specific plant health issues?”
My initial idea was to create a contact form that would allow users to ask their questions and provide additional information. However, I ended up with an interactive chat bot. Why? Read on to find out :)
Prototyping
From Confusion to Clarity: Streamlining Contact and Payment Through a Chatbot
Prototyping my way forward
I had a clear vision for most of the key screens from the beginning.
One example of this is the evolution of the Home screen from low- to mid- and high-fidelity. I could have probably skipped the mid-fidelity stage for the Home screen, as I already had a clear image in my mind from the pen & paper sketches.
In the mid-fidelity stage, I wasn’t really satisfied that there was so much scrolling necessary to fill in the contact form and still had no idea what the payment process would look like and how to make it a smooth experience for users.
It seemed to me that there must be a more user-friendly way to solve this. I spoke to my mentor about my issues and from our discussion, something clicked for me!
The solution:
An interactive chatbot that asks users for their information step-by-step.
The chatbot:
collects user information in smaller, manageable pieces
eliminates the need for excessive scrolling by breaking down the process
places the payment process as the final, logical step in the flow, aligning with user expectations
To visualize how the process from contacting the chat bot to paying and finally talking to an expert would look, I created 40+ high-fidelity screens in Figma.
Iterating
Improving the Design Through User Feedback and Peer Review
Usability testing revealed previously missing or unclear aspects.
A rainbow spreadsheet helped me prioritize recurring issues. Due to time constraints, I decided to focus on the highest-severity issues.
Two high-severity issues affected the plant profiles.
There was no way to access the Advice section from the plant profiles and participants were unsure which expert to select for their plant.
before
after
01
Added a button to the plant profile that links to the “Advice” section of the app
02
Added a plant type label in the plant profiles (e.g. foliage plant or succulent)
Other pivotal changes concerned the plant identification and contact flows.
During usability testing, users expressed the need for a confirmation screen to verify the identified plant before adding it to their collection. I also added a carousel explaining how to contact an expert, boosting user confidence in starting the chat.
01
plant identification
02
contact flow
01
Added a confirmation screen to the onboarding process, showing the identified plant and asking users to verify its correctness
02
Provided a clear, step-by-step explanation of how to get expert advice – from the chatbot gathering initial info to making a payment and chatting with an expert
Visual refinement
Finally, I polished the UI design to arrive at the current version of the high-fidelity prototype.
After ensuring at least AA-level compliance with the WCAG and implementing a few final changes based on feedback from peer review, I updated my design system and finalized my style guide.
Next steps
Features to be Implemented in Future Iterations
Features that people would love to see
*according to user interviews and usability testing
Due to time constraints and to stay close to the project briefing, I decided to put these ideas in my mental backlog. In the future, these features could be developed to further improve the app.
Learnings
From Stuck to Solution: The Value of Collaboration and Review
Project Takeaways
Advice to my future self
