Plant Buddy App

Building an app from scratch with a user-centered design approach

# Defining

Goal: to create personal plant assistant which will help users develop good habits and teach them how to respond to threats

👨🏻‍🏫

🌱

Advantages over AI chats:

Personalized Plant Tracking – The app stores specific plant data, enabling more accurate care recommendations than AI chats

Comprehensive Plant Database – Provides detailed, structured care guides for thousands of plant species

Automated Reminders – Sends notifications for watering, fertilizing, and repotting, which AI chats cannot do

Better Plant Organization – Allows users to group and manage multiple plants with ease

# Research

Benchmark of many similiar apps

Conducting research on competitors and their solutions, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each, and gaining insights into their strategies and market positioning.

Research of users' opinions and emotions

Collected and analyzed over 100 user comments on existing mobile apps, identifying common concerns and the emotions reflected in their feedback.

☹️

Limited free features, like a small plant limit (e.g., two) or identification without disease diagnosis, lead to dissatisfaction.

😒

Frequent subscription prompts and a high price often irritates users from the start.

😤

Users value app's transparency and ease of use and get frustrated when something is hard to find.

😟

Users feel insecure due to a lack of clear information about payments and cancellation processes.

# Analysis & planning

Jobs to be Done personas

Persona 1

"When I notice my plant has a health problem,

I want to quickly find a solution to it

so I can effectively care for my plant."

Persona 2

"When I look for a plant app,

I want to immediately understand its paid and free features

so I can make an informed decision."

User Journey

Some apps presented an expensive premium plan (200 PLN for month or 1000 PLN forever) immediately upon launch, before users could explore the app. The screen was cluttered with multiple buttons, with a small "Skip" option placed in the corner.

This raises concerns about usability and user experience - does this approach effectively drive conversions, or does it create frustration and potential drop-offs?

Plant is sick

Finding

an app

Seeing the high price right at the start

Skip to free app features

Finding diagnosis option

It comes out to be paid option

Uninstalling app

🙂

Hopeful

😟

😨

😤

Worried

Sticker shock

🤨

Cautious

🙂

☹️

Frustrated

Hopeful again

Disappointed

"I have to find a different app"

How can users' concerns be resolved?

Problem

Frustration and dissatisfation caused by overly complicated interfaces and limited free options

Problem

Irritation and insecurity caused by unclear and persistent payment prompts

Solution

By simplifying and streamlining the experience, while offering basic features for free, we can create satisfaction and contentment

Solution

By clarifying payment options and keeping premium account reminders subtle, users can experience comfort and sense of security

# Design

Starting with fat marker sketches and LoFi wireframes to speed up the process and making it more effective.

After setting up the main views and key elements, I focused on adding finer details and adjusting the app’s functionality and logic to better fit the overall flow and user needs.

Final design

Providing a clear overview of app plans without overwhelming users with excessive prompts about the PRO version:

To make the experience easy and guide users effectively, offering quick instructions at the start is a great idea:

Clickable prototypes

Designing clickable high-fidelity prototypes, ready for user testing.

User experience

Attention to creating an intuitive and user-friendly experience -

for example, ensuring key system status information is clearly communicated during the registration process.