DigIt!
A starter kit aimed to improve the community gardening experience for new gardeners in Seattle.
Role
UX Researcher
Timeframe
5 weeks
Methods
Field Observation
Customer Journey Mapping
Usability Testing
Objective
The prompt for this project was to design a themed experience. The theme of DigIt! is connecting to nature and to each other. The objective is to reimagine the community gardening experience for new gardeners in Seattle to be more accessible, informative, and fulfilling.
Research Question: How might we improve the community gardening experience for new gardeners in Seattle?
Research Process
Field Observation
Visited local community gardens called "P-Patches", a program set up by the city of Seattle where people can sign up for a small plot within a garden to grow flowers and produce
Observed firsthand what the local P-Patch gardens were like
Investigated the P-Patch website to understand the registration process
Informal Interviews
Conducted 3 informal unstructured interviews with a new gardener, an experienced gardener, and a community garden crew member to learn about their gardening experience and interests
Customer Journey Map
Outlined the target user’s journey through the gardening experience with the data from the field observation and informational interviews
Mapped the user’s process from initial plot sign-up to planting their first plant
Usability Testing
Conducted usability testing sessions for each prototype iteration (3 rounds of iterations)
Key Investigation Findings
Interest
Both the new and experienced gardeners showed interest in community gardens and wanted to learn more about how they could get started
Lack of Resources
As a new gardener, there's a lot of uncertainty about what resources are needed to start gardening without wasting time and money
A major concern for people living in apartments is that there is no space for a garden or garden tools
There currently is a lack of centralized guidance for the new gardener especially if they don't know anyone who currently gardens
Other Barriers
There is a lack of knowledge and awareness about the existence of community gardens
The website was very outdated and it was challenging to find the portal to sign up for a plot
Customer Journey Map
After selecting the product idea to move forward with, I outlined the user's experience with our product through a customer journey map using the persona "Violet,” who is a new gardener.
Prototype Evaluation
The prototype consisted of two parts: the physical product and the mobile app. The physical aspect of the prototype, named the “DigKit,” served to not only be something tangible to help new gardeners get started with gardening but also to make the gardening experience more personal, memorable, and meaningful.
One key feature of the app prototype that will be showcased here is the “Community” section, where gardeners can connect with other gardeners in their community.
Initial Prototype
The initial prototype of the DigKit starter kit consisted of its raw materials and low-fidelity paper prototyping for the kit content.
The initial app prototype had a “Meet a Mentor” feature that allowed beginner gardeners to find a mentor from whom they could reach out to receive guidance.
From the evaluation testing, it was revealed that new gardeners didn't feel comfortable with finding a mentor on the platform and felt that it was a very daunting task to complete. When asked, they said they didn’t feel connected to nature or community.
Second Iteration
In this iteration, the DigKit box was woodstained to have a more “nature” feel to it. The pamphlet for the kit was also prototyped during this stage.
Based on the previous feedback from the last round of evaluation, “Meet a Mentor” was modified to “Meet a Gardener” to make the task of connecting with other gardeners feel less intimidating and more open-ended.
From the evaluation testing, users appreciated the content of the DigKit but felt that some of the pamphlet’s information was redundant with the app. Users also voiced that the pamphlet could have more visual guides.
At this stage, users felt more connected to nature but they still didn’t feel very connected to their community. Although users no longer felt pressured to seek out a mentor, the “Meet a Gardener” page still felt overwhelming with all the profiles. As a result, they stated that they couldn’t see themselves reaching out and cold messaging another gardener on the platform.
Final Prototype
In this final iteration, the paper prototypes in the DigKit were replaced with real gardening tools such as gloves and shears. The pamphlet in the DigKit was revised to include more visual guides such as a diagram informing the gardener when the tomato is the right color for picking (assuming that the gardener ordered tomato seeds).
For the community feature of the mobile app, the “Meet a Gardener” page was removed, and instead, replaced with the idea of having “Pods,” or assigned groups. Instead of having new gardeners go out of their comfort zone to cold message another gardener for help, they were provided with an assigned community that they could reach out to whenever they wanted. Each gardener’s profile also now includes a plant timeline and personal schedule for other pod members to view to further increase the feeling of community and connection.
In the final evaluation, users felt connected to both nature and to their community! Users felt excited to start gardening when they received their DigKits during testing and they also felt supported enough to start gardening knowing that they had a pod that they could reach out to for help at any point.
Reflection and Learnings
The biggest challenge I faced for this project was having limited resources. Since this was a class project, there were many time and financial constraints. As a result, we had to rely on the help of our classmates and friends to test our products, so there may be some social desirability bias in our usability testing data.
If I had more time with the project, one of the things I would have done when testing with more users is to use more measurable benchmarks to evaluate the success of the prototypes. For example, one benchmark could be asking users how ready they feel to start gardening with our product to allow for some quantitative data analysis. Another research method I would have liked to conduct if I had more time is A/B testing with different versions of the prototypes to see which version makes users feel more ready to start gardening. Conducting ethnographic research would have also been very insightful to observe how our product would actually hold up in a real gardening environment. Since our usability testing was done in a controlled indoor environment, there may have been external factors that were not considered in the design of our prototype.
Overall, despite the challenges I faced, I had a lot of fun working on this project and was very excited to present our project to the class at the end of the quarter!