design process

1. Discover & Define

The Problem: More people than ever before are interested in growing their own food, but many more would-be gardeners are deterred by the difficulty of getting started.

2. Ideate & Prototype

The Solution: Seedless encourages & guides new gardeners through starting and maintaining edible plants in the simplest way possible—'re-growing' left over grocery store produce.

3. Test & Validate

The Result: 100% of users felt significantly more confident about starting an edible garden. 60% of users grew edible plants for the very first time.

1. discover & define

Methods: Interviews & Surveys, Secondary & Competitive Research

Understanding target users

I conducted research to understand & empathize with the target user, & gained key insights such as:

• 25-34 year-old millennials are the heaviest mobile app users.

• Most millennials rent in urban areas; lack of outdoor space makes edible gardening seem like a non-starter.

• 80% of millennials are interested in growing their own food, but only 30% do so.

• See full Persona created based on target users click to enlarge

Understanding Pain points

Would-be gardeners are overwhelmed by the tasks & variables associated with getting started, especially:

• Waiting for the correct time to start each plant

• Figuring out which plants work for your circumstances

• Choosing the right strain of seeds, where to buy them, and how to plant them

• Learning when to water plants & sticking to a schedule

  
  

deliverables

Affinity map synthesizing user interview notes

Empathy map

Research Presentation

2. ideate & prototype

Constraints: Create a mobile app related to home gardening; 2 month time frame

problem question

Based on the research, I created the main problem question for my product: “how might we make starting edible plants more accessible to new gardeners?”

user stories

I identified the 2 most essential user stories:

“As a novice gardener, I want suggestions on the best plants to grow right now and help remembering what I need to do to maintain them."

heuristic analysis of competitor apps

I chose three of Jakob Nielsen’s ten heuristic principles to assess potential competitors in the home gardening companion space.

Envision

Next, I envisioned each of the features the app would need to include.

• Account creation & settings

• Searchable catalog of edible plants

• Personal garden

• Seedless gardening tutorials: how to 're-grow' each plant from grocery store produce

• Tasks Calendar: generate schedule for plants in user's personal garden

Sketch, Test & repeat

I sketched app maps, user flows, and screens to see how to incorporate essential features.

Guerilla usability testing led to significant adjustments:

• add bottom navigation, users struggled getting from page to page

• add plants instead of garden sites: users just want 1 plant to start off

• users want 'to do list' to be influenced by their local weather

• repackage 'advanced search' as search filters, a more familiar pattern for users

• emphasize 'seedless gardening' & indoor gardening, many users did not discern these vital alternatives as part of the app.

  
  

wireframe

Next, I experimented with different design patterns, frequently seeking feedback from users.

Logo & Visual Design

Once I had determined the architecture of the app, I dove into branding and user interface design.

The name ‘Seedless’ communicates the simplicity of gardening without seeds—no prior experience is needed. The two interlocking leaves in the logo suggest continuity, recalling the widely recognized symbol for recycling, and forming an 'S' for Seedless.

The logo was the primary inspiration for the visual design of the app. I wanted the app to look clean, bright & friendly, in contrast to the gardening process which can be dirty and often frustrating. I ensured all color pairings were fully accessible.

Prototype

After working out the screens & content organization in wireframes, I applied my visual design system to create a hi-fidelity, interactive prototype of all main screens:

• Explore: Catalog of all edible plants with thumbnail image for each. Search & filter by particular criteria including user's geographical location. Save favorite plants.

• Explore Plant Details: Image & breakdown of essential info for each plant, including compatibility with user's geographical location & link to seedless tutorial. Add plants to user's garden via pop-up dialog.

• My Garden: Catalog of user's plants. Click thumbnails to view user's plant's details pages with each plants status & essential info.

• My Garden Plant Details: Image, plant location, status & breakdown of essential info for each plant & link to seedless tutorial. Edit plant info and notifications.

• Seedless Tutorial: Illustrated tutorial & video tutorial for each plant on how to 'regrow' from grocery store produce rather than from seeds.

• To Do: App generated to-do list for user's plants incorporating local weather. Mark tasks completed & see task history.

3. test & validate

usability testing

I ran 2 rounds of moderated usability tests, each with 6 participants, for a total of 12 unique participants. Each test lasted 30 minutes. Participants were asked to complete 8 tasks. The prototype was used on a mobile device in a home setting to help with contextual observations.

After the 1st round of testing, I further refined my prototype. In the 2nd round of user testing, 100% of users completed all tasks.

I surveyed 5 of my test users 2 weeks after their experience with my prototype to evaluate the app's impact:

• 100% of users reported feeling significantly more confident about starting an edible garden.

• 60% started growing edible plants for the first time.

lessons learned

• Test concepts. Be flexible to change your initial hypothesis

• Test early and often. It will guide you to the best solution.

• Zoom out, zoom in. Think wide, consider the end to end experience.

• Quick sketches are invaluable to prevent wasting time.

• Build what will fill an unmet need, not what you want.