The Smart Botanics Plant Care App: Healthy Plants Made Simple

→ See the live prototype here

The goal of this project was to design a complete mobile application for caring for houseplants, connected to an IoT sensor. The main objective of the app is for users to receive comprehensive real-time information and data about the environment, to better understand the needs of their plants.

UX Research

Preliminary research

I conducted a survey of 21 potential users to understand their plant care habits, challenges, and desired app features. Key findings were:

Biggest struggles were lack of info and forgetting plant care

Most potential users are begginer plant owners with 1-15 plants

Simple notifications for watering and alerts on issues are important

An IoT sensor for real-time plant condition data is highly valued

Competitive Analysis

I analyzed 3 existing plant care apps - Flower Plant Care, Planta, and Florish. Flower Plant Care connects with an IoT sensor while Planta and Florish use preset care schedules. Key features were profiles, reminders, photo galleries, favorites, and plant identification. This helped inform key features for Smart Botanics.

User Personas

Sitemap

The app structure focused on simplicity for the user with five main sections accessible through a bottom navigation bar:
- Home: Current tasks viewable by type, location, urgency
- My Plants: User's plants sortable by location, includes gallery
- Find Plants: Database to search, add new plants
- Profile: Account management, settings, help
- Add plant: Easy and intuitive function of adding a new plant

User Flows

Wireframing

Based on the research and functional analysis, initial low-fidelity wireframes were created to layout the basic app structure and flows. refining the information architecture and mappings experience. This allowed quick validation of the layout and content prior to visual design.

UI

Style Guide

Final Designs

Conclusion

The in-depth UX process of research, analysis, ideation and validation resulted in a simple yet powerful IoT-connected plant care app that effectively meets key user goals. The app provides a streamlined experience to help owners better understand and care for their plants. This project showcased the importance of designing with real user needs in mind.

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