Sustainability Hackathon
Smart Grow
Role
UX Designer
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Team
3 UX Designers
1 Developer
1 Data Scientist
Type
Mobile App
Duration
1 Week
Overview
Gardening is a rewarding hobby that’s enhanced significantly by sustainable practices, such as proper plant selection. However, not all geographic regions are conducive to easy planting due to their harsh climatic conditions, particularly in certain US zones.
The Challenge
How might we support gardeners in challenging climates succeed in gardening all year round?
Features
01.
Centralized Plant Tracking
Manage plant statuses, needs, and conditions all in one place for efficient garden planning and better decision-making.
02.
Climate Information
Access vital environmental data including temperature, weather, daylight hours, and humidity.
03.
Local Resources
Connect with a hub of local gardening resources, including expert advice, community insights, and news articles.
04.
Extensive Plant Database
Discover the plants best suited for your local area and easily access essential growing information and best practices.
Research & Design Process
Ideate & Design
Competitor Analysis
Feature Prioritization
Design Studio
Synthesize & Define
Affinity Mapping
User Persona
Research & Discover
Secondary Research
Prototype, Test & Deliver
Wireframes & Prototypes
Style Guide
Usability Tests
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Faced with a tight one-week deadline, our first meeting was crucial. I organized the session to align our individual strengths with project needs, ensuring an efficient workflow. While the UX team initially wanted to start with research following the double diamond process, we realized this would hold the rest of the team back. So, we all worked together to outline a high-level solution—an app that provides information about plants for people in harsh growing zones. This gave the developer and data scientist enough to get started.
Meeting the Team
Research
Digging Deep into Discovery
As the development team began laying the groundwork for the app, the UX team delved into understanding the specifics of gardening in harsh environments.
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The Landscape
We explored U.S. Plant Hardiness Zones 3 to 5, areas where the extreme cold and brief summers restrict plant varieties and shorten growing seasons, requiring gardeners to carefully consider climate and other environmental factors for successful gardening.
We engaged with online gardening communities and conducted interviews to gather firsthand insights from those directly impacted by these challenging conditions.
Key Takeaway
There is a lot of guesswork and trial & error for Zone 4 Gardeners, even if they do the research because there are so many environmental factors to keep track of.
User Persona
Following our data collection and research phase, we developed a persona representing a gardener from challenging growth regions to ensure our design targeted the specific needs of such individuals.
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Sharon Rose, a retiree in Maine, is enthusiastic about year-round gardening. She's looking for robust plants that can withstand the cold and needs reliable planting schedules to tackle the unpredictable climate. Actively researching online and exchanging local gardening tips, Sharon is preparing her spring garden, adapting to the weather by moving plants indoors when necessary.
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Sustainability Consideration
Sustainable gardening emphasizes organic practices and resource conservation, focusing on soil health, water efficiency, supporting wildlife, and using eco-friendly materials and tools.
At the heart of our approach is the selection of native plants, which are well-adapted to local climates and require fewer resources, enhancing sustainability and supporting local wildlife. This strategy is reinforced by insights from our initial research and discussions in gardening forums.
Design
Competitive Analysis
We looked into competitors to understand their approaches to the gardening challenges we identified, seeking inspiration to inform our solution.
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Gardening Apps
Planta
Planter
Growit!
Leafnet
Gardenize
Waterbot
Features
Search by Plant Filters
Database of Plant Varietals
Calendar
Weather Notifications
Community Forums
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Sketching
After determining the feasible features, the development team began coding, while the UX team rapidly created sketches and provided feedback.
Wireframes
Afterwards, we quickly created low and mid-fidelity wireframes and passed them to the development team, allowing them to align the code with the envisioned layout and functionality.
Technical Difficulties
We encountered an issue where the APIs/data for the app were incomplete, leading the developer to initially remove them. However, the UX team and I suggested including labels marked "N/A" for demonstration purposes to illustrate the intended data, ensuring clarity in our presentations.
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Usability Testing
Due to time constraints, we weren’t able to conduct in-depth usability tests. However, we were able to create a prototype and I was tasked with informally testing it with users.
Usability Test Findings
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The meaning of each element on the information box at the top is unclear
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Users like icons over text but desire clearer indicators of clickability
Style Guide
We developed a style guide to enhance the design to higher fidelity and provide developers with a reference for the app's front-end development.
Conclusion
Next Steps
For the design team, we would explore usability test feedback that we got from users regarding the plant information shown, such as frost schedules, planning tools, and other relevant data.
Reflection
Initially, this project felt chaotic and overwhelming given the hackathon setting. However, through effective teamwork and open communication, we successfully transformed confusion into order. Our cross-functional team skillfully navigated the project's various stages, smoothly transitioning from design to development without significant obstacles.
At first, both the UX and development teams faced frustrations and disappointments. Nevertheless, through honest dialogue and a shared commitment to our goals, we fostered empathy and understanding among team members. This project involved a lot of independent work alongside collaborative efforts, requiring us to strategically unite for discussions to confirm the feasibility of designs and ensure alignment.
My role in strategic planning and time management was crucial in keeping the team aligned and productive. This experience underscored the vital synergy between UX design and development, highlighting the importance of adaptability in tackling real-world challenges.
Despite its initial challenges, this project was immensely educational, teaching us the value of flexibility to accommodate the evolving needs of the project and our team.