Planti App

• Design the mobile app (Android) that is user-friendly and easy to use with a clean design
• Design a Logo, Style Guide & Design System for the company

We utilized and prioritized the key phases of Discovering, Synthesizing, Ideating, Designing, and Implementing.

During the research phase, we spoke with our user demographic to understand their pain points, their needs and goals, and their day-to-day.

During the strategy phase, we compiled our research to identify patterns and innovation opportunities based on the data we gathered during discovery.

During the ideation phase, I sketched out wireframes, designed information architecture, and go to rough drafts of low-fidelity mockups. Then I came to design thema, and spent time converting our low-fidelity designs to high-fidelity by defining a visual language.

During the prototype & test phase, a prototype of our application was developed and used for the first user tests.

• Understand the market of plant platforms in Poland
• Identify the target audience of Planti
• Get to know how people are managing their plant care
• Uncover people’s experience about plant care

• people have problems with remembering to take care of their plants
• they don’t remember the names of the plants they have
• they often look up information about plants on the internet
• need to exchange information with others
• they want to have lots of plants

• Secondary Research (Market Research, Competitive Analysis, Web surveys)
• Primary Research (User Interview)

It is important to get a big picture of the market by starting with market research – to get a sense of what we know and don’t know yet, who the audience are, as well as what the recent trends or news are. The insights gathered from market research will help me frame provisional personas and ask meaningful questions in primary research.

• • a lot of people have a problem finding information about plants
  • most people need to be able to share their experience (a lot of them use Facebook, but they are little bit overhelmed)
  • by 2020 the market for selling houseplants has grown considerably
  • people in Poland have problem with informations about plants in english (want to have more info in polish)

It is equally important to research enterprises that pioneer in the market of platforms related to plant care in Poland, as their solutions to similar problems will help me gather insights about their strengths and weaknesses. I analyzed 3 direct competitors, who are trying to solve the same problem as us, and 3 indirect competitors, who solve one part of the problem very well.

• With the data gathered from market research, I started to generate provisional personas using the statistical knowledge I gained to represent a certain type of user that is potential audience of Planti. These personas will help me screen appropriate people to interview.

• Building on a general understanding of the market and the audience, I continued to dive deeper and build a real connection with our users, to gain direct insights on them by primary research. I created an Interview Guide to facilitate the user interview process, with 12 open-ended questions listed to invite the participants to share their experiences and stories.

  In total, 6 participants (2 males and 4 females) were interviewed about their plant care organizing experience (if there is any) in the past, and the needs that the application should meet.

  Validated assumptions

  • people have problems with remembering to take care of their plants
    Validated – 4/6 participants said they have problem with remembering about regular plant care
  • they don’t remember the names of the plants they have
    Non Validated – 3/6 participants have so much plants, that is inpossible remember all plant names
  • they often look up information about plants on the internet
    Validated – all participants looking for informations in internet and they find it complicated and difficult
  • need to exchange information with others
    Validated – 4/6 participants considers it a good opportunity to exchange experience with other users of the application
  • they want to have lots of plants
    Non validated – 2/6 participants want to have more plants 

• Since we have gathered a bunch of knowledge of the audience, as well as their goals and needs, we use the user persona to represent key audience segments. It helps us focus on tackling the most important problems – to address the major needs of the most important user groups. It is both fictional and realistic.

  Let’s meet Gaja, a Civil servant in Poland. She loves plants, wants to care them as well as possible, but also to have more of them.

• To define the problem we are going to solve, I create Point-of-View (POV) Statements that allow me to ideate in a goal-oriented manner, and How-Might-We (HMW) Questions to frame the ideation in the brainstorm session for solutions. The statements and questions are generated based on the insights and needs we gathered in Research Phase.

• With HMW questions and brainstormed solutions, we decided to list project goals that will both serve as a guide for the future development of the product and rubrics for determining what features to include in Planti app.

• This process helps me walk in an individual user’s shoes, and think through different scenarios that this user might encounter. Below is the user flow (orange path) for Gaja when she wants to add new plant to her plant library in app.

• After creating an UI Requirement Document with a to-do list for designing the key screens identified in the user flow, I started preparing low-fidelity screens.

• I further developed the visual style of Planti through the style tile. It serves as a synthesizing document of the brand ideas and inspirations gathered, incorporating logo design, color palette, typography, and imagery that guides UI design in our app.

• Once we had a visual direction of the layout, I started to add more details and precisions to the wireframes by turning them into high-fidelity wireframes. Creating high-fidelity wireframes helps me focus on the visual consistency and hierarchy. In these wireframes, I tried to incorporate common design patterns that have been tested on our competitors’ product, or included elements that directly address users’ goals, needs, frustrations, and motivations. I created whole dokumentations for developers, and client too.

• The prototype was created on the basis of the user path developed in the course of building the product strategy. It is not a full version of the application and does not give the user all the possibilities. Prototype you can check here: PLANTI PROTOTYPE

• Before usability testing, it is important to set up test objectives, subject, methodology, tasks, and rubrics for measuring the result of the testing before conducting a test. Therefore, I wrote a usability testing plan to define what and why I want to test and get prepared for the test.

  For all the tests, I expect a 100% completion rate since all tasks are normal steps for a plant care app. I also expect a 90% error-free rate because the prototype is not fully functioning, and users might take alternatives that have not been built up for completing the tasks.

  I then conducted both in-person and remote usability testing with 5 participants, and created transcripts for each participant based on my observation of their interaction with the prototype. I jot down their mistakes, slips, and confusions they expressed in the process. This transcript is a perfect raw material for summarizing the patterns of user’s interaction with the prototype.

• With the final prototype created, I believe we have met the goals that were outlined in the beginning of the design process. We designed a mobile app for Planti that provides different features for plant care. I also designed branding materials that aligns with the value of this service.

  If I had more time, I would dive deeper in developing some of those nice-to-have features. These features would add more characteristics to the business and increase the competitiveness.

  With Planti app while staying in the UX industry, I also learned full product management, communication between different people in the team and customer contact.

• Since the design has been tested and revised, it is ready to enter the development phase. Updates and revisions will continue to exist in the future.