CHALLENGE
An increase in gardeners comes with increase in confusion. How can we help home gardeners reduce confusion and increase their knowledge about what is happening in their gardens?
SOLUTION
More than half of America gardens! We need to educate the public and provide the right tools to help them succeed in their home gardens.
HOW I HELPED
Design Researcher
Sketch Artist
Concept Development
Prototyping
Rendering
Garden Sensor and App
PROCESS
Can we help new gardeners be successful in growing their plants?
COVID created 18.3 million new gardeners. As a result, American households that engage in gardening activities increased to 55%. BUT gardeners were confused on what things were important to help their garden grow.
Fresh produce from a garden
7 interviews and surveys with gardeners
Through surveys and interviews I found 4 areas where novice gardeners are struggling.
1. Understanding their garden needs
2. Addressing beginning issues like cost and feasibility
3. Understanding garden test readings
4. Knowing that there is a community out there to help with beginner gardeners.
Most manual sensors are confusing at first glance. Users can’t easily understand a reading and have to actually interact with the device to change readings which can be annoying if their hands are covered in dirt or full of produce.
Higher end sensors they tend to look more modern. There is no information displayed on the device and users must pull out their phone to see what the sensor is reading.
Complex garden sensor on the market
Modern garden sensor on the market
5 most important readings
A thriving garden should have good water levels, soil ph, sunlight, humidity, and temperature. This means a good sensor needs 5 readings, not 1.
A new sensor should have the 5 most important readings organized in a hierarchy from left to right.
There are clear readings showing only one relevant status to the gardener.
The user understands the context of the reading and they can see if it is high, good, or low via words and a color system
Sensor Readings
Garden sensor
Garden sensor solar panels
Garden sensor sensors
Garden sensor readings
A clear cover goes around the screen to protect the electronics from the elements. It’s just tall enough to avoid getting buried in the garden.
The little solar cells power the device but also intake the sun reading. Other readings are taken through the stakes that go into the ground which are connected to the bottom of the device.
I looked at 10 gardening apps to see what features they included. On quick glance, no app includes the 5 main needs of gardening consumers.
The What’s Growing On app is a great place for gardeners to find basic, intermediate, or advanced knowledge to help them grow. They can also talk with other users as part of a gardening community.
Welcome Screens
Garden readings, education, and FAQ
Garden community, weather, and profile
