Plant MD
The objective was to enable anyone, anywhere to chat with an expert in virtually any field.
Project
Designing an expert app as part of Career Foundry's UX program.
The Problem
A way to know what maintenance is required to maintain and/or improve the flower beds and plantings around the home using the expert app because we want them to flourish and remain healthy.
The Solution
An app that allows a gardener to reach out and instantly connect with an expert and decide whether they want a more in depth conference with the expert.
Tools
Sketch
InVision
Balsamiq
Optimal Sort
Google Forms
Skype
Slack
Discovery
Understanding the Problem
Competitive Analysis
User Research
Design Personas
Design Journeys
Concepting
User Flows
Sitemap
Mockups
Prototyping & User Testing
Prototyping
User Testing
Deliverables
Review
Discovery
Understanding The Problem
Problem Statement
A way to know what maintenance is required to maintain and/or improve the flower beds and plantings around the home using the expert app because we want them to flourish and remain healthy.
Possible Problems
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Gardeners don’t know what annuals or perennials are appropriate to replace items in current flower beds or planters.
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Gardeners do not know how to identify any disease or pest their plants may have and having more than one solution for treating it.
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Gardeners need to prune or prepare their plants for winter and they do not know appropriate method for their growing zone.
Possible Solutions
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Gardeners don’t know what annuals or perennials are appropriate to replace items in current flower beds or planters.
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Gardeners do not know how to identify any disease or pest their plants may have and having more than one solution for treating it.
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Gardeners need to prune or prepare their plants for winter and they do not know appropriate method for their growing zone.
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Gardeners would like optimal soil and would like to know what could be added to their flower bed or planter soil to improve the growing conditions.
Competitive Analysis
My Garden and Smart Plant Home were the two apps I chose to analyze out of many plant apps available.
Hundreds of apps exist for plant identification, watering and planting schedules and disease control. However, Smart Plant Home was the most comprehensive app to offer any competition regarding asking an expert. Therefore, I used Smart Plant Home as my primary competitive analysis and UX analysis wanting to improve the expert options. I identified weaknesses and opportunities to improve user experience.
Conclusion:
There are hundreds of plant apps but most do not have an expert option.
User is Only able to message with an expert for a yearly fee. No option to speak to an expert, even for an added fee.
User Research
"I love to chat, connect with other people and have multifunctions in an app."
“I would love to have vegetable plants on my balcony and still have time for the family activities.”
“With gardening I would want photos because I would want to see the details. I want to see if it is part of something.”
Conclusion:
If I want a successful plant app I need to make sure it is simple and clean in design and easy to navigate. It needs to offer quick and easy options for an expert call. It needs to transition smoothly between devices.
Research Methods Used:
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Anonymous User Surveys (Qualitative/Quantitative) View Script
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User Interviews (Qualitative) View Script
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Card Sorting Exercises (Qualitative/Quantitative) View Results
The combined results of the user research reveals: most users look at GOOGLE before they would use an app, users want a free app with a clean interface, and users would look for an app that helped them with basic more complex plant care.
Affinity Mapping
Conclusion:
There are hundreds of plant apps but most do not have an expert option. Users want a free app with limited payment options.
User Personas
Conclusion:
Users have different needs based on their location and the amount of time and effort they can spend on their gardening needs.
User Personas were created after the user research results were examined. This will serve as a reference for the design moving forward.
Journey Maps
Conclusion:
User journeys were then made based on the user personas and the goals they would like to achieve with the use of the app.
Concepting
User Flows and Sitemaps
The two user flows show the different entry points for each user. As further iterations take place, changes are made to reflect them.
Site Map
The sitemap has been revised after user interviews and card sorting. Specific categories and filter to be added to find exactly what the user needs.
Card Sorting Exercises View Results
Iterating
Wireframes
Conclusion:
With the user flows and sitemap as a guide, the first steps of wireframe design started with hand drawn images. They continue to progress through Mid and High-fidelity using Balsamiq and Sketch. Changes are made throughout with further user insights and testing.
Prototyping & User Testing
User Testing
Five usability tests were done remotely through video and one was done in person.
The usability test rated errors using Jakob Nielson's usability scale. As users were tested and viewed, any issues were given a rating on a scale of 0 - 4, with 4 being imperative to fix before release.
Metrics
Errors will be measured using Jacob Nielsen’s scale:
0 = I don’t agree that this is a usability problem at all
1 = Cosmetic problem only: need not to be fixed unless extra time 2 = Minor usability problem: fixing this should be given low priority
3 = Major usability problem: fixing this should be given high priority
4 = Usability catastrophe: imperative to fix before product released
Changes made to wireframes after testing.
Users were not familiar with the leaf and bandaid icons. Therefore, they did not know what to do with them.
Users did not know what was going on in the homepage. The question “What’s going on in my Zone?” was unclear.
Users were not clear about signing up for app. The arrow icon I used was unclear in its purpose.
Users were not clear about what the app would be about from loading screen. There was no image to help and title is broad interpretation.
Conclusion:
These 5 issues were deemed necessary(high priority) to change before product release. The last one received medium priority based on Jakob Nielsen's scale.
Users were not able to determine how to add a plant their garden. This is an important part of app so revisions must be made.
Preference Testing
Home screen
60% preferred this one because of simplicity and colors.
Preferred the colors went well together.
This seems more choppy with the different boxes.
3rd Onboarding screen
More pleasing with the photos, makes sense with the jobs(reminders).
60% preferred this one because of simplicity and colors.
Less complicated, liked the visuals.
Conclusion:
Based on comments the home screen and 3rd onboarding screen were chosen. Simplest design and color scheme are chosen. It reinforces the practices we are learning about user navigation.
Deliverables
Final Thoughts
Most Challenging:
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Finding the right demographics to to conduct research for appropriate app. Make sure all stakeholders have input from the beginning so all are working for unified vision and goal.
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The large learning curve was challenging but completely reasonable to accomplish.
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Learning new programs and software but have progressed so much in learning as tasks have been completed.
Lessons learned:
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The process took me longer than I wanted. Many iterations and changes with UI can be very time consuming.
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The UI phase did take the most time to have everything exact and the additional files required to hand off to engineers
Future Projects:
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Expect things to take longer than you think so be flexible and know there will be many changes along the way.
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Keep all parties in the loop when major decisions are made. Do not design just because it looks visually appealing. It needs to follow guidelines.
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Make sure communication is open and respectful with team to understand all viewpoints.
This was my first UX project as a designer, there has been a lot of learning during the process of this first project.
I feel this is a good choice for me to transition from Art Teacher to a UX Designer. I am motivated and excited about learning the ways to make user experience enjoyable and easy so they will want to continue to use the product. I look forward to figuring out the best way to reach and engage and create insightful projects in the future.