The Plant Doctor
The Plant Doctor is a phone application designed to help people deal with problems affecting their houseplants. It offers expert diagnosis and treatment recommendations for issues such as pests, diseases, and cultural problems. Users can submit pictures and descriptions of their ailing plants, and experienced plant pathologists or horticulturists will provide an assessment.
This is a case study from my Google UX Design Certificate Course.
Target Audience - 25 to 65 years old
Tools - Figma
My Role - Lead UX Designer
Duration - February to March 2024
The Problem Is Universal
Indoor-plant owners often encounter various health issues with their houseplants and may struggle to find a reliable, quick, and knowledgeable resource to assist in diagnosing and treating them.
The Goal Is Simple
Create a user friendly app that helps people diagnose the ailments facing their houseplants by various means.
Design Process
Understand
User Research
Competitive Audit
User Persona
User Journey
Paper Wireframes
Digital Wireframes
Low-Fidelity Prototypes
Usability Studies
Ideate
Refine
Mockups
High-Fidelity Prototype
User Research
After seeing a need in the market I conducted some interviews to understand the user and their needs. In my interviews I learned that many of my target users want something that helps them easily identify any issues with their plants without the need to look through many sources, typically resulting in frustration and feelings of wasted time. Many sites regarding plants are hard to navigate, and can be confusing when trying to match up pictures of the plants shown online to the one they own, leading to even more frustration. Houseplants are typically purchased to lighten a space, but when they become problematic it takes the joy away from owning them.
Competitive Audit
I searched online to find and compare a few different Houseplant resource sites that provide information on ailments that could be affecting user houseplants, Though this research I discovered a few key problems:
Cluttered UI making it difficult to find information you’re looking for
Overall clunky navigation
English only language options
Overwhelming visual elements
Abandoned message boards
Broken links to additional resources
User Persona
Rose Wren
“Life is a garden, and my family is the most beautiful blossom in it.”
Grandmother, 60
Rose is a vibrant 60-year-old woman, a loving mother of two daughters and grandmother to two delightful granddaughters. Widowed, Rose finds joy in her home, which is filled with houseplants that she cherishes. Recently she’s been trying to connect with her family without spending too much time on electronics as it’s getting hard for her to see and maneuver online.
Frustrations
Has trouble reading small text and using small buttons
Isn’t technology savvy
Want’s to utilize her time for family
Goals
Maximize time spend with family
Maintain the health of her houseplants
Become more knowledgeable
Show off her love of her plants
User Journey
I sketched out wireframes for the home screen of the app. Although the app will provide more resources to plant owners, I really wanted to keep a focus on the diagnostic area while optimizing the browsing experience for all users.
Paper Wireframes
After moving to digital wireframes using Figma, it was easier to understand the user flow and where some design elements were lacking.
I used this redesign to focus on the user pain points and improve the experience.
Digital Wireframes
I created a low fidelity prototype by connecting the screens to be used in the primary flow of the app.
This was prior to my first wave of usability studies where I gained incredibly insightful feedback and made changes accordingly.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
I conducted an unmoderated usability study of 5 United States based participants with various ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities. Studies took roughly 10 minutes.
Usability Study Findings
Mockups
Based on the insights from the usability study I made a change to the navigation by adding a ‘back’ button in the bottom navigation bar.
High-Fidelity Prototype
My Takeaways
This project is actually my first project as a UX/UI designer! With that being said, handling such a large project with tools I wasn’t yet familiar with was challenging, but I do believe that I handled it very well and I can’t wait to learn and grow so much more.
I completed this project in a few short weeks as part as my UX Design Certificate course through Google & Coursera and I loved every single step of it. Every single part was interesting to me, from researching the competition, to sketching out ideas, to making them come to life in a prototype, I stayed motivated the entire way. It was refreshing to be so excited about projects again!
I learned…
Feedback and user testing is so incredibly important.
How to use Figma in wireframing and prototyping.
How to create user journeys and user personas.
That I absolutely love this field of work.