Botanics is a self-initiated BriefBox project which aims to support beginners getting into houseplant care or gardening by building up their confidence whilst avoiding overwhelming them with information. The idea was driven by seeing other plant care websites and apps having quite busy screens, which best suits experienced users in the hobby but can bombard and can discourage any beginners.
The brief asked to design a simple, clean and easy to navigate layout which allows users to get key information about plant care, without feeling intimidating. The brief provided visual references, heavily leaning towards minimalist monotone designs and a focus on photography. From these references, and looking at how cluttered some competitor app screens can look, I decided that clear type hierarchy, white space, emphasis on imagery and key information would be the best approach to create an easy to navigate plant care app.
My design decisions prioritised maintaining simplicity and clear composition in the aim of keeping navigation of the app easy and approachable for beginners into the hobby. A focus on photography instantly draws the eye and becomes the focal point of each plant card without having to instantly drown the user with information. Botanics uses Nyght Serif for its logo in the aim of visually communicating the trusted feel of herbalist manuscripts of old whilst pairing a recognisable identity with a clean minimalist layout. This pairs well with DM Sans which is used in the aim of communicating a well informed, trusted but relaxed feel to the app.
The homepage having the full list of documented plants, and the user needing to manually apply filters or search allows for a pressure free exploration of outdoor and indoor plants. Each individual plant page contains the key information needed to keep each plant healthy, with a range of photos for visual reference of what their plant should look like. The strict type hierarchy with headings, category labels and body text allows for easy navigation of the app and keeping screens uncluttered, whilst the use of Apple's back chevron adds a trusted element to key information.
Earlier iterations in the design process had black pill style categories, more typography focused approaches or experimented with more plant cards or more information per plant card. These approaches were abandoned as the black pill categories felt too heavy for the intended approach. The typography drew attention away from the plants and complicated the flow of information on the page, whilst too many plant cards with too much information cluttered the screen and started to feel more like a plant shopping app.
Botanics also offers tools to allow the user to explore plant care beyond a surface level, to make it a tool to grow with beginners and more suitable for experienced hobbyists, like the filters, search tool and favourites page. These allow experienced users to find and track their personal plants, expanding upon just a simple beginners tool.
Botanics as a final outcome successfully achieves the aims set out in the brief to create an approachable, simple, easy to navigate plant care app which provides essential information to keep plants healthy, suitable to beginner and experienced hobbyists. The strict type hierarchy with generous white space allows the work to breathe and doesn't overwhelm the user with too much information at once, whilst the search, filter and favourite tool allow the tool to become more suitable for seasoned users. The Botanics logo pairs well with DM Sans to create a recognisable and playful identity whilst keeping an air of trust about it.
If I were to push this project further I would incorporate heavy user testing to better understand how well the tools provided work for experienced users and if they need refining or expanding further, and how this would balance with a beginner's experience.