Chlory

Luis Cepeda | Prof. Brian O’Keefe | VIS 426W | Spring 2022

Farmingdale State College

Introduction I.

Problem Image

II.

Value Proposition

III. Product Solution

Value Proposition

Chlory is a customizable smart planter that educates novice plant growers on how to care for their plants, through the help of digital plant people known as Chloro Pals, which also aim to give plants their own voice.

Introduction | Value Proposition

Luis Cepeda

UX Research I.

Problem Statement

II.

Research Data

III. Personas

Problem Statement

Novice plant growers, especially those living in cold climate areas, lack the appropriate knowledge and resources to care for their plants, thus hindering their ability to experience relaxation through gardening.

UX Research | Problem Statement

Luis Cepeda

Research Methods

Interviews 15

Total Survey Responses 119

Cultural Probes 1

UX Research | Research Data

Luis Cepeda

Research Methods: Survey 1

Survey 1 Link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/ 1FAIpQLSddzeY_xiUWEavlJ0VptP1JUDceExgFdizXvFAGvTCo64Aq0w/viewform? usp=sf_link

Date of Research 10/16/2021 - 11/01/2021

Number of Responses 79

UX Research | Research Data

Luis Cepeda

Relevant Data:

Where do you grow your plants?

Survey 1 21% Outdoors

Responses

Indoors

79

14% Outdoors and indoors

Preference for Growing Indoor Plants

65%

I found that unlike my interview group, my first survey group preferred growing indoor plants over outdoor plants. The numbers in the responses show that 78.5% of responders took care of houseplants, 63.3% took care of succulents, and 62% took care of flowers. Comparatively, only 39.2% grew fruits, 57% grew vegetables, and

What type of plants do you grow?

53.2% grew herbs. It should be noted that several of the Facebook groups where the survey was conducted were made up of members living in New York or New Jersey.

Flowers Fruits Vegetables Herbs Houseplants Cacti/Succulents Trees Shrubs Berry bushes Water plants 0

17.5

35

52.5

70

Responses UX Research | Research Data

Luis Cepeda

Research Methods: Survey 2

Survey 2 Link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/ 1FAIpQLScZSzhGnJYPmJ0eoXXwqy70bGogY_oTeZVJxTA-agPun55wYw/viewform? usp=sf_link

Date of Research 11/01/2021 - 12/12/2021

Number of Responses 40

UX Research | Research Data

Luis Cepeda

Relevant Data:

I need more light for my plants.

Survey 2

11

Responses

8.25

5.5

2.75

Lack of Light and Space People in the Facebook groups reported not having enough light or space for their

Disagree

0

1

2

3

4

5

Agree

plants. While it’s unclear whether this is indoors or outdoors, it’s possible that it could

I need more space for my plants.

be both based on previous research. Some people I interviewed in Long Island also reported not receiving enough sunlight in their gardens. This could be a result of growing plants in a cold climate area, where the sun’s rays hit the Earth less.

30

Responses

22.5

15

7.5

Disagree

UX Research | Research Data

0

1

2

3

4

5

Agree

Luis Cepeda

Research Methods: Cultural Probes

Date of Research 10/29/2021 - 12/10/2021

Number of Participants 5

UX Research | Research Data

Luis Cepeda

10/22/2021

10/29/2021

11/15/2021

12/13/2021

Nora Sara’s xGraptoveria Debbie

10/25/2021

10/26/2021

10/27/2021

10/30/2021

Opal Misha’s xGraptoveria Debbie

10/06/2021

Indigo Marc’s xGraptoveria Debbie

10/15/2021

10/21/2021

10/26/2021

10/29/2021

11/06/2021

11/16/2021

10/25/2021

11/05/2021

Hubie Anna’s xGraptoveria Debbie

12/13/2021

10/27/2021

10/31/2021

Ghost Esther’s xGraptopetalum Paraguayense

11/17/2021

Relevant Data:

What emotions have you experienced while taking care of your succulent plant?

Cultural Probes Happy Excited Proud Admiration Satisfied Thankful Dutiful/Responsible Upset Guilt

Fear of Failure Among Beginners An unexpected trend I found among my cultural probe participants was that the majority of them entered this study struggling with fears of failing to properly care

Fear/Anxiety 0

0.75

1.5

2.25

3

Responses

for the baby succulents. Two of them reported feeling guilt over not doing enough for the plant, two reported feelings of anxiety, and interestingly, two reported feeling a strong sense of duty or responsibility over the plant. According to my participants, this is in part due to having killed plants in the past.

“Years ago I killed succulents pretty quickly because I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“I felt concerned for the plant when I saw that the big leaf shriveled up but I now know that it’s supposed to happen.”

UX Research | Research Data

Luis Cepeda

Relevant Data:

Since you received your succulent plant, have you noticed any changes in its appearance?

Cultural Probes Maintained color

Turned green

Etiolated

Not Enough Sun-Stress Colors Based on the answers my participants provided and what I’ve seen from the weekly photos they’ve been uploading, another trend I noticed is that the succulent plants

0

0.75

1.5

2.25

3

Responses

are losing their color and reverting back to green, a pain point among the participants.

Since maintaining vibrants colors depends on the succulent plants receiving proper lighting, I can infer that my participants are struggling to provide adequate lighting to their succulent plants.

“It started turning a little green/teal and stretching out in the center, because my mom moves it away from its sunlight.”

“I am upset however to see it change colors because I would prefer for it to stay pink/ purple.”

UX Research | Research Data

Luis Cepeda

Personas

Helen and her Gardening Family Based primarily on the data obtained from my classmates’ cultural probing research, Helen is the youngest daughter of my family of personas. She is new to plant care and starts out with succulents. Helen’s personality and behavior mirror those of novice plant growers. Her struggles have become the focus of my solution, Chlory. Two other personas were created based on my research data: Helga, who is Helen’s older sister, and Javier, who is their father. Helga grows plants strictly indoors and has more experience than her younger sister, while Javier has the most experience of all and grows vegetables in the family yard. Helga is based on the data from my Facebook group surveys, while Javier is based on the data from all my interviews.

UX Research | Personas

Luis Cepeda

Age

Bio

22

Helen was born and raised in Perth Amboy and lives with her parents and her older sister, Helga. She’s a senior UX Design college student and part time graphic design

Location

intern. Helen has recently received her first plant, a young succulent. While her family has a history of gardening with her father Javier’s garden, Helen herself has less

Perth Amboy, NJ

experience with plants. She’s very attached to her succulent.

Occupation UX Design Student

Household Lives with parents and sister

Goals

Pain Points

Keep her plant alive

Fear of killing plant

Maintain her plant’s color and shape

Plant losing color and shape

Create the right setup for plant

Guilt over mistakes

Behaviors

Motivators

Cares for only one plant

Decorating her room with few plants

Waters once a week or more

Raising her plant as a pet

Checks plant every 1 - 3 days

Purifying the air in her room

Takes progress pictures of plant

Relieving stress

Gardening Location Indoors

Favorite Plants Succulents

Activity by Season

Young Helen “She feels like a nano pet.”

What emotions have you experienced?

Spring Summer Fall Winter

Dutiful/Responsible Guilt Nervous/Anxious 0

0.75

1.5

2.25

3

Helen

Helga

Javier

UX Design I.

Agile Process Timeline

II.

Design Fiction

III. UI Compositions IV. Product Demo V.

Summary

VI. Future Work

Agile Process Timeline Research

Ideation

Sketching

Storyboarding

Wireframing

Prototyping

User Testing

User Feedback

Startup Pitch

02/14 - 02/20 02/21 - 02/27 02/28 - 03/06 03/07 - 03/13 03/14 - 03/20 03/21 - 03/27 03/28 - 04/03 04/04 - 04/10 04/11 - 04/17 04/18 - 04/24 04/25 - 05/01 05/02 - 05/08

UX Design | Agile Process Timeline

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction

In order to better express how Chlory works in action, I’ve illustrated a design fiction featuring Helen using the Chlory app while away from home. Through this design fiction, we see how Chloro Pals play an important role in educating the user on plant care and allowing the plant to communicate with the user about its needs.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction (Fall 2021)

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction (Fall 2021)

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction (Fall 2021)

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction: Before

Helen is on campus, waiting for her next class to begin.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction: Before

She receives a notification from the Chlory app, notifying her that one of her Chloro Pals needs attention.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction: During

When Helen opens the Chlory app, she checks on the Chloro Pals in her Digital Garden.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction: During

Each Chloro Pal is synched to a real life plant living inside a Chlory Planter at Helen’s house.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction: During

Helen selects Nora, the Chloro Pal that needs attention. Nora’s summary screen displays the temperature and humidity of Nora’s planter, which are currently unsafe for her.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction: During

Nora explains that her soil has been dry for too long and she needs a drink of water. She also wants some shade.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction: During

With the Chlory app, Helen is able to remotely reduce the intensity of Nora’s grow light and change the schedule.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction: During

Helen turns off Nora’s grow light until she arrives home and reduces the amount of daily hours of light she will receive to reduce the likelihood of harming the plant further.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction: After

That evening, Helen arrives home after her classes end.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction: After

Helen sees Nora, who is asleep, and remembers her asking Helen for water when she was in class earlier.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction: After

Helen waters Nora and leaves her grow light off for the rest of the day so she can recover.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

Design Fiction: After

The next morning, Nora is no longer thirsty and she is happy because the conditions in her planter are favorable again.

UX Design | Design Fiction

Luis Cepeda

UI Compositions

The final form of my solution manifests itself in UI, as a companion both for the companion app and the smart planter. The following slides show the evolution of Chlory’s mobile UI, from sketches to a high-fidelity prototype. This evolution has taken place over the course of the entire 2021-2022 school year.

UX Design | UI Compositions

Luis Cepeda

UI Compositions: Sketches

UX Design | Sketches

Luis Cepeda

UI Compositions: Sketches

UX Design | Sketches

Luis Cepeda

UI Compositions: Wireframes

UX Design | UI Compositions

Luis Cepeda

UI Compositions: Low-Fidelity Prototype

UX Design | UI Compositions

Luis Cepeda

UI Compositions: High-Fidelity Prototype

UX Design | UI Compositions

Luis Cepeda

UI Compositions: Light Adjustment Workflow

Customize Chloro Pal

Chlory Home Screen

Chloro Pal Info

Light Settings Chloro Pal Status Screen

Chloro Pal Status Screen View Chloro Pal’s care recommendations?

On/Off Switch

Brightness Yes Light Height No Light Schedule

UX Design | UI Compositions

Luis Cepeda

UI Compositions: Light Adjustment Workflow

Digital Garden

Chloro Pal Shelf

(Home Screen)

Chloro Pal Recommended Settings

Chloro Pal Summary

Chloro Pal’s Advice Planter Light Settings

UX Design | UI Compositions

Luis Cepeda

UI Compositions: Low-Fidelity Planter UI

UX Design | UI Compositions

Luis Cepeda

UI Compositions: High-Fidelity Planter UI

UX Design | UI Compositions

Luis Cepeda

Product Demo https://www.figma.com/proto/7L2kMuBDLxW517qzLKxTLS/Chlory-Prototype-2? page-id=0%3A1&nodeid=118%3A4267&viewport=241%2C48%2C0.09&scaling=min-zoom&startingpoint-node-id=118%3A4267

Summary

Through interacting with Chloro Pals, paying attention to their advice, which is based on the Chlory Plant Database, and making a habit of checking on their plants regularly, the user will become more knowledgeable and familiar with how to care for their plant. In this way, Chlory will help an uncertain, novice plant grower become more confident in their ability to care for plants, without stress.

UX Design | Summary

Luis Cepeda

Future Work

There is still much potential to be explored in the Chlory Planter and Chloro Pals as means for taking better care of indoor plants. My goals for the future of Chlory include: Obtaining more refined user research data Recording more user feedback on the product solution Develop Chlory’s most practical features

UX Design | Future Work

Luis Cepeda

Thank you.