Sprout.
Helping gardeners seamlessly connect with local experts
Sprout is a mobile-first responsive web app for outdoor gardeners, offering live local consultations with experts and support from a growing community.
👩🏻🦰 My Role
UX / UI Designer
⏳ Duration
2023 (8 Months)
Figma
Pen & Paper
Miro
Helio
UsabilityHub (Lyssna)
OptimalSort
Lots of Coffee
🛠️ Tools
Introduction
🙇♀️ Inspiration
Sprout was a solution I developed independently after receiving a project brief from my UX design bootcamp, CareerFoundry. I was inspired by outdoor gardeners and I wanted to help them solve a problem that could benefit the environment.
📝 The Brief
“Design a mobile-first responsive web app that connects people with experts.”
I had freedom to choose the area of interest.
I handled all UX research, UX /UI design and UX writing independently.
I had 6-8 months to complete the project.
Empathize
I wanted to understand…
Who were outdoor gardeners?
What problems did they need to solve?
Interviews with gardeners
👉 I conducted interviews to gain insights about their wants, needs and pain points.
Key takeaways from interviews
Gardens are complex mini-ecosystems, and outdoor gardeners need more than plant identification.
Gardening apps, Google and plant nurseries don’t offer local support for gardeners.
Gardeners were frustrated by wasting time and money 💸 when they couldn’t get help in the garden. 🥀
My inspiration: Gardeners in need of local advice
Define
🎯 Problem
Outdoor gardeners were desperate for a local source of gardening expertise.
💡 Hypothesis
If outdoor gardeners could access a usable tool to connect with a local gardening expert, they could ultimately improve the health of their gardens and save money and time in the long run.
Two personas: Angela and Celine
👉 It was surprising that both new and experienced gardeners had the same goal of connecting with a local expert; However, they also had goals unique to their different experience levels, so I created two user personas.
👉 I mapped out customer/user journeys to identify opportunities to improve Angela and Celine’s gardening experience.
👉 Then I mapped out three user flows to help Celine and Angela achieve their goals.
Ideate
Sketching flows for Celine and Angela
I wanted to explore different layouts for each of the four main features of Sprout, so I drew some sketches of:
My Garden (saving plant care info)
Ask an Expert (booking a local expert)
Identify It! (plant and pest identifier)
Community forum (free advice)
👉 I also wanted to explore the functionality of how users would be able to book an expert in their area.
The ‘Ask an Expert’ flow for booking a call with a local expert
Prototype
👉 At last, Sprout was ready to come to life! 🌱 This mid-fidelity prototype was used in my first round of usability testing with six gardeners.
Testing & Iterating
Improving the booking process
👉 After usability testing, data analysis and applying Jacob Nielson's severity scale to help prioritize what needed fixing, I found that the Ask an Expert flow needed the most attention because users were getting confused.
UI Level Issue:
‘Super Expert’ Rating
Full Screen Issue: Expert Feed
Flow Issue:
Complex Booking Flow (Ask an Expert)
Human-centered
UI design
Creating a style guide
After making fixes, I wanted to make sure Sprout stayed human-centered, so I created a style guide that reflected:
Inclusivity. I used images and illustrations that represented all gardeners.
Accessibility. I updated UI elements to comply with WCAG at AA level so people with temporary, situational and permanent disabilities could use the app.
Emotional design 😊, which drove the colour palette, illustrations and images. These gave a sense of friendliness, warmth and trust which could heighten engagement.
Final results
“I like having a customized experience when I use the filter.”
👉 Gardeners were now able to find the filter on the expert feed, which helped them find an expert in their location easier.
“It’s pretty straightforward.”
👉 Gardeners completed the booking process without pausing to find buttons, which made booking an expert seamless.
“This will come in handy when I need to show (the expert) the situation in my garden.”
👉 Now with Sprout’s help, gardeners would be able to consult a local expert on their desktops or take the expert into their gardens—something other gardening apps could not offer.
Now Sprout was responsive! ✅