Context
The food system is responsible for a third of global greenhouse gases. As a result, people are adopting more sustainable lifestyles to reduce their carbon footprint.
​
​
Background insights
Home gardening blooms around the world during coronavirus lockdowns
Reuters, 2020
Home gardens: a promising approach to enhance household food security and wellbeing
Green spaces such as rooftop gardens can help reduce levels of air contaminants
Barreiro, 2012
Challenge
Climate change can be overwhelming, although lowering the environmental impact of our food consumption doesn’t require a massive lifestyle change, so how do we support our urban communities in growing their food?
How might we help urban communities grow their own food to reduce their costs and environmental impact?
Concept
While staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people took up new hobbies like cooking and painting. For some, this newfound time meant learning how to grow their food in their homes.
​
Whether on a roof or your patio, growing your own food is a fruitful endeavor. But without any previous experience, getting started can be difficult.
​
This application will enable everyone, everywhere to grow their own food.
Research
“Since lockdown, public interest in growing fruit and vegetables at home has soared. Seed packets are flying off shelves and allotment waiting lists are swelling, with one council receiving a 300% increase in applications. Fear of food shortages will have motivated some, but others with more time on their hands at home will have been tempted by the chance to relieve stress doing a wholesome family activity."
User Interviews Conducted
10
30 min interviews
Contextual Inquiries Conducted
5
2 week studies
Participants Profile
15
Local Gardenshop owners, Amateur Gardeners
Research insights
"The UK’s reliance on imports has been growing in recent decades. Currently, 84% of fruit and 46% of vegetables consumed in the UK are imported. Brexit and COVID-19 could threaten the steady supply, while the problems created by climate change, such as water scarcity, risk disrupting imports of food from abroad."
The National Interest, 2020
“ Millions of farmers have quit agriculture and, worryingly, very few from the current generation are entering the sector”
DownToEarth, 2019
Users
I interviewed people who turned into avid gardeners during the lockdown period exploring their green side by growing a variety of plants, including flowers and vegetables, in their gardens and balconies. Based on the results, I identified three main user groups; people lose motivation if they don't see quick results, people who want to know everything about their scientific details about their plants and garden, and people who forget to water their plants regularly and end up killing the plants.
Understanding the user’s motivations and their problems helped me identify opportunities and create user-centered designs.
I want to see quick results!!
The Pantomath
I Forget to water my plants :(
Information Architecture
Before Wireframing, I created the information architecture diagram to better organize the navigation system of the app
Final Designs
After testing the first set of wireframes, I iterated based on user feedback and created the final prototype using Figma.
Onboarding
When customers first sign in to the app, they first see what their friends are up to with their workout goals and check if their friends are open to people joining them for a workout.
​
Watch Tutorials
Whether you’re a gardening expert or a newbie trying to find a green thumb, there’s always more to learn. These tutorials will give you access to the collected knowledge of an entire community of gardening experts.
​
Check your monthly planting guide based on your location
The feature provides you with helpful information, with climate-specific planting guides based on your location. It will let you know when seeds should go in the ground and when you should expect your produce to ripen, eliminating guesswork as you plan your ideal garden.
Monitor your garden
​
The feature gives you the ability to track the progress of your garden as it grows. You will even get automatic about the weather in your location. You will even get reminders when you need to do essential garden tasks like planting, watering, fertilizing, etc.
Plant new plants
​
The garden box layout will help you in landscape designing, plant arrangement, and and makes sure that your plant gets enough sunlight.
Outcome
Through our research, we discovered most of the people living in urban areas care as much about being green as anyone else. Yet, the complexity of taking care of these plants and unfamiliarity with gardening prevents them from adopting this sustainable lifestyle. This app addresses these problems by helping users in all aspects of growing a beautiful garden, and thereby people can reduce their environmental impact.
​
You can access the interactive prototype here
“I love this app because it is so easy to use and track when you water your plants”
A resident who loves gardening, Bangalore
"Great idea for an app. I truly hope that you continue to work on and improve it for decades to come"
Environmentalist, Greenpeace Bangalore
“ I love this design. It will be a game-changer for growing and monitoring the progress of my food garden from sowing to harvesting.”
Gardener, Windgates Apartments
Learnings
This project has made me more aware of the environmental impact of our food system, and I’ve since become more conscious of my efforts towards a sustainable lifestyle.
​
I’ve improved my design skills and learned how to use Figma. The iterative approach has also taught me not to settle for the first idea but to test and iterate to improve it.