Ecoterra - Sustainable Landscape Planner

Project Overview
Product Name: EcoTerra
Duration: 4 months
Objective: To develop a mobile app/website that helps users design drought-tolerant gardens using sustainable landscaping practices, promoting water conservation, native plants, and wildlife sustainability.

My Role: Conceptual Designer and UX/UI Developer

Contributions: As the sole designer for the project, I was responsible for the entire design process, from ideation to final user interface design. This included research, user persona development, wireframing, interactive design, and prototyping. I also integrated educational content on sustainable landscaping practices and collaborated with experts on plant choices and water-saving techniques.

Problem

California’s ongoing drought and water scarcity require sustainable solutions for landscaping, yet many homeowners continue to maintain water-wasting traditional lawns. The challenge was to create a mobile app that enables users to design low-water, drought-tolerant gardens using native plants and sustainable landscaping practices while also educating them about the importance of water conservation.

Solution

App Concept:
EcoTerra is a mobile app/website that empowers users to design and plan drought-tolerant gardens. It features tools that allow users to create customized garden blueprints using native plants, landscape features, and water-efficient designs. The app features a substantial plant library with detailed information on native plants and trees. Additionally, there are educational resources on sustainable gardening practices and the ecological benefits of native plants and wildlife preservation.

How This Service Addresses the Problem:
EcoTerra streamlines the process of planning a sustainable garden by providing a comprehensive plant database, landscape features, and helpful tips. Users can select plants based on water requirements, climate suitability, and aesthetic preferences. The app also includes garden design blueprint tool, that allows users to construct garden plans, allowing for customizability and multiple garden iterations.

Final Strategy:
I focused on a clean and intuitive user interface, ensuring that the process from plant selection to garden design was straightforward. The app's user experience was built around three main pillars: education, simplicity, and interactive personalization. Users can learn about sustainable practices while tailoring the design to their specific needs, such as family-friendly or wildlife-attracting gardens. Interactive elements, like a plant filter and garden planner, ensure that users engage with the content easily.

Research

To guide EcoTerra’s development, I conducted research on the current state of sustainable landscaping, focusing on the challenges homeowners face in adopting water-efficient practices. I also reviewed existing apps and websites focused on gardening and landscaping to understand market gaps and user needs.

Key Findings:

  • Many homeowners are unaware of the significant water-saving potential of drought-tolerant and native plants.

  • While there are existing garden planning apps, a need exists for accessible to help design and implement sustainable gardens.

  • Educational content about sustainable gardening is often fragmented, very regionalized, requiring users to have to use multiple websites to conduct research. EcoTerra has an opportunity to simplify garden planning, while centralizing information for education about water conservation and native plant benefits.

Challenges

The primary challenge was ensuring that the app was both user-friendly and educational. Balancing the complexity of offering a wide variety of plant options with the need to keep the interface simple and intuitive was a hurdle.

Learnings

What Went Well:

  • The final design successfully combined educational content with practical tools for users to engage with sustainable gardening.

  • User feedback indicated high satisfaction with the interface, especially the plant filter and custom garden blueprint tools.

  • The plant database was well-received, with users appreciating the variety and detailed information provided about each species, especially in relation to water conservation and wildlife benefits.

What I Would Have Done Differently:

  • More time would have allowed for additional testing and iteration of the app's educational features. I believe further refining the plant database with more advanced filtering options could help users find the most water-efficient plants for their specific needs. Also, a higher fidelity blueprint feature would make the garden planning aspect more engaging.

  • More attention could be given to enhancing community engagement features, such as sharing gardening tips or user-generated garden designs, which would help build a more collaborative, environmentally conscious user base.

  • Ideally, developing this app would be a team project, allowing for additional design perspective and specialization.

Feedback Received:
Users appreciated the educational aspect of the app and expressed interest in using it to transform their gardens into more eco-friendly spaces. However, there was some feedback about the need for more visual inspiration and practical examples of finished gardens, which could help users visualize the impact of their design choices.