The goal of this project was to create a a novel mobile app that could be used by yourself or somebody you know. After creating a persona, Camille, along with establishing her User Journey, the initial concept was honed in to be a schedule/reminder app for plant care called GARDN.
With the desire but lack of social communication that has become prevalent during the pandemic and dealing with COVID-19, the decision to add a Community section was added to make it a more fun, personal experience; setting up reminders to water plants is a boring task, but by engaging the user, it might keep them coming back to the app to see what their local community of plant lovers are doing.
A lofi prototype was created, which then allowed for proper re-evaluation of what else was still a problem. Two main issues arose, with solutions that were accounted for in the next iteration, a higher fidelity version of the prototype.
1.) The app has a lot of sections, how will I make it easy to navigate for the user and clear which section does what?
Solution: A fixed, rectangular bar at the bottom with 4 large icons that lead to different sections of the app.
2.) The Community tab pays homage to the need of the persona to socialize, but is complicated. How can I simplify an entire social media platform?
Solution: The Community tab for GARDN will be location-based and share-only, meaning you can post to people in your area but with no comment or like system.
After gathering user feedback based on the higher fidelity prototype, the final version was modified further, given color and full microinteractions.
