Leaf

Love
A gardening app that turns
your brown thumb green
Leslie Herring, 2017
Introduction
Nature brings joy and relaxation to many of us. Plants purify
our air, make our world beautiful, and provide for us. We
literally need them to survive.
The Problem
But not all of use are in tune with nature. For example, I’ve
killed everything from cactus to bamboo. Some of us
simply have brown thumbs. Plants don’t let you know when
the need to be watered, re-potted, fertilized, or if they’ve
had too much sun. They simply die.

The problem I suspect is people may need more helpful

tools to prompt them to take care of their plants.
The Process

Research User Goals Prototyping Testing

& Discovery User Flows
Research & Discovery
Research Goals
GOALS
The Goals of research was to find out which apps existed,
what was successful about them and how to make taking
care of plants easy.

With User interviews the goal was to find not only why
people have a hard time taking care of their plants, and the
different ways they feel overwhelmed by the task, but to also
find out what did motivate them to get things done.

PROCESS
Competitive Analysis comparing features of plant care apps
as well as task monitoring and game apps.

User interviews were conducted in person as well as through

video chat so that I could jump to questions I wanted to ask
as the natural conversation flowed, as well as ask additional
questions when something new and interesting was said.
Also, some interviewees were able to quickly show me their
current garden setup.
Competitors
TAASKY
A streamlined task list
app. Great for making lists
and organizing them, but
doesn’t have any specific
plant information or ability
to tap into conditions
outside the app.
STAND LAND KOUBACHI
An app that urges users to A plant monitoring app
stand at least once per that is paired with a smart
hour for rewards such as device. App hasn’t been
avatars and landscapes updated in two years. This
within the game. app does give you
notifications without using
their smart device.
PARROT FLOWER CARE HABITICA
FLOWER POWER A plant monitoring app A habit forming task
that is paired with a smart management app. With
A plant monitoring app is device. You can’t use any RPG gamification, this app
paired with a smart features of the app helps give those who love
device. Plant database is without the device. It’s games incentive to take
small and notifications super cute, though. on their real life tasks. It
don’t work without the just has nothing to do with
device. plants.
Competitive Analysis
• Many current apps are out of date, no longer supported.
• Task managers & habit tracking apps to not account for specific basic plant needs.
• Many plant care apps only work with their specific smart device.
• Most plant care apps don’t create additional motivation for long term plant care.
• Gamification can be as simple as checking in, or performing a task for points.
User Interviews
I wanted to find out: RESULTS
• How they fail at caring for plants 4/ Play games & can be motivated by rewards
4
• What type(s) of gardening they are interesting in
• Current methods they use to care for their plants. 3/ Notifications are ignored, especially when delivered at
4 wrong time to take action
• The amount of time they budget for plant care
• If they are the primary pant caretaker Only take care of plants that clearly wilt/indicate needs
1/
• What types of goal tracking methods they respond to 2 or if they see them regularly
• If they play mobile games
3/ Don’t make plant care a part of their routines
• What types of things motivate them such as Personal 4
Achievement, Guilt, Positive/Negative Reinforcement, 3/ Want to cook using their own grown ingredients
Financial incentives, Task Lists, Alerts, or Social
4
connection. 4/ Won’t attempt to keep plants they feel is outside their
4 skill level

“Like Crowley in Good Omens, my “I kept getting notifications at inconvenient

plants either survive or perish.” - Molly times so I stopped (using this app)” - Sarah
Revised Problem

The problem I suspect is people may need more helpful

tools to prompt & create incentive for them to take care of
their plants.
User Goals & Flow
 Fretter Over-Achiever Intelligent
MOTIVATIONS
GOALS Incentive

• Making her home space a little greener and prettier Fear

• Watering the plants before they wilt
• To cook using her own herbs and vegetables Achievement

• Not have to run to the grocery store for fresh ingredients Growth

"I try to use my commute time have FRUSTRATIONS Power

some fun. Some days it's the only
time I have just for me"
Age: 32
Work: Project Coordinator
Family: 2 Cats
Location: Washington D.C.
Character: The 9 to 5
• Too many notifications and emails, especially when she's
Social
away from what needs to be taken care of.
• Plants are lower priority, she's super busy already.
• Google has the answer, but it's too much time to search,
and then verify the information.
BRANDS
• Needs something that knows her plants and can inform her
about them.

PERSONALITY BIO PREFERRED CHANNELS

Introvert Extrovert Theresa is a busy woman with a lot of responsibility. She Traditional Ads
commutes via metro to work. Most of her time is spent out of
Analytical Creative the house, either at her job, or out with friends. She struggles Online & Social Media
maintaining a work life balance, but is trying to meet some
healthy goals, like not eating out every night. It’s harder when
Conservative Liberal she comes home to rotten basil in her fridge. Originally from Referral
suburban Ohio, city life makes her miss open land and well
Passive Active kept garden—but not enough to give up her great career. Guerrilla Efforts & PR
User Flow
Landing/Welcome
App Version

1.0 2.0

Tutorial
Static Navigation Bar
* Required

Home My Garden* Add A Plant* Plant Database* More

Plants Alphabetical Select From Database Search

Level Progress Bar

View Custom Filter Environment Plants Alphabetical Notification Settings* Notification

Location Settings
Settings Account Settings Game Progress
Rewards Earned

Alerts* Date Last Watered Plant Default Image

Email Notifications Enable GPS Name Rewards Earned
More Tasks Name Plant Plant Common Name
Push Notifications Input Location Manual Linked Accounts Your Level
Take Photo Plant Scientific Name
Date Last Watered Measurement System Reward Preview
Date Last Fertilized*
Summary/Confirm Quests/Challenges

Home Screen Notif. Game FAQ/Info

No Logged in? Yes
Lock Screen Notif

Login Sign Up Plant Profile Date Last Fertilized

Login Facebook Email Common Name

Login Google Password Scientific Name

Skill Level Rating

New User On-boarding Photo

User Plant Name

Location

Account Settings
Plant Care* Plant Info*
Enable Notifications

Measurement System Water Soil & Irrigation Info Genus Lifetime

Sunlight Growth Info Toxicity Leaf Color

Site Map
Skill Level Calculator* Temperature Harvesting Info Scientific Name Height/Growth Range

Fertilizer Pests Info Species Special Features

Pruning Growth Info Other Names Similar Plants

Re-potting Pruning Info Description Similar Skill Level

When to Plant Info Type

Prototyping
Usability Testing
3/4 Testers Quick log is nearly universally ignored or
not understood.

1/2 Testers View more is often seen as View More

with infinite loading

4/4 Testers Add plant form is easy to use barring any

missing functionality

4/4 Testers Understood notification and app settings

would be accessible in the More button

3/4 Testers Understood Gamification and that there

would be reward and progress system

3/4 Testers Responded positively to rewards and

gamification

https://invis.io/82A1FKCSZ#/215522224
Revised Wires
With the findings from the User interviews, I changed the
main navigation bar to surface finding plant information
better, and changed the home page notification area to a
load more button. I also added a button at the bottom of the
long scrolling area of the plant care page so that people
could naturally click it after learning more about the plant.
Conclusion
RECAP
The main thing I learned from both interviews and testing is
that gamification is widely recognized as well as highly
capable of creating incentive to the user. Creating a robust
plant tracking app is enough, but in order to make plant care
habit forming, there has to be additional incentives.

Also, a quick way to log tasks from the menu bar was
unnecessary, as users knew to log tasks from the home
screen. Also, adding buttons at the bottom of long
information made navigating the app easier.

NEXT STEPS
To make sure the app is working as intended, next steps are
to perform more usability tests with the revised wireframes.
Additionally, more features such as social sharing, and a
possibility of affiliate integration to create real rewards could
be explored. The gamification part of the app needs more
thought and testing.
Thanks!