Project Details
Project Overview
GreenLens focuses on ensuring users can hike stress free by working with meta glasses to detect and alert users of any dangerous flora in the area. Allowing the user to hike free of worries and enjoy their trail to the fullest.
The Hiking Experience
Imagine this, you're enjoying your hike, the sun is out, the sky is blue, and everything is going well. Your leg brushes by a weird looking plant and leaves a oily substance on you, but you shrug your shoulders and wipe it off. An hour later, your on the ground, leg swelling, and scratching it with a passion. Fun times!
OUCH!!
1
Awareness
How can we ensure users are aware of the surrounding flora?
2
Safety
How can the users safety be upheld, to ensure they feel protected?
3
Educate
How can we educate users during and before they reach a trail about the poisonous plants?
The
Solution
Focusing on these issues, I created GreenLens, an app paired with meta glasses that alerts users to dangerous flora around them, while also educating them about the plants properties.
Onboarding
Process
When users sign up, the focus is to gather the users location to know what region their in and provide the correct plants, and also making sure the user is introduced to what the app provides for them.
Activating Trail
Users are able to browse different trails using different filters and adding them to "Active Trails" to start recording their surroundings.
Exploring Plants
Users can search and browse different poisonous plants in their region to educate and prepare themselves for future trails.
There have been multiple instances of users not paying attention or being uneducated of poisonous plants in an area. Its been documented as a common occurrence, with research showing that:
98%
of plant exposures are unintentional.
60%
of exposures are from kids 5 and up.
~100,000
Current Competitors
Three apps, focused in plant identification, were chosen to observe and learn from:
Seek Inaturalist
Kid-friendly app using scanning features to identify and learn more about the plant life around the user.
PlantSnap
An app that hosts thousands of different flora to learn from and the ability to scan, learn, and share plants users discover,
PictureThis
AI mobile app designed to recognize, diagnose, and teach users how to care for a plant.
With the competitors established, I needed to establish three main points of interest to ensure the user stays in the forefront of the research:
Information
How is the education of plants handled?
Dangers
How is dangerous flora conveyed or handled?
Scanning
How is scanning plants handled in app?
Key Insights
1
Incorrect ID
Inconsistencies with the app displaying the wrong plant.
2
Hidden Info
Toxicity of plants being either non-existent or hard to find.
3
Info Overload
Too much information being displayed, hard to scan through.
Tackling Interviews
After establishing user interactions with other platforms and learning what areas needed improvement, I then focused on compiling questions based on four main topics:
1
Plant Encounters
Did the user ever encounter poisonous plants? How did they deal with it?
2
Education
How did they go about learning about the flora in their area?
3
Smart Glasses
How would they feel with implementing smart glasses on their hikes?
4
Trail Finder
Would users enjoy being able to find trails and read about them on the app as well?
Interview Findings
After interviewing 10 participants, the results showed that:
80%
40%
Were unable to identify poisonous plants in their region or only knew of one.
70%
Of interviewees mentioned coming into contact with poisonous flora and did not know what to do in the moment.
30%
Of interviewees use plant scanning apps, but more so to take care of their own plants than watch out for them.
90%
Of interviewees wanted glasses to keep them safe while hiking.
80%
Of interviewees would rather be able to find a trail and learn about it in the app then separate from it.
Comments from users that stood out mentioned some common complaints when dealing with poisonous plants:
"I'm not ALWAYS going to be paying attention to where I'm walking and it's annoying realizing an hour later you've touched poison ivy…I just want to have fun with my friends!"
"I wasn't originally from Texas nor was I ever told about any posionous plants so I had no idea the tree I was leaning against had poison ivy on it…"
"I have apps I use to scan plants, mostly to take care of though. Having to scan plants actively on a trail would be too annoying to do for me…"
Key Insights
From the interviews, it was made apparent that many users would appreciate a heads up on any dangerous flora on their trail, or even a way to be informed and educated about them. From this, and additional questions and testimonies, the main issues that needed to be tackled was:
1
Alerts
A way for users to be alerted of plants on trails they're actively walking.
2
Education
Educating and informing users of plants that are on trails they choose.
3
Trail Finding
Adding in a trail finding feature so users don't have to go elsewhere to look for them.
Define
Personas
Once feedback and interviewing sessions were done, I took the information and created one persona to represent the group that would benefit from having an app that alerts, informs, and helps guide users when hiking.
A quick summary of the persona is that Jessica is an adventurous, social barista who loves exploring nature but struggles with accessing quick, reliable information about dangerous plants on trails.
Jessica Jones
Age: 26
Family: Single
Occupation: Barista
Gender: Female
Located: Austin, TX
Education: Bachelors
Bio
Jessica is currently a barista that focuses on connecting with others and exploring nature as much as she can. They enjoy hiking and sharing trails with friends as well as painting the nature scenery.
Goals
Go into the illustration field
Connect with locals
Work on giving back to those in need
Explore nature in every continent
Frustrations
Takes too much time to read about dangerous flora
Lack of info about the trails she'd hike
Having to be careful 24/7 if going off beaten path
Personality
Extroverted
Curious
Energetic
Joyful
Quote
"If there was a way to make it so I didn't have to pay attention to dangerous flora and someone did it for me, I'd be over-joyed."
In App Suggestions:
Way to be alerted of dangerous flora on path.
Once a solid foundation of the user pain points and a persona was established, the next move was to focus on how these issues the user was facing could be solve, focusing iterating ideas and concepts to solve them using How Might We's.
Warn users of a dangerous plant close to them ?
Glasses can start beeping out loud.
Glasses vibrate when close to a plant.
Both glasses and phone vibrate to alert users of danger near them.
Alert them of what dangerous plants are on the trail beforehand?
As users get close, the phone vibrates on and off constantly till addressed to show upcoming plants on trail.
A ding or sound plays from the phone, alerting them.
Take into account users own disorders (like sensitivity to specific plants)
Have users list health issues when creating an account.
Relay conditions and environmental factors to user that may harm them.
Visual aid on different trails that communicate to users trails that may affect them more than others.
Inform users of poisonous plants on trails when looking?
Visual aids that may be present on different trails with poisonous plants.
Ensuring that the poisonous plants are present on the trail information screen.
Protect users or guide them when they come into contact with dangerous flora?
Ensuring information for remedies is available for each poisonous plant.
Ensuring the Poison Control number is present.
Ensuring quick and easy access to solutions on how to care for wound.
Iterate
User Testing Phase
Once flows were established, I began iterating and designing through multiple iterations to ensure users could easily navigate through the app. Once the wireframes were done, I focused on user testing to ensure users understood how to navigate and interact with key features and flows within the app.
Home Page
Plant Information
Alerts
Once the Lo-fi was completed, polishing and establishing color schemes, typography and interactions began. The final design yielded an concept where the apps design was aimed to bring comfort and also be educational.
User Issues Surfaced
Once another round of user testing was conducted, however, users became confused and mislead when navigating the app and its branding, with many saying:
"The colors confused me, I thought it was for a beach for a second."
"Wish there was a way to navigate by address or have a map…"
"Could I see more images of the trails I'm selecting?"
From the feedback and critique from users and other designers, I made refinements to the current high fidelity to ensure color scheme, search engines, and galleries were present to ensure a smoother user experience as shown in the final fidelity below.
Lets do a quick recap of how we got here:
01. The Goal
Ensuring users can enjoy their hikes and nature walks free from worry.
02. Pain Points
Users annoyed at having to be aware of dangerous plants, a lack of education about said plants, and no easy way to quickly identify seamlessly.
03. Solution
An app pairing smart glasses with plant detection that helps alert users of nearby dangerous flora, while also educating users about plant life.
