Defining the Concept
Role: UX/UI Designer and Researcher
Duration: 2 Weeks
Tools: Figma, Adobe Creative Suite
Bloomi is an AR driven app that helps homeowners, renters, and designers quickly conceive their landscape ideas.
The Challenge
Metric Goals
Solution
Design an app that helps users to:
Quickly research design materials and connect with professionals to help/hire. I would expect the metric to improve by 30% because users expressed the most reluctancy with the research, purchasing, and hiring process.
Easily conceive their ideas on-the-go. I would expect the metric to improve by 20% because it would streamline the research/design process without designers needing to be at their computers.
Be informed of sustainable vs. non-sustainable options by site-specific recommendations. I would expect metrics to improve by 20% because the app will bring sustainable information at the forefront.
Inspiration from the Start
Users need a place to start. In the Home page, I added resources for users to be inspired and helpful tips for users during their design process.
Model Creation
Users have the option to quickly create a project by using AR technology to scan their project area, to input measurements, upload a blueprint drawing, or upload photos of their project.
Research Made Easy
I made the research process easy by creating a library database of plant species, materials and furniture, and city/HOA regulations.
Add Recommended Products
Users can input the project location to filter information relevant for them. Once users find a product they like, they can easily add it to their project, or save it in a board for later.
Track, Export & Share
The inventory tool makes it easy for users to keep track of what products have been added, the estimated cost, and where to buy.
Once users are satisfied with their project, they can easily export their devices and share the auto-generated documents with other users.
Community Resource
The community feature helps users connect with design professionals, contractors, and other users that can provide help, advice, and support.
Project Kickoff
The market is saturated with interior design apps, but only a few landscape design apps exist. Users that want to design their landscape without spending top dollar for a professional has very limited options and resources.
What I need to know:
Identify users’ current attitudes and pain points towards landscape design and planning.
Identify what users’ needs are when designing and building their landscape.
Study precedents and trends to identify pros, cons and features necessary to incorporate into app.
Insights from Users
I began by conducting user interviews with 6 participants consisting of 5 women and 1 man ages 28 to 31 that are either homeowners or renters with an opportunity to design a landscape.
Reliable and Accurate: Users need a reliable app that can map their landscape with exact measurements and angles.
Visual Understanding: Users need to see their designs in 3D in order to understand it.
Research, Research Research: Landscape design knowledge is overwhelming. Users need help to quickly research and find information relevant to them.
Educate and Inspire: Users want to learn and be inspired by seeing and interacting with other users and their designs.
Learning from Trend-Setters
I then conducted a precedents and trends analysis where I sought other apps with features and design patterns that could be valuable to Bloomi. I focused on looking at:
Usability and UI
Navigation and Task Flow
Information Architecture
Feature Value to Users
Overall Experience
Building Empathy
Provisional personas were created to better visualize target user group archetypes and their needs.
Two personas were made based on the archetypes "The Homeowner" and "The Architect". This helped me balance how regular users and users with design experience would expect and need in a design app. User journeys were created to empathize user feelings, process, moments of truth, and potential friction.
Testing User Flows
I began with a series of sketches where I tested potential user flows and layouts in order to discover the path of least friction. The flow that required the most improvement was creating a project and the user design process. The biggest struggle was visually simplifying the features in a digestible manner for the user, and intuitive enough to find.
At first, I wanted the users to be able to sign up, create a model, and add their project information directly. However, upon testing , I found that users want to be able to test the features prior to committing to making an account and a project. The revised flow allows users freedom to test the app features prior to requiring to make an account.
Sketches to Wireframes
With the help of the user journey, I sketched the users path from onboarding, to design, to their final export of their finished project. The goal was to create a high-level concept of all the available features while testing the main task flows.
A Splash of Personality
My vision for Bloomi was to create a brand that was fun and inviting for new designers, yet professional for design veterans!
Final Prototype
The wireframes were further refined into a high-fidelity prototype made with users of varying design skill-levels in mind.
Testing and Iterating
The high-fidelity prototype was put through user testing with 5 participants. All users were able to successfully complete the tasks. One main comment was the lack of familiarity with the available features and how to use them. I began addressing in this round of iterations was creating a series of onboarding screens that give new users an overview of available app features prior to making an account.
Next Steps
As a previous landscape architect, Bloomi has always been a dream of mine. I wanted to create an app that helps people move towards sustainable living starting with their homes. Making a design app is a challenge because of the overload of information users need to digest both through research and using design tools. In my next steps I would focus on creating walkthrough tutorials of how to use key features at the beginning of starting a new project. Additionally, I would like to create steps that guides users with completed designs to advanced phases such as connecting with professionals and construction. I would love to make this app a reality some day.
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