What motivates this project?

Home gardening is a hobby that many people enjoy, and in recent years, its popularity has jumped, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During lockdowns, and stay-at-home orders, people started to spend their time taking care of plants to connect with nature, relieve stress, and even secure food supply. However, new gardeners often face challenges understanding each plant’s unique requirements and need guidance on how to properly care for their plants.

Due to the rise in beginner gardeners, our team decided to explore ways to help people form a meaningful, emotional connection with their plants and provide a simplified yet enriching gardening experience that makes plant care easy and enjoyable while ensuring that plants receive the best possible care.

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What are the pain points in gardening?

I interviewed a mix of beginner, intermediate, and expert gardeners to explore beginner-specific pain points and identify potential user goals that emerge with experience.

Setting up the right environment for plants is challenging

Hard to form a meaningful connection with the plant

Don’t have enough information about a specific plant

What are the current solutions and why is is not working?

To reduce the pain points effectively, I researched many different products that already exist to solve the pain points, but found that it doesn’t work as effectively.

PlantSnap

Uses AI to identify plants and provides plant care guides

Lacks real-time and plant specific care guides making it hard to understand each plant’s unique needs

Parrot Flower Power

Connects a smart device for real-time condition checks

Only provides general care tips, which can limit its support and usefulness for beginners

Florish

Helps users track watering, sunlight and fertilizing needs

Care instructions are broad and not unique to each plant, which is less effective for beginners

What would an ideal solution look like?

With the user interview insights and competitor analysis, I thought of crucial features that were needed for beginners when gardening.

AR Environment Scan Features for New Plants

Fun Visualization of Plants and Real-Time Reminders

AI-Powered Identifier with Reliable Plant Database

How did the early interface look like and what didn’t work?

I began by mapping out the user experience through low- to mid-fidelity flows and interfaces, focusing on the core interactions users would rely on most. These early prototypes allowed me to quickly test assumptions, observe how users navigated the experience, and identify friction points with a small group of users before designing in higher-fidelity

Plant Information and Care Schedule

Search and Scan Plants

Add New Plant

Through a couple of user testing sessions, I was able to identify where information was unclear and where more detailed data was needed to better understand plant conditions.

Users liked the idea of visualizing plants into a cute illustration but thought that it would be more helpful if the illustration showed more emotion for the users to actually connect with the plants
Users wanted more information about the plants and quick characteristics of the plants when they first browse for new plants rather than where they can buy the plant
Users thought that scanning the plant and environment separately was redundant and wanted the system to scan both at the same time

What was missing from the initial experience?

Based on insights from user testing, I recognized that plant illustrations and personification were essential for helping users quickly understand plant conditions. To strengthen this aspect of the experience, I collaborated with a motion designer to enhance the feature.

How did research insights shape the final structure?

While developing the animated plant characters, I evaluated and prioritized feature opportunities using a MuSCoW (Must, Should, Could, Won’t) framework. This process helped shape and finalize the product’s user flow and information architecture.

Must Have

animated plant characters
AI-powered plant scan
mood-responsive reminders
reliable plant database

Should Have

AR environment scan
detailed plant descriptions
connected sensor stick
real-time monitoring

Could Have

home screen widgets
where to buy
plant recommendations
social sharing

Won't Have

local plant exchange
plant shop
user-generated tips
Q&A forum

Final Outcome

Browse/Search Plants

Discover New Plants

Easily lists plants by category or name for users to browse and discover new ones, and allows users to search for an existing plant in real life using photo scan and add it to their saved plant collection.

Plant Information

Learn with Accuracy

Quickly shows plant care level, size, and warnings at a glance, and provides detailed information about the plant—including a general overview, life cycle, quick care tips, and similar plants—so users can decide whether they want the plant.

Add New Plant

Connect with Your Plants

Conveniently scans the plant in its positioned area to identify the exact species and life stage, estimate the available sunlight, and allow users to name their plant and connect it to a sensor stick that monitors real-time sunlight, soil health, and wind conditions.

My Plants

Get Plant-Specific Care Guidance

Effortlessly guides users to provide water, sunlight, airflow, and fresh soil as needed, and includes a calendar view that shows the users in advance when each type of care is required for each plant.