Design Process:

Phase 1: Discovery

Phase 2: Ideation

Phase 3: Low Fidelity Testing

Phase 4: Design

Phase 5: High Fidelity Testing

Phase 6: Final Product

User Interview

To gain first-hand knowledge of houseplant owners’ experience purchasing online, I recruited 5 participants from the user survey to interview.

Interview participants: 5

Quotes:

Affinity Map

After completing the user interview, I organized the notes by writing down all the insights and user quotes on Post-it notes. Then, I would group them and label each group. Grouping them helped me dive deeper and identify the users’ most significant pain points when purchasing houseplants online.

 Phase 2: Ideation

User Flows

For my early ideation stage, I created a user flow to help me visualize the critical routes that users might take as they navigate through the website to achieve their goals. The user flows helped me stay on track as I sketched and designed my wireframe screens.

Sketches

My sketches included the home, browse, product, and initial checkout page to help me get a good idea of how I want to start designing my wireframes.

Wireframes

I created wireframes for each page and the entire checkout flow with the brainstormed ideas from my sketches.

Phase 3: Low Fidelity Testing

👍 Positive feedback:

• Clean, not cluttered, and a lot of white space is used

• The product is listed on a card, and it is easy to read

• There is an option to use express checkout

❓ What am I testing for?

• Can participants understand and browse through the screens without confusion?

• Are there any issues with the checkout flow?

• What are some features they may want to see in the final product?

Style Guide

Phase 5: High Fidelity Testing

Conclusion

5 out of 5 participants said they would use and recommend this website to purchase houseplants.

Browse Page

Product Page

Main Features

Houseplant information:
During my research, I learned from the user interviews how important it was for them to know how to take care of their plants, especially when purchasing a new type of plant. Based on that feedback, I decided to include resources where the users can quickly learn and read more about houseplants. This part of my design was validated through usability testing when the participants said they were glad to see the plant care information throughout the website.

 Reflections

For this project, I had the opportunity to choose the methods I wanted to use to complete the deliverables. I realized how critical it was to pick a suitable method based on the type of project I was working on. Due to the limited time, I almost chose not to complete user interviews for my discovery phase. In the end, I decided that it was best to conduct the interviews and not rely only on the results from the survey. I wanted to create a human-centered design, and what better way to be human-centered than learning directly from the users.

If there were more time on this project, the next step would be to conduct another usability test with the iteration I made. I would like to validate the design one more time before handing it off to the developers. I would also create a feature roadmap with the following:

• Video tutorial: Teach the users how to care for their plants through videos

• Buy now: One-click checkout for return consumers

• Houseplants forum: A platform where consumers can share tips, advice, or ask questions about their houseplants with others

• Choose the exact plant: Instead of having a generic photo of the plant, there will be photos of the precise plants from the greenhouse that the consumer can choose to buy and will receive

One of my favorite parts about creating a user-centered design was discovering the users’ experiences, emotions, and knowledge. I learned to appreciate the different houseplant types and what it would be like to be a Plant Parent. After completing this project, I think I am ready to purchase my houseplants and become part of the community myself!