01
Research & Discovery
Before I could boot up Sketch App and start fine tuning pixels, I had to research various flora species and clarify several unanswered questions. Significant questions included "Who is Blossom's target audience?", "What drives them to use Blossom?", "What screens are required to meet the general user base's needs?", and "How will users experience Blossom?"
Persona
The first step on this journey was to develop a better understanding of Blossom's core user base. This required me to understand the users' pain points, goals, and how Blossom could remedy their pain points.
James Covington
Age:
27
Occupation:
Engineer
Tier:
Beginner
Pain Points
- No time efficient way to store what plants he owns.
- Tends to forget about his plants.
- Plant-centric apps are not visually appealing.
- Plant-centric apps are not visually appealing.
Goals
- Ability to log the plants he owns.
- Understanding of a plant’s ideal requirements.
- Monitor when the plants need maintenance.
- Keep his cats safe from toxic plants.
Needs
- Extensive database of plants, with the ability to log and save the plants he owns.
- Plant profiles detailing the ideal environments (water schedule, water amount, temperature, lighting, soil, etc.) for plants.
- Mobile notifications for when it is time to maintain plants.
- Toxicity indicators for plants.
Diane Bergeron
Age:
52
Occupation:
Accountant
Tier:
Expert
Pain Points
- Due to busy work days, she doesn’t always have time to check the forecast and constantly worries about her plants.
- Most apps seem to be user driven giving room for error.
- Most apps lack simplicity.
Goals
- Monitor the forecast for the day.
- Ability to take her garden on the go to show off to friends.
- Obtain expert gardener knowledge.
Needs
- Ability to log the plants she has at home.
- Mobile notifications that will alert her when it’s time to relocate the plants due to inclement weather.
- Professionals creating, editing, and constantly reviewing data to verify its validity.
Hillary Vite
Age:
36
Occupation:
Entrepreneur
Tier:
Intermediate
Pain Points
- No current way to create a chore list that updates automatically.
- No way to verify remotely that the plants have been watered.
- No fun readily available app that can help her children grow as plant aficionados.
Goals
- Monitor when plants need maintenance.
- Monitor progression of plant maintenance.
- Ability to mark plant maintenance as completed.
- Expert knowledge written in a manner that kids can understand.
Needs
- Mobile notifications that alert user when it is time to maintain plants.
- Mobile notifications that that alert user when plants have been watered by registered family members.
- Periodic daily reminders to maintenance plant until maintenance has been manually marked as completed.
- Professionally written and edited content so all ages can understand the plant data and content.
James Covington
Age:
Occupation:
Tier:
27
Engineer
Beginner
Pain Points
- No time efficient way to store what plants he owns.
- Tends to forget about his plants.
- Plant-centric apps are not visually appealing.
Goals
- Ability to log the plants he owns.
- Understanding of a plant’s ideal requirements.
- Monitor when the plants need maintenance.
- Keep his cats safe from toxic plants.
Needs
- Extensive database of plants, with the ability to log and save the plants he owns.
- Plant profiles detailing the ideal environments (water schedule, water amount, temperature, lighting, soil, etc.) for plants.
- Mobile notifications for when it is time to maintain plants.
- Toxicity indicators for plants.
Diane Bergeron
Age:
Occupation:
Tier:
52
Accountant
Expert
Pain Points
- Due to busy work days, she doesn’t always have time to check the forecast and constantly worries about her plants.
- Most apps seem to be user driven giving room for error.
- Most apps lack simplicity.
Goals
- Monitor the forecast for the day.
- Ability to take her garden on the go to show off to friends.
- Obtain expert gardener knowledge.
Needs
- Ability to log the plants she has at home.
- Mobile notifications that will alert her when it’s time to relocate the plants due to inclement weather.
- Professionals creating, editing, and constantly reviewing data to verify its validity.
Hillary Vite
Age:
Occupation:
Tier:
36
Entrepreneur
Intermediate
Pain Points
- No current way to create a chore list that updates automatically.
- No way to verify remotely that the plants have been watered.
- No fun readily available app that can help her children grow as plant aficionados.
Goals
- Monitor when plants need maintenance.
- Monitor progression of plant maintenance.
- Ability to mark plant maintenance as completed.
- Expert knowledge written in a manner that kids can understand.
Needs
- Mobile notifications that alert user when it is time to maintain plants.
- Mobile notifications that that alert user when plants have been watered by registered family members.
- Periodic daily reminders to maintenance plant until maintenance has been manually marked as completed.
- Professionally written and edited content so all ages can understand the plant data and content.
User Flow
After identifying Blossom's user base, I needed to define what screens would be required to solve the three primary users' pain points. Utilizing OmniGraffle, I developed a user flow highlighting the user's journey and identifying the critical features required to make Blossom a minimal viable product. Critical features ranged from account creation to adding/removing plants to their digital garden.
