Project Type: Academic, Individual

Platform: IOS

Time Line: 8 weeks

Role: UX Researcher, UX/UI Design, Copywriter

Tools - Figma, Invision, Canva

 

Capstone Project

Persephone

For my Capstone Project I was tasked with creating an app - but as I have learned, so much more comes before ideas and solutions. Perhaps the most challenging was deciding on a problem space, but once I had one, I was ready to tackle the UX steps of identifying, planning, researching, and designing for a digital mobile interaction.

Persephone was designed to educate and assist gardeners, to understand their growing conditions and search for plants best suited to their garden.

Using the Double-Diamond approach to guide my project, I was careful to pay attention to user-needs, motivations and goals. This helped me formulate the right questions so answers could give insights. I considered current user touch-points, where the problems lay and how they fit into what the user would like instead. I narrowed the scope for my solution and iterated and tested prototypes with my users. 

Design Process

  • 1. Understand

    In order to create a user-focused product I had to first understand my user.

    This was done through:

    • identifying the problem space and constraints

    • conducting primary and secondary research

    • creating a persona

    • building an experience map

  • 2. Ideate

    Next I was ready to experiment with possible solutions based on my research and persona.

    My possible solutions were informed by:

    • user stories and epics

    • a task flow diagram

    • searching for UI elements

    • sketching on paper

    • greyscale wireframes

    • usability testing

  • 3. Create

    After I decided on a solution based on my user findings and motivations I began brand development.

    This included:

    • searching for UI inspiration

    • identifying the brand’s mood, colours and word mark

    • creating a Hi-Fi prototype

    • designing for another platform

Understand

 

 The Problem Space

Gardening promotes general well-being. Though the uptick in participation for all ages was significant during the pandemic at more than 50%, gardening remains quite an overwhelming activity. Research has shown that beginners often struggle to keep plants alive. I wanted to know where the challenges lie and why gardeners struggle.

 

Beginner gardeners lose at least 50% of their plants when starting out.

Gardening rates increase by more than 50% during pandemic

Spending on plants, tools and services also doubled during this time.

 Secondary Research

I conducted secondary research to identify some reasons. I consulted articles, Youtube videos and blogs. I paid close attention to the comments sections of theses sites to identify specific reasons experienced by people.

Common reasons for unsuccessful gardens include:

  • watering too much or too little

  • choosing plants that are unsuited for a certain location

  • pest problems

Ventures often fail due to:

  • people’s lack of knowledge

  • growing expenses

  • time constraints

With these reasons in mind, I outlined some assumptions which would guide my interview questions:

  • Canadians want to learn more about gardening

  • The varied climate is a challenge

  • There is lots of information, but sifting through is overwhelming

  • Gardening is expensive

  • Gardening provides a sense of accomplishment and pride

  • gardening connects Canadians with each other

 Primary Research

In order to better understand the problem space and gardeners experiences, I interviewed three individuals. My participants fit the criteria of:

  • being Canadian

  • between the ages of 25-45

  • Growing either flowers, fruits or vegetables

  • had experience gardening for at lease two years

I set this criteria because I wanted to cast out a wide enough net for respondents. The large age range, to be growing from any category and from any province would ideally allow me to find participants with enough variation from each other to understand the user needs in different contexts. My interviews took place in early February, this means my participants were relying on previous year’s experiences rather than the current one.

My objective was to learn

  • why they enjoy gardening?

  • what frustrates them about gardening?

  • what resources they turn to when they need help?

Interview Findings

Though each of my interview participants had varying levels of gardening experience, tended to their gardens differently and had different backgrounds, it was intriguing to sort through their answers and still find commonalities between them.

I grouped their responses as Pain Points, Motivations and Behaviours to guide my understanding of the problem and where the participants felt especially frustrated.

Painpoints:

  • trouble understanding plant labels

  • issues with soil

  • too many factors help or hinder plant success

  • growing often takes too much time

  • getting advice is cumbersome and hard to remember

Motivations

  • I want to learn more and develop good habits

  • I wish I could spend more time, maybe I need to be more efficient

  • I want to complete the tasks from start to finish

  • I want to see results

Behaviours

  • I like to experiment and make changes to the garden

  • I like to talk to others to get advice

  • Some rain during the summer helps me care for my garden

  • I like to apply what I learn and hope it will make a difference

Theme and Insight

I then grouped my Pain Points, Motivations and Behaviours into common themes and insights. Of the four I created, I focused on:

Theme: There is lots of information available to gardeners

Insight: Though lots is available, it is difficult to sort through and ensure the advice will match the needs and conditions of a particular garden

I thought this theme and insight best summarized my interview findings because all my interview participants communicated they:

  • found looking for gardening information particular to their growing conditions hard to find

  • were all willing to take new advice and apply it to their garden

  • believed if they had the right information their gardening would be more successful.

Persona

 

My interview responses and chosen theme and insight informed the creation of my persona, Anna-bell Lee. I chose her characteristics because they were similar to my interview participants.

She had similar goals, motivations and frustrations felt by my interview participants.

Persephone is designed to help her and other amateur gardeners learn about planting conditions and best-suited plant options so that mistakes can be minimized.

Experience Map

 

My experience map displayed the different stages Anna-bell would experience with the goal of adding new plants to her garden.

I decided to intervene on the area within Research and Shopping. From my interview responses I gathered that it was here that my participants faced their challenges. For example:

  • having to visit multiple websites and resources for plant information

  • not being able to understand all the labels on plants when shopping

  • relying on garden centre staff for information and instructions but feeling overwhelmed when the time came to plant

I thought an intervention at this point could alleviate their frustrations and help them feel more informed.

How Might We

Completing the experience map and the steps my persona took; and choosing my point of intervention, highlighted the need for a narrower HMW statement:

HMW help gardeners of different skill levels expand their knowledge base in order to improve their gardening outcomes.

I was ready to experiment with solutions that helped gardeners learn and apply information for better results.

Ideate

User Stories

 

From the viewpoint of my persona, I created a series of 30 user stories in order match possible pain relievers with eventual app functions. I chose to focus on the epic of “planning before planting” for my task flow because many of the challenges felt by my users and persona occurred before the planting stage.

Creating a digital solution to help the user plan what they shopped for and planted would mitigate mistakes later on and promote gardening outcomes.

Task Flow

 

My task flow was created based on my interview responses, core theme, insight and epic/user stories

Core Theme: There is lots of information available to gardeners

Insight: Though lots is available, it is difficult to sort through and ensure the advice will match the needs and conditions of a particular garden

Task Explanations:

  • I started the task flow with onboarding questions to introduce the user to characteristics of their garden, such as soil type, hardiness zone and pH. This would be important, especially for beginners to learn terminology.

  • The answers they provided would also help to create their garden profile - with this stored information the app would suggest plants fitting those requirements. Search results would also display after the profile was considered and filtered for.

  • Plants liked by the user could be saved for later reference. This would make shopping easier because the user would know what to look for and also feel comfortable conversing with store staff.

UI inspiration for elements

 

After deciding on a preliminary task flow I sought UI inspiration for elements:

  • onboarding questions with bubbles to fill in answers

  • coloured cards and buttons in a colour standing out from the background

  • pop-up modals for confirmation

  • product listings pages and details pages with matching imagery

  • search page with filters and recommendations

These elements could be used in my task flow, in keeping with my persona’s needs, to help her learn about garden characteristics, plant types and plant choices.

Sketches, Drawn Solutions and Wireframes

These are some examples of how I went from UI inspiration, sketching some ideas on paper and creating a grey-scale wireframe in Figma.

With the help of my task flow I was able to determine the purpose of my screens and knew which content to fill them with. I decided on my copy at this stage to keep the screens functional in preparation for user testing.

 

App Welcome Page

Here is my process for creating my app’s home screen:

  • I was inspired by the purple bubbles on the white background, it was clear that each could be clickable, especially with the rounded corners.

  • For my sketch I spaced out the buttons for the app home screen, I wanted to account for all the functionalities, but didn’t want to overwhelm the user.

  • The greyscale wire-frame shows the buttons, a darker grey for the selected state. There is also a navigation bar at the bottom so the user can move freely through the app.

 

Onboarding Questions

Here is my process for creating my onboarding questions:

  • I found an example where the user is presented with onboarding questions and must select an answer.

  • The answer would be highlighted in a contrasting colour. There is also a status bar tracking the completion of questions.

  • I sketched possible question screens, where the user would select their answer bubble. I also included a tracking bar with four dashes, indicating the total number of questions.

  • The wire-frames show two different question screens, with the darkened selected state for answers and the status bar.

 

Plant Details Page

Here is my process for creating my plant details page:

  • I was inspired by product details pages from E-commerce platforms to create my plant details pages.

  • I designed my page to have a large image, text and CTA buttons. I used icons for my CTA button like the e-commerce inspiration pages.

  • For my wire-frame I followed the pattern I designed, included space for a large image and text following a hierarchy - highlighting the name of the plant, quick facts and more detailed information.

User Testing

I conducted two rounds of user testing with 5 testers each to determine the functionality of my task flow and elements. I also wanted to check if users were able to understand my the flow, copy and learn what was missing to make the flow most useable.

 

Session 1

During round 1 my testers identified 6 issues that needed changes. I placed the 6 issues on a Design Prioritization Matrix to determine the order to address the issues. Before my next testing session I addressed items 1, 4 and 6.

  • 1 - Clicking twice to register answer - remove need to double-click to answer question

  • 4 - Clicking arrow to progress to next question is cumbersome - automate to next question with time delay interaction

  • 6 - Screen is overcrowded - Reduce filters and create more white space around components.

 

Session 2

During round 2 my testers identified 8 new issues that needed changes. I placed the 8 issues on a Design Prioritization Matrix to determine the order to address them. I addressed changes 1-4.

  • 1 - Determining one’s hardiness zone is still cumbersome - streamlined the flow by introducing a modal.

  • 2 - Clicking arrow to progress to next question is cumbersome - automate to next question with time delay interaction

  • 3 - Users do not know what hardiness zone is - added a “more info” screen for them. to learn more.

  • 4 - Tone of language of app is too serious - Change some of the wording for a friendlier and happy tone.

With my pages and task flow functional and better in-line with my user’s needs, I was ready to add colour to my app.

Create

UI Inspiration - Mood and Feel

Before I added colour to my app I created a moodboard to collect inspiration for the mood and feel I wanted to communicate to my users. I wanted Anna-bell and future users to feel comfortable, encouraged and positive as they built up their gardening knowledge and skills.

With these ideas in mind I was ready to tackle the specifics of brand development.

Brand Development

  • Word work

    • Key Words

      • I chose key words to create a mood and feel of positivity, learning and accomplishment

    • The Name

      • After experimenting with a few explicit gardening names I thought more deeply about the gardening companion idea.

      • I selected Persephone the Greek goddess of Spring growth and the Underworld - She is a goddess that works all year round, much like the care and attention needed for a garden to grow and prosper.

    • I would inject feelings of fun, inviting, organization, calm, softness, colour and airiness into the app - I would not want the user to feel intimidated, overwhelmed, or distant from the topics.

  • Colour Palette

    • Images

      • The images I chose were all very bright, colourful, and pleasant to look at. When speaking to my interview participants they call communicated the happiness they found when gardening.

      • I thought the app could take on a personality - as the user is working in the garden and planning, they can rely on the app and its tailored information to assist them.

    • Colours

      • From the colours pulled from my images in InVision I was immediately drawn to the green.

      • I chose green as my primary colour and the pink as my secondary colour.

      • I selected different opacities for the green and pink

      • For my neutral colours I chose a strong brown and experimented with lighter creams and stone colours.

  • Brand Imaging

    • Word Mark

      • To create a word mark I began by writing out Persephone in different styles and experimenting with capitals and lower case.

      • The writing with Serifs seemed the most appropriate.

    • App Icon

      • To create my app icon I began by sketching out some garden related illustrations with a P situated within the drawing.

      • After a few options I chose to place the P in a watering can because of its distinct shape. I decided the flower could be ambiguous whereas a watering can would only be used for one purpose.

      • I imagined it would be easier to identify on a home screen full of apps and the association could be quickly made for the apps function.

 

My Solution - The Persephone App

Created for users like my persona Anna-bell, the Persephone app will assist gardeners build their skill set, inform them about plant selection and promote positive gardening outcomes.

Looking Forward

Designing Marketing Websites

My next step was to create a marketing site for mobile and web in order to spread the word about Persephone and encourage an app download. Taking into account the parameters of responsive design, I again sought inspiration, this time for website elements such as navigation bars, menus, hero images, app features, testimonials and imagery.

I looked at the mobile and web versions to identify design decisions taken by others to best fit the different platforms, and included these in my designs too. It was important to convey the app’s benefits, features and testimonials in an easily scannable manner, regardless of viewpoint.

  • Desktop Site

    The desktop design includes a large hero image, CTA buttons in different sections, app features with mockups, recommendations and testimonials.

    View Desktop Here

  • Mobile Site

    The mobile design includes all the elements and information of the desktop site but takes into account limited space. Using carousels and stacking content reduced informatiooverwhelm.

    View Mobile Here

Next Steps for Persephone

Comprehensive Garden Help - New Features

In the future I will determine new features to include for my app and will create subsequent task flows based on my user stories, epics and my persona. I will try to imagine how else I can aid Anna-bell through her gardening journey, now that she has a better understanding of garden conditions and plant types. It would be great to assist users with plant care strategies and educating about fruit and vegetable growing as well as herbs in the future.

I will conduct user testing to ensure the functionalities make sense and truly assist the user before rollout.

Key Learnings

  • Time Management

    Designing Persephone, from conducing research, speaking to gardeners, tabulating results and creating a solution, was a long and laborious process. With so many moving parts it became clear early on that in order to produce a useful product, I had to manage my time and tasks.

    There were conflicting deadlines I had to navigate and plan for. Though I did my best to keep to the plan, my greatest take-away was to keep a time contingency, if I could get ahead on some task early on, I would mitigate extra pressure if something went wrong later.

  • Understand the User

    In order to produce a useful digital product I had to think of my user - the more I could include them at each step the better. I had an insightful group of interview participants which shaped my product. I also relied on users I did not directly communicate with when I consulted blog and video comment sections. I learned from a number of individuals in an efficient manner. Their first-hand concerns helped me brainstorm user objectives and experiences which lead to my interview questions.

    I learned that the user could be studied in different ways.

  • Experiment

    I can confirm that the nature of good user experience is experimenting with possibilities, and trying to find something better. Experimenting with options also taught me to leave an idea for a bit and come back to it later - that helped me decide what changes were necessary and perhaps the need for a new idea all together.

    Experimenting took time but in the end helped me determine my plan to complete each task.

Illustrations from Blush Figma plugin, icons from Noun Project, images from Unsplash, Mockups made in Mockup Plugin.