Blossom

Blossom is a smart device that helps plant owners take care of their plants. It uses ambient light notifications and a mobile app to alert users to their plant's needs.

Design Question

How might we help inexperienced plants owners feel better equipped to buy and maintain plants?

Background

Problem Space Exploration

Our initial research into the area of house plants and plant ownership showed us that more young adults are becoming new plant owners. In the 2016 National Gardening report, it was found that 5 of the 6 million new American plant owners were between the ages of 18 and 34 (Bryant, 2017). In the 2018 report, it was estimated that 29% of all gardening households in the US fell into this age range (Globe Newswire, 2018). There has also been an uptick in the popularity of urban gardening in recent years. But while plant ownership has become more popular (Wenner, 2007), it's been estimated that approximately 32% of plants die within the first five months of purchase (Ellen & Komaromi, 2013). We focused our research to this problem space with a focus on young adults.

Competitive Analysis

Alongside our general review of the space, we also looking into existing systems and products that are available for plants owners to help in various stage of gardening, from discovery to maintenance and care. These include services offered online and in physical stores, mobile apps, and physical products.

User Research

User Group

Based on our background research, we defined out user group as being adults between the ages of 18 and 34. They live in or near large cities and fall within the middle class, having some discretionary spending; are comfortable with technology, using a smartphone and computer regularly and confidently; and would be new and/or inexperienced with plant care. Their primary values placed on plants involve their aesthetics and wellness contributions (e.g. air purifying).

We defined a lack of experience based on time (having and caring for plants as the primary plant caretaker for less than one year) or on attitude (lacking confidence in their abilities to provide care for their plants).

Semi-Structured Interviews

Interviews were conducted both in-person and remotely, over phone or video call. We settled on semi-structured interviews to gain rich qualitative data that would be flexible as we were in the discovery stage of our research. We recruited and interviewed nine individuals who fit our user profile. We also spoke to three plant sellers to gain insight into what happens in stores as well as trends they've observed regarding the plant selection process.

The interview questions for our user group had slight variance depending on how an interview participant generally acquired their plant(s), whether they were purchased or gifted, and whether they currently had a plant or had plans to get one in the near future. The questions written to address our objectives were consistent among all participants in our user group. We tried to target participants who had purchased plants recently as well as those who planned to purchase some soon. Participants for our user interviews lived in different parts of the US and fit within our user profile.

Our main objectives in interviewing participants who fit within our primary user group were to find out:

• why they choose to buy houseplants

• what considerations do they have when buying a houseplant

• where do they buy houseplants

• how do they maintain their houseplants

  
  

The interviews for our plant sellers were conducted in two locations that specialized in selling plants in the Atlanta area. 

For our plant sellers, our main objectives were to find out:

• what considerations customers tend to have when they buy a houseplant

• what important factors customers should know before buying a houseplant

• what important factors customers should know after buying a houseplant

• the demographics of customers

• the main pain points of selling houseplants to customers

Task Analysis

From our interviews, we discovered that the main tasks fall under either plant buying or plant maintenance. For buying, most tasks are done by convenience or without much prior planning or research. Users may seek out additional information while purchasing by either searching online or talking to a sales associate. For care, maintenance tasks are done as needed, using information already in hand (i.e. information sheets, recollection of care instructions) or by seeking information on the internet.

The two primary environments involved in these tasks are physical stores and the user’s home. Physical stores are generally a grocery store, a large retailer (home goods and home improvement primarily), or local plant seller (i.e. nursery).

Affinity Mapping

Using affinity mapping, we identified a few key themes that came up in our interviews:

• plant care is not obvious or easy to understand

• plant owners sometimes don't know what plant they own

• the information needed when buying a plant is not always accessible in one place

• users have specific criteria that plant needs to fit into

• there is emotional value in owning a plant

Design

Ideation

From those themes, we began generating design ideas that we graded on feasibility, relevance, and creativity. We then narrowed the concepts down to the three we felt were strongest and explored these options further.

Validation

These three concept focused on different aspects of the plant buying and maintenance experience. To decide on the direction we'd want to pursue further, we issued a survey to discover at which stage our users needed the most support and what pain points ranked as high priority.

From the 39 responses to the survey, over 70% of respondents felt more confident buying a plant than they did in maintaining it.

When purchasing plants, respondents wanted information on:

• whether a plant fit certain personal criteria (i.e. pet safe)

• how to best care for it

• where it should be placed in their home.

For plants they already owned, the top three areas respondents needed help with were:

• information on how to take care of the plant

• how to diagnose issues the plant has

• how to identify when something is wrong with the plant

Since the data from the survey seemed to favor something more care oriented, we decided to focus on our third concept, the soil sensor.

Prototype

​​​​​​​This product has two components which we prototyped—the app and the sensor. For the app, we decided what user flows would be most important for the product and settled on the set-up, the viewing of a plant's health, and the addressing of a notification.

For the sensor, we created a mock-up that could be used for user testing, using Arduino to simulate the notification lights.

The form factor of the sensor was modeled after a Pycnosorus globus, or billy ball. We decided to take inspiration from organic forms so that it would fit in with its plant and not be too distracting​​​​​​​.

Evaluation

Testing

The project only allowed for a limited evaluation process, so we designed a discount usability test, having our subjects go through three task flows: to link the system to a plant, to view a plant's health status, and to address plant health notifications. We had them thinkaloud as they went through the three tasks, making sure they talked through their expectations and observations. As they tested our system, we collected notes on which aspects were most successful, aspects that were error prone or confusing, and the overall satisfaction level of our subjects at each stage. This method was chosen so we could observe real time behaviors and reactions.​​​​ We had four subjects test our prototypes, classmates who were current or former plant owners who considered themselves inexperienced in their plant ownership.

The subjects were given three tasks and as they went through them, we would prompt them with questions about what they would do next and what they expected to see from that action. Following the completion of each task, we followed up with additional questions specific to the task they had just completed. The follow-up questions were chosen to fit the task actions and track the user's thought process and whether a task was successful and what made it so or, if not, what led to the errors.

Results

Design Recommendations

For future development, there are a number of things we'd like to change and further investigate. Broadly, we want to increase transparency with the user in how the system works and improve the clarity of information the system has and can provide. We believe these changes will increase trust in the system and reduce existing confusion that our prototype introduces. Due to time constraints for our testing, we were not able to give much attention to the ambient notification system and in the future would like to further test and research that part of our product.

References

Bryant, T. (2017, March 21). Why Are Millennials Obsessed With Houseplants? Retrieved from Nylon: https://nylon.com/articles/millennial-house-plants-obsession

Ellen, R., & Komáromi, R. (2013). Social exchange and vegetative propagation: An untold story of British potted plants. Anthropology Today, 29(1), 3–7. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23486435

Globe Newswire. (2018, April 18). Gardening Reaches an All Time High. Retrieved from Globe Newswire: https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/04/18/1480986/0/en/Gardening-Reaches-an-
All-Time-High.html

Wenner, M. (2007, April 17). Study Documents the Power of Indoor Plants. Retrieved from Live Science: https://www.livescience.com/1425-study-documents-power-indoor-plants.html