Problem
Not knowing what to do when a plant gets sick
People who keep plants at home struggle to figure out what’s wrong with them and to keep a consistent care routine.
← Projects / Case study · Mobile app
An app that turns caring for your plants into quests.
- Role
- UX/UI design Solo project
- Duration
- 2 and a half weeks
- Context
- Google UX Design Certificate
- Tools
- Figma
App screens · Swipe to explore
Solution
Clear diagnosis and care turned into a game
A mobile app with a scanner to add plants, a diagnosis with step-by-step treatment, and quests with XP that build the habit.
Outcome
A prototype tested in two rounds
Five participants per round. In high fidelity, results were positive across all tasks, with a single adjustment.
01 · Research
I assumed the problem was forgetting to water
I interviewed 5 people: beginners, experienced gardeners and tech enthusiasts.
What I assumed
That the biggest difficulty was forgetting watering times.
What I found
Forgetting to water was a minor problem. The two main ones were diagnosing a sick plant and turning care into a habit.
Confusion about diseases
Yellow leaves or pests are hard to diagnose, and the plant ends up dying by accident.
Inconsistent routines
It’s hard to keep up watering and fertilizing across several plants with different needs.
Care becomes tedious
The routine feels like a chore and gets dropped over time.
Solving problems alone
There’s no trustworthy place to ask experienced people for help.
02 · Who it’s for
Two people, two needs
Ana
23 · Fashion design student · Medellín
“I’d love to follow care challenges and earn rewards to build a daily habit, without caring for my plant feeling like a boring chore.”
Needs a gamified experience to build the habit, because she often forgets to water her plant.
Mónica
64 · Retired engineer and plant collector · Medellín
“I want an instant tool on my phone to spot pests before they spread through my whole garden.”
Needs to diagnose pests right away and access treatment protocols, because she worries they’ll spread.
03 · Journey
Ana’s journey, from worry to habit
- 01
Notices yellow leaves on her only plant
FeelsAnxious and unsure
OpportunityPreventive notifications
- 02
Opens SproutQuest and takes a photo to diagnose it
FeelsCurious and hopeful
OpportunityFast diagnosis in plain language
- 03
Applies a home remedy
FeelsRelieved
OpportunityStep-by-step home remedies
- 04
Completes a care quest and earns XP
FeelsExcited and motivated
OpportunityQuests with progress and rewards
- 05
Shares her experience with others
FeelsConnected
OpportunityCommunity board (future)
04 · Design
Three decisions that shape the app
Decision 01
A welcome with relevant news
The home screen greets the person, gives direct access to quests, the scanner and the garden, and shows a feed with community achievements and care news that also award XP.
Why
Opening the app should give you a reason to stay, not just a to-do list.
Decision 02
Quests based on each plant’s schedule
Quests are no longer daily. They now show up as “pending” and follow each plant’s watering and care schedule.
What testing showed
Most plants don’t need water every day, so a daily quest made no sense.
Decision 03
The whole treatment on a single screen
After the diagnosis, every treatment step lives on one vertically scrolling screen, instead of one screen per step.
What testing showed
This makes it easy to review everything, reread a step that wasn’t clear, or get what you need ready in advance.
05 · Validation
Two rounds of testing, five participants each
A moderated usability study in Medellín. The tasks: check the quests, scan a plant and add it to the garden, log a watering, and diagnose a plant and follow its treatment.
Round 1 · Low fidelity
Three findings that changed the design
- 01
They wanted more information when scanning, without having to add the plant.
→ The scanner shows the species profile and lets you choose between adding it to the garden or going back.
- 02
Quests needed a detail screen that guided them step by step.
→ Each treatment has step-by-step instructions with illustrations and tips.
- 03
Quests shouldn’t be daily.
→ Quests follow each plant’s schedule.
Round 2 · High fidelity
Positive results across all tasks
All five participants tried the high-fidelity prototype with the same tasks. Only one adjustment came up.
The only adjustment
Merge the treatment steps into a single scrolling screen, instead of one screen per step.
06 · Visual identity
A brand that grows from a sprout
The logo, the color and the design system come from the same idea: growing through consistency.
- #0B6056Green 900Brand and navigation
- #1EAE7EGreen 500Actions and progress
- #E1F4CBGreen 100Soft backgrounds
- #F5BB47Yellow 400Accent: quests and XP
- #111E16Forest 950Scanner and dark backgrounds
- #B52626Red 600Disease alerts
Typography
- Palanquin Bold · Logotype
- SproutQuest
- Roboto · Display 32
- Find your ideal plant
- Roboto · Heading H1 24
- Your garden
- Roboto · Body 14
- Water your plants according to their schedule.
Design system
Colors, typography and components live as Figma variables and styles, so every screen uses the same values.
- 15primitive colors
- 22semantic color tokens
- 9text styles
Buttons and actions
Brand green for primary actions and yellow for anything that awards XP. Each button shows its state through color and a badge.
Cards and states
Each card changes state so you can tell at a glance what needs attention and what’s already done.
07 · Outcome
The final screens
08 · Wrap-up
What I learned and what’s next
What I learned
Forgetting to water wasn’t the real focus, just a minor problem. The two main problems were diagnosis and turning care into a habit through gamification.
Researching before designing changed the product’s priorities.
Next steps
Community board
A place to ask experienced people for help. It wasn’t a priority in this version.
Preventive notifications
Alerts before the plant deteriorates, an opportunity that came out of Ana’s journey.
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