plantiful | mobile app - academic
plantiful | mobile app - academic
Summary
Plantiful is a mobile app I designed as part of my Master’s Thesis to make plant care approachable for all experience levels. Over six months, I led both UX research and design — uncovering user needs, testing concepts, and creating an intuitive solution that combines personalized recommendations, reminders, and community features.
my role:
UX Researcher
UX Designer
methods:
User Testing
User Interviews
tools:
Figma, Google Suite, Zoom (interviews)
platform:
Mobile App
Project Overview
Plantiful was a six-month Master’s Thesis project reimagining plant care through user-centered design. As the sole designer and researcher, I led the process from discovery to usability testing.
The app fills a key gap: beginners often feel overwhelmed, while experienced users lack advanced tools and community support. Plantiful combines personalized recommendations, reminders, and community features in a mobile experience that’s approachable yet robust.
The Challenge
Plant care is rewarding but often overwhelming. Beginners struggle with too much technical information, while experienced owners find existing apps too basic and disconnected from deeper knowledge or community.
The challenge was to design a solution that supports all experience levels — combining simplicity for beginners with depth for enthusiasts — while keeping the experience approachable, intuitive, and even fun.
01 Discovery Research
Competitive SWOT Analysis
To better understand the plant care app landscape, I conducted a competitive SWOT analysis of leading mobile applications. This uncovered strengths and weaknesses across existing solutions, as well as clear opportunities for differentiation. high learning curve
Existing apps overwhelm beginners with dense content, making it hard to find relevant guidance.
subscription barriers
Many apps require payment upfront, creating friction before users can understand the app’s value.
weak community & identity
A lack of brand personality and community features often led to abandonment.
unclear value/navigation
Benefits were poorly communicated, and confusing navigation made core tasks difficult to complete.
User Interviews
Through user interviews, I uncovered common pain points and use cases that highlighted gaps in existing plant care apps. While most participants valued digital tools to support their plant journey, they struggled with three recurring challenges:diagnosing plant issues:
Participants felt frustrated when plants weren’t thriving and they couldn’t find quick, reliable answers. They wanted direct feedback from a community or experts who could help diagnose problems.
caring for gifted/unfamiliar plants:
Users often received plants as gifts or bought them without knowing their care needs. Beginners especially struggled to identify plant types and match them with the right level of care.
adapting to environmental conditions:
Participants wanted recommendations tailored to their specific light exposure, climate, and location, instead of generic care advice.
02 Wireframing
With clear user needs and competitive gaps defined, I developed mid-fidelity wireframes to map out Plantiful’s core structure. These wireframes focused on clarifying navigation, creating flows for plant identification and light measurement, and establishing a consistent way to surface personalized recommendations.
Key Focus Areas
Plant & Light ID
early concept to personalize care based on conditions.
Plant Care Dashboard
quick access to each user’s collection and care details.
Community Hub
supported outreach, community building, and peer learning
Navigation Clarity
bottom tab bar ensured quick access to core features.
03 User Testing
To validate the mid-fidelity prototype, I conducted a usability study with participants representing both beginner and experienced plant owners. The goal was to uncover usability issues, pain points, and opportunities to improve navigation and feature visibility.
Overall performance was strong, with an average task success rate of 85% and quick completion times across most tasks. Users easily completed onboarding, plant and light identification flows, confirming that the core structure was intuitive.
However, two key challenges emerged:
Unclear navigation – Several participants struggled to locate features, expressing uncertainty about where key tools (like the Plant Doctor) lived within the app.
Low visibility of features – Features such as plant help and the identifier were overlooked by some users, indicating that critical tools were not prominent enough.
Key Takeaways
Beginner users praised the app’s simplicity but needed clearer cues for advanced features.
Experienced users wanted more visibility into the community and support functions.
Users struggled to find the plant doctor feature (38% completion rate), indicating low visibility.
Based on these insights, I refined the design by clarifying the navigation structure, increasing the prominence of help features, and making advanced tools more discoverable — ensuring both beginners and enthusiasts could confidently use the app.
04 Design Iteration
04 Design Iteration
Key Updates
Based on insights from usability testing, I refined Plantiful’s interface to address navigation clarity, feature visibility, and alignment with user expectations, as follows:
Identifiers Exposed: Plant + light ID moved to home for quick access.
Clearer Instructions: Added supporting text to guide new users.
Navigation Redesign: Modernized bottom nav with clearer labels/icons.
Global Identifier: Added universal ID button to nav for easy reach.
Support Visible: Surfaced Plant Doctor in nav for instant access.
Search/Explore Moved: Repositioned to header for higher visibility.
Updated Branding: Refreshed logo + header for consistency.
Simplified Settings: Moved account settings to reduce clutter.
05 Branding & Design Systems
I established a playful yet grounded visual identity inspired by light, plants, and sunny energy. These elements carried into the mid-fidelity designs to test structure, usability, and early branding direction.
Primary Colors
Accent Colors
Font & Background
Logo Design
hi-fidelity prototype
hi-fidelity prototype
Final Touches
After iterating on the design based on user feedback and applying the brand system, I created a polished, high-fidelity mobile app experience for Plantiful. Curious to see it in action? Explore the interactive prototype below and experience how the design supports both beginner and expert plant owners.
Check out my other projects
illumi | collections page redesign | e-commerce client
gloop | PDP design solution | e-commerce client