Bloom
UX/UI | Mobile App Design
Project Summary
Duration
2 months | July - September 2022
Role
UX/UI Designer
Deliverable
Responsive App Prototype
Tools
Background
Bloom is a habit tracker that has plants grow along with your habits. On average it takes about 66 repititions for a habit to form. The goal for the user is to complete their habits. Once they’ve consistently completed it 66 times, their plant will bloom!
The idea for creating this app came to me as I was developing habits of my own. I attempted different approaches such as journaling on paper and other habit tracker apps, but I would run into the same issue. Motivation to continue the habits would slowly diminish. With this problem, I found that a sense of accountability and visual progression would likely motivate a user to fulfill their habits more frequently. Having a plant be a key tracker for a user’s habit progress would also add a sense of attachment as there are many people who tend to care for their plants in real life.
Research
Understand the User
I conducted user interviews in order to gain better insight on what the user's decision making process looked like. Through the surveys, I was able to determine the best possilbe design solutions that would align with the user’s needs.
-Participants came to the agreement that they are more likely to continue tracking a habit through an app rather than on paper or journaling.
-A majority of participants agreed that lack of motivation and trouble remembering are the main reasons why they would struggle with sticking with a habit.
-Several participants found that when it comes to apps, rewards/achievements and seeing progress/growth were the main factors that encouraged them to complete their habits. I also learned what struggles users face when it comes to sticking with a habit.
Define
Problem
Creating a habit is always a difficult task to continue no matter who you are. There are a many different methods to create habits such as journaling through paper but they are just not as effective. After surveying a number of participants the problems rooted from not being able to maintain multiple habits, lack of motivation, and trouble remembering.
Ideate
Paper Wireframes
After gathering all the survey information, I designed a rough sketch of the Bloom interface that would be most effective to solve the user's issues. The interface I came up with to create would allow the user to customize their plant ranging from the type of plant to the habit attached to it. Once the plant is created it acts as a visualization of the user's habit progress and in turn increase motivation.
Low Fidelity Prototype
I then brought the sketches onto Figma to develop them into a low fidelity prototype. This prototype was then tested and shown to five participants in order to gather user feedback on their design thinking process while navigating the app.
Testing
User Testing Results
Findings from the user testing provided insight on the changes that needed to be implimented for a higher quality user experience. This came down to adding three new changes. The changes included having a preview for when choosing a plant in order to give some sort of easy comparison between selections. As well as giving a sneak peek into what the plant will grow into. Another were some layout edits such as buttons needing to be rearranged to make more sense to the user. An example was with the “Select a habit” page. A user pointed out that the suggestions should be more in the background as they want to feel more encouraged to make their own habits.
New starting screen
The original start up screen design was conflicting to a participant. They would be drawn to the plus symbol on the bottom to create a plant and didn't assume "Start Growing!" was a button. I have adjusted the screen to have a quick introduction of the app as well as make the call to action button more direct.
Plant Preview
From the low fidelity prototype, the user would find it frustrating that it wasn't clear what their plant would look like. I would later adjust this by creating a preview section on the upper half of the screen, so they could clearly see what the seed would become.
Cleaned up interface
Some users also found it overwhelming with all the different options being laid out across the entire screen. With this in mind, I decided to make the "Create New Habit" as the primary button with a bright color so it is first to be seen. I then made the "Suggestion Habits" in a more darker tone so it fades into the background. With this the user would find it easier on the eyes. A shuffle button was also introduced to provide more options for the user.
Prototype
High Fidelity Prototype
View Prototype
Takeaways
What I learned
I was able to gain experience in conceptualizing an app idea from scratch. Having to come up with a concept, branding, interface, etc in a short amount of time was a valuable challenge to take on.
I thought I knew how I would approach this project from the start but after some user testing I learned that a project was never going to be the same from beginning to end.Throughout this project I remember that iterating on a project is highly important. As designers we usually are more drawn to our own thoughts and think an interface should look a certain way. But at the end of the day this could be disastrous when shown to the target demographic.
This project also accelerated my expertise in Figma. I would run into different design issues that I would need to resolve. One small example was figuring out how to provide feedback to the user in order for them to know when they have selected an option when choosing a plant. I responded by increasing the selection in size in order to differentiate it from the other options. I would also utilize the “Smart Animate” tool in order to provide a smooth transition when selecting the plant.
Future Steps
When working on future projects I plan to remember to trust the process. To see projects from the user’s perspective more than your own through iteration and testing. With this it will provide the best possible design solution and user experience.
If I were to continue with this app in the future I would conduct more usablility testings. This way I would be able to find additional features that could be implemented or build up on any existing ones.