BLOOM
Do you want to know how to design and maintain your garden correctly? Do you want to know how others take care of their beautiful garden? Have you struggled with how to plant your flower?
Join and BlOOM your Garden.
BLOOM is a mobile application that helps people meet other gardening lovers, get gardening ideas, tips and more.
Make it stand out
This project is awarded 2023 New York Product Design Award in the category of UX Design - Motion Design
Scope
Problem framing, Concept development, Validation, User testing
Role
UI UX design, Design strategy, User research, Branding design
Duration
March 2022 - August 2022
01 — RESEARCH
The Challenges
The challenge was to design a new platform for plant lovers and home gardeners. In this case study, I conducted user research, experienced flows, and improve my prototypes based on the insights. It has:
Created a platform to showcase and share your garden and horticulture skills
Connected gardening lovers and build a community
Helped document gardening-related events and maintenance records
Why is this a Problem?
People lack the platform to share and show
People don’t have a place to discuss and share their gardening skills.
People need help to save their plants
Beginners couldn’t get help from experienced gardeners when their plant’s dying.
People cannot keep track of their maintenance records
Remembering watering date and time is extremely hard for busy workers.
The Goals
People love to explore gardening ideas and tips on this BLOOM App
People go to this app for help when they find issues in their garden
Gardeners make friends and created a community for like-minded people.
Design Approach
Persona
Robert Novak
Male, 78, white, retired pilot
Technology
Know the basics of a smartphone
Goals
Excellent gardening experiences
Passionate about gardening and want to share
Pain points
Intimidated by complex software
Distracted by ads
Needs
Share photos and techniques
Record plant maintenance
Give feedback to other gardeners’ posts
Mary Connor
Female, 27, white, graduate student
Technology
Excellent at digital devices
Goals
New to gardening
Anxious to find the right instruction
Pain points
Wordy instructions on the Internet
Lose track of numerous ideas
Needs
Watering record and reminder
Notes for maintenance
Saved articles
Iris Lum
Female, 55, African American, nurse
"I would like to explore something easy and low-cost to build for my garden"
Technology
Good and familiar with devices
Goals
A few years of gardening experience
Want to try a new style for her current yard
Pain points
Not having enough time to research articles
Couldn’t find the right expert
Couldn’t share her garden and get feedback
Needs
Explore themes and ideas
Enhance garden skills
POV Framing
As a _______ I need to _______ because ______.
USER USER’S NEED INSIGHTS
Robert retired a few years ago and has lots of time for his garden. He is also an experienced gardener who needs a simple app to share his expertise because he is passionate about gardening but doesn’t understand much about digital devices. Now he is popular and a star blogger on BLOOM.
# Experienced Gardener # Sharing
POV 1
Iris is a nurse who needs to find some gardening ideas and implementation tips because she is redesigning her garden. With BLOOM, she found her favorite planting design and implemented it at a low cost.
# Documentening # Exploring
POV 3
Mary is a graduate student who just bought her own house with a nice garden. Since she’s new to gardening, she needs to find insightful and concise instructions but failed because the existing resources are messy and confusing. She joined BLOOM because she can always find the right solution to her garden and also meet new friends here.
# New to Gardening # Social Community
POV 2
User Insights
User Needs
To get tips and improve gardening skill
To explore garden design ideas
To share experiences in gardening and maintenance
To document gardening-related events
User Goals
To connect with like-minded people and make friends
To design and maintain gardens beautifully
To build self-esteem and achieve satisfaction by sharing
To stay active and reduce stress
The Opportunity
How might we create an online gardening community with helpful solutions and ideas that can engage the online community?
02 — IDEATE
Storyboard
Paper wireframes
Digital wireframes
Low-fidelity prototype
Storyboard
Lucy was sad about the dying plants on her balcony. Her friends recommended her the BLOOM App, and Lucy followed the instructions from others. Eventually, she managed to bring her plant back to life and flourished afterward.
Paper Wireframe
Digital Wireframe
DESIGN
Sign up
>>>
The straightforward process to start
Distinguished theme color
Easy to log in with existing social media accounts
Applying Hick’s Law to limit choices and reduce reaction time
Customize your feed
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Delightful preference setting to understand user's level of expertise
Gardening level indicator for customized feed
Target main function and purpose
Browsing and tab changing
>>>
Browsing followed images, trending, and nearby posts
Alternative tab changing by tab or drag the page
Switch seamlessly for the ideal feed
Search ideas
>>>
Smooth image search with popular keywords
Endless vertical scrolling for an uninterrupted searching experience
Non-staggered layout that conforms to the order of reading
UX Flow
Style Guide
I created a style guide that would match well with the overall theme and mood of the online gardening community. I chose colors that elicited a sense of freshness and optimism.
DOCUMENTATION
Key Takeaways
This project is a transition for me. It is my first time finishing the whole process of the design thinking model and building my own design system. I really appreciate the opportunity to combine two fields together with UX and landscape design. I applied my previous knowledge to this project, using gardening as a medium to bring the community together.
Overall, I appreciate what I got for this project by doing paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on design solutions and so on.