I’ve got a lot of plants at home, and have a particular penchant for buying exotic plants if I can find them. Plant care can be hard to navigate. Homegrown is my answer to this problem.
I’ve spent a lot of time trying different plant apps and came away frustrated with each one. One app may allow you to upload a photo of a plant and connect it to plant info in the app’s library. Another app may be great at scheduling watering and feeding, but has no real plant library. I have yet to find a plant app that has all the features necessary to make caring for plants easy and comprehensive.
My goal in designing Homegrown was to create an app that is with users through every point in their plant care while providing a database of plant information to draw reference from. The app is meant to be helpful at any stage in plant collecting, whether the user is a low-commitment plant owner or a master gardener with years of experience.
Left: A user's specific plant screen with a watering notification. Center: Intro screen. Right: A user's notification screen.
Left: Another variation of a user's specific plant screen with feed notification. Upper Right: Monthly and daily view calendar screens. Lower Right: Searching a plant in the Homegrown Database
It’s very important to consider the types of people who would be using Homegrown. Users would have a wide range of expectations when they download a plant app and those expectations would largely be dependent on individual personalities and life experiences. I created three user personas that would cover a wide range of “plant people”, from low to high experience levels. For each user persona I created an empathy map to tease out the feelings and frustrations users might experience regarding their plants and plant-related apps. Click through the slider below to learn more.
Every good app needs a corresponding marketing site! I designed this responsive one-pager to provide a fun little preview of the app. Both app and marketing site share the same branding, though I was a little more liberal with color use on the site. I focused on keeping things simple and fun while centering helpful, time-saving features.
As a designer and illustrator, I'm always looking for new ways to create magic for others. Whether you're looking for a rebrand, a new website, or even a new long-term designer, let's make the connection.
