Bloom Buddy

INFO 5355 Human Computer Interaction Design Course Project

Project Overview

Applying gamification elements to Ecolab existing app design to better incentivize high quality cleaning results.
This UX gamification design includes research, real life data analysis, gamified UI/UX design demo and points gamification system.

My Contributions

  • Research on game design and gamification in UX design

  • UI prototype from low fidelity to high fidelity on mobile and watch

  • Design with attention data visualization

Problem Statement

New plant owners need an engaging, convenient, and reliable source for specific plant care guidance because the internet is too broad and they often lack the time to dedicate the effort towards their plants necessary for reaching their personal plant care goals.

Objectives

  • Users can put in their schedule and reorganize it to fit their plant care needs.
  • Hold users accountable for their plant care needs.
  • Enjoy caring for their plants.

How might we

How might we balance planters' work and plant care schedule by creating a fun and engaging plant care routine.

Solution

  • Allow users to organize their planting routine with the daily schedule.
  • Integrate digital plant avatar to motivate user keeping up with the schedule.
  • Planter community to hold each other accountable and share resources.

Research

User Interview

Participant #1

Participant Description
Interview Context
TAKE AWAYS
The interviewee was a 19-year-old sophomore. They owned a green leaf plant which they got three weeks ago.
The interview took place in his dorm where they kept the plant. We conducted it on a late afternoon, so the room was dim without much sunlight. Other than basic furniture, there was a fan on the top ceiling and another ventilation device on the floor next to the door.
  • Passion and long term goals for planting.
  • Taking care of his plants is their responsibility.
  • Valued keeping the plant alive.
  • The physical structure of their dorm bothered them in terms of planting, because of the window direction and the fan's wind pressure.

Participant #2

Participant Description
Interview Context
TAKE AWAYS
The interviewee was 18-year-old sophomore. They lived in a sorority house with 2 roommates.
The interview took place in her room where they kept her plants. The room has one and only main windows and they kept the plants next to the window.
  • Got plant-care experience from babysitting her dad’s and her neighbor’s plants.
  • Willing to seek some guidance on the internet.
  • Trusted their parents' advice very much and implemented them very well.
  • Hasn't had a specific long-term goal of planting, but would like to keep the orchids alive very much.

Define

Card Sorting & Affinity Diagram

Insight #1 from Motivation/Attitude

Plant owners believe it is important to be prepared and knowledgeable about their plants, as they care for their plants as a responsibility and a living being. 

Insight #2 from Resources

New plant owners find the internet to be too broad when seeking information to care for their specific plant, and seek reliable advice from experienced plant owners.

Insight #3 from Challenges

Plant owners often don’t have enough time to dedicate more effort into taking care of their plants.

Persona

Requirements

After analyzing the data and portraying our persona, we settled down our design requirements:
  • Requirement #1
    Title:     Time Management
    ‍Description: The design must support organized information regarding plants in a time efficient manner allowing users to quickly receive advice to aid their plant’s health.
  • Requirement #2 
    Title:     The plant care routine should be fun and attractive to keep up with.
    ‍Description: The design should involve more interaction between the plant and the user.
  • Requirement #3
    ‍Title: Proactive Learning and Shared Responsibility
    ‍Description: The design should offer comprehensive, easily accessible information about plant care.
  • Requirement #4
    ‍Title: The resources should be specialized, understandable and implementable.
    ‍Description: The design should provide users with coherent, reliable and straightforward information towards plant care.

MVP Sketches

Storyboard

Task: Public Forum (Asking Questions / More Resources)
End goal: Creating a welcoming environment where users can communicate, exchange knowledge, and ask for assistance with specific plant care challenges, providing them with confidence and support as they travel the plant care journey.

Design

Low-Mid Fidelity Prototype

The low-mid fi prototype was also our first iteration. I was in charge of the community part where users can view and comment to other people's posts, chat with them, and get professional plant care related information.

Heuristic Evaluation

Usability Test

Background Information

Who the participant is?

Mary is a master student who got their first plant less than two months ago. The plant is an ivy. They haven’t had any plants of their own before. They thought the plant was doing alright but still had some concerns more or less.

Where and how the test was conducted?

The usability test was conducted in a library study room. The facilitator and the user were sitting side by side on a table. The facilitator used screen recording for both the usability test and the feedback session.

High Fidelity Prototype

After testing, the high fi prototype was the final steps in our iterative design. The community session includes the user flow of viewing and commenting, adding to the point system, switching from "My Feeds" to online articles and other media created by more professional personnel.

Commenting flow

Uploading a new post

Point system with digital plant avatar

2 tabs switching

Poster Presentation

Our Group!