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Leafy Houseplant App

  • Gabby Morris

About the project Title: Leafy Type of Work: User Research, UX Design, Service Design Duration: 2 Week Sprint Leafy was a result of a 2 week sprint personal project in Summer 2020. This app is targeted at people who are living alone, who want to connect more to nature. This is a speculative project created in my own time. The Challenge People during 2020 spent a lot of time at home, some people without greenspaces and without people around them. Biophilic design and bringing nature indoors can support better mental health and wellbeing, but lots of people fear looking after plants. I wanted to find a way for people to comfortably connect with their houseplants and look after them, this solution is a full service from buying plants, adding a monitor and connecting your phone. The app helps people look after the plants through monitoring their wellbeing.

The Process

User Research
I just don't want them to die, I worry that I won't be able to look after them.
My research included:
  • User Surveys
  • Online Group Polls
  • Desk based research

The Houseplant Hoarders on Facebook were helpful to gain insight into the things that people wanted to know about their plants, what they thought were important reasons to keep houseplants and how they looked after them. The group also helped me understand what the device could be like that sat in the plant pot, initially it was going to have a screen but after discussing with people on the group it became clear people would want a really discrete device.

I undertook research through surveys to understand how people were feeling in lockdown and how their mood was changed with their home surroundings. These combined insights led me to understand more about people's needs in isolation in lockdown and their desire to keep houseplants. One of the biggest insight was that people felt worse, they didn't know how to look after their plants or if they died - this ultimately led me on the journey of creating leafy.

Product / Service Development

User Journey & Mapping
This project was a quick design sprint using quick-fire iterations from prototype to user feedback and back again. I created quick, user friendly service maps to get feedback on the concept and developed user friendly journeys.

The Outcome

Leafy is an app and service for looking after houseplants, purchasing new ones and understanding their needs. It is a 3 part design:
  1. Intuitive App to monitor plants
  2. Soil, Water & Light Monitor for plants
  3. Online Shop & Delivery
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Skills