Synthesis
From our user interviews, we learned the difficulty of truly knowing how a grown plant will look in the context of the garden, understanding exactly what time of year certain plants will produce/bloom, and seeing how adjacent plants will perform next to each other.
There was a strong indication that gardeners would derive a lot of value from being able to visualize their gardens more effectively before they begin planting. After discovering this insight, we decided to set our design direction.
Finding
The one big need we found across all users: The need for help with planning.
Even expert users need help in this area.
Why is planning a big need?
It is not easy to see what a plant would look like in a location before planting it. Gardeners need to know:
- How big does it get?
- How much room does it need?
- What color is it?
Gardeners can't always tell if a plant will thrive in that location. They have to know information such as:
- What is the soil like?
- Will it get along with neighboring plants?
Design Goal
Design a tangible interaction experience to help expert gardeners plan their gardens.
20 ideas
After understanding that planning was an important need for our users, we sketched 20 ideas for design solutions that could address different aspects of this need. Below is an overview of those ideas.
