Bio Finder
UX Research, UX/UI Design
Overview
Timeline: April 2021 - November 2021
Client: HvA, Partner: Cruydt-Hoeck
My role: UX Researcher, UX/UI Designer
Skills: UX research, User interviews, UX/UI design, Prototyping
Tools: Miro, Notion, Figma
Device: Phone
Final grade: 8+
1. Project Summary
The loss of biodiversity (variety of plant and animal life) is a problem that can bring a lot of risks to our environment and humanity. Currently, there are organizations working on protecting biodiversity, but it’s very often not clear to individuals how they can contribute. After conducting research, it was clear that the use of indigenous plants is a simple but effective way of attracting wild life. Of the people interviewed, students that are part of ‘green offices’ seemed to have an interest in both plants and sustainability.
2. Research
To find a solution that helps against the biodiversity problem I went through a design process of research, interviews and concepting. I did my research by following the double diamond method as a tool for the design process in a period of 20 weeks.
Target audience
The research started with user interviews, and soon after it became clear that many university students (ages 18 - 25) were interested in sustainability and tried to contribute through thrifting clothes, eating less meat and other means. A smaller group of students were interested in biodiversity and were already trying to add more indigenous (and organically grown) plants in their surroundings. The difficulty of this was mostly knowing where to get plants that have been grown organically as not every plant producer holds the certificates for it.
Image: Persona based on student interviews (written in Dutch).
Stakeholders
To get an idea of all parties involved in the biodiversity crisis and which organizations and companies are helping in balancing out the problem, I made a stakeholdermap. Through a benchmark research, it became clear that adding (indigenous) plants to your balcony or garden can easily help bees and other insects to grow their ways of survival. Of the stakeholders in the image below, organic plant nurseries seem to focus exactly on growing these type of plants, so as a result of this research I reached out to 'Cruydt-Hoeck' as they're known for their organic plants.
Image: Stakeholdermap biodiversity in NL (written in Dutch).
Design Challenge
The interviews and research lead this project to the next question:
“How does a digital interactive product help students with an interest in plants, to make gardening easier and more enjoyable while making them contribute to biodiversity?”
3. Concept
After making key decisions based on the research that had been conducted, it was time to take it a step further: creating a concept.
First concepts
The initial concepts that made it to a user test were: Grow and cook and Bio Finder. Grow and cook is about growing indigenous plants and to unlock recipes with the progress of the user's plant, whereas Bio finder is about receiving the best advice for biodiversity friendly plants. The concept of Bio finder was more appealing to the students as they wanted to help nature and see the impact they're making.
Image: concept 'Grow and Cook'.
Image: Concept 'Bio finder'.
Prototyping
As the concept had been chosen, it was time to make a first iteration of the prototype and test it with students. The first version missed clear 'navigation' and how to save plants was also more complicated than it should be for the user. In the second version there were still some questions about the meaning of the icons in the bottom-navigation menu. The feedback of both versions were implemented in the final version.
Image: First version of the prototype.
Image: Second version of the prototype.
Final product
Once the feedback had been implemented and the user experience had been upgraded it was time to conclude the designs and present the final product.
Style
Functions
Functions (from left to right): Onboarding, browsing through plants, saving a plant to your garden.
Functions: Filtering, plant growth, plant tutorial.
Functions: achievements, account details, profiel picture selection.
4. Deliverables
Three iterations and user tests resulted in the final product of the app Bio Finder. The tests were useful in assessing what is clear and what needs more explaining for the users. The final product became a product that helps the students pick the most suitable (indigenous) plants that they can easily grow outside and provides instructions on how to take care of them. The most important research, interview and test findings are documented in the Design Rationale.
Nominations
As I decided to work on a biodiversity problem, I was able to participate in the Go Game Changers Award (HvA, 2022). The award is a stage for students to present their projects about sustainability.