Product designer
Plante um Lar
During the pandemic, interest in plants increased a lot in my circle of friends on social networks. With many people posting about new acquisitions.
Thinking about it and my curiosity about plant care and how people choose the best plants for their homes, I focused on finding answers to the following problem:
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How to help people find and care for the right plant for them?
Photo by Severin Candrian
Role
UX, UI Designer (personal project)
Tools
Figma, google docs, Miro
Discovery
Using the four diamonds methodology, I started the discovery process with a matrix to write down my doubts, assumptions, and certainties to help me develop a questionnaire for a survey with some people.
My goal was to understand how people interacted with the plants' purchase and care. I wanted to know if there was research before the purchase to see if the plant would adapt to the conditions of the house and what the plant care routine was, in addition to the most significant difficulties people felt concerning plants in general and if they were open to online shopping.
Based on the answers, I interviewed five people; I created a quantitative questionnaire to understand the most relevant problems in a larger sample. I got a total of 149 responses.
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Quantitative research results
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Only 24% of people know what type of plant they want to buy at the time of purchase.
Only 34% of people feel safe caring for new plants.
The most common difficulties with plant care:
25.5% - Getting the right amount of water right
22.1% - Choose plants that do well in my home conditions
19.1% - Correct how to fertilize the plant
15.5% - Keeping the plant alive during a trip
15.2% - Remember to take care of the plant
The causes of plant deaths:
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66%- of plant deaths were caused by errors in basic care such as lack or excess of water and inadequate place
Only 6% have never killed a plant
51% - would buy plants online.
And 50% of those who wouldn't buy a plant online would be because they like to choose a specific specimen.
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Persona
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With that, I created two proto-personas to represent the two main profiles found in the research:
Define
From the personas, I created user journeys for Jorge's profile because I believe he is the one who needs more help, as he makes impulse decisions and has little experience. I believe that in this case, focusing the solutions on a less specialist profile, it is possible to develop ideas that help the two different audiences. I used the user journey to help me understand the steps during and after the journey of buying a new plant and see possibilities that can help me in the design phase of the project:
With that, I tried to synthesize the knowledge I acquired and summarized the problem and a definition for the solution I would create.
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Problem summary
Most people buy plants on impulse with only the place it will be in mind and often without knowing if the chosen plant will adapt. They also have a lot of difficulties with new plants; they don't know the primary care, which is why so many people are insecure with new plants, based on past experiences.
We also saw that people are open to online purchases because of their ease, and those who are unwilling are people who like to choose the specimen.
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Solution definition
A solution that helps buyers take plants suitable for their conditions and follows the first moments of care until the buyer feels comfortable.
Design
Features definition
Using the insights of the user journey and making a Benchmark of stores that sold plants online in Brazil and abroad, I started the design process by using the Crazy 8 method to open my mind to different ideas:
Choosing the most interesting solutions, I started to draw wireframes for the project.
Delivery
After finalizing the prototype, I performed usability tests with five volunteers to assess whether the experience was clear to users. Based on the feedback received, I made some last changes and finished the prototype that can be seen in the video below:
Plant a home is an e-commerce that helps to choose the best plant for the user and helps with care information.
The app is divided into three main parts Store, My Plants and Help.
The store part starts with a search field and a shopping bag to give quick access to those users who already know what they want to buy. Below is a quiz to help select the plants that best adapt to the client's home and lifestyle. Below the quiz, we have a tool that allows finding plants with the same care that the customer already has, so the customer can buy plants that he will probably know how to look after. And finally, we have a list of all the plants available with some filters to help with the selection (such as type of lighting, frequency of watering, if it is poisonous to animals, etc.)
At the time of purchase, the customer can select a "Choose specimen" checkbox; in this case, customer service would contact the customer to send photos and select the specimen via chat.
In the My Plants Section, the user can find the plants he already owns and his orders. In the detail of each plant, he finds the indication of watering, lighting, and fertilizer for the plant. It will also have reminders when the fertilizing deadline approaches.
And finally, in the help section, the user has general care guides, a FAQ for the most frequently asked questions and chat access to contact the store's customer service or specialists to ask questions.
Next steps
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I did not design all flows in this first version for testing as this is an evolving project. Therefore, some more complex improvement points raised in the tests were left as a backlog for future adjustments, like the possibility of creating a reminder to water the plants, a list of favorites, etc.