VPlant

Project Overview

Project Type: Academic - Group of 4
Duration: 4 months
Role: UI/UX, Branding
Tools: Figma, Illustrator, Unity, Maya
Platform: Mobile app

Background

This project was created for our class. VPlant was developed from one of the three product concepts that we proposed.

A quick summary of the other two concepts:

👁️ Iris: contact lenses with built-in AR functionalities (possible use case for this was wayfinding or for other personal use)
🧫 Plexi: assistive AI assistant made of liquid programmable matter (the Plexi matter could transform into all kinds of wearable tech and assist the user with tasks)

VPlant was the concept that ended up proceeding with because it was the most feasible idea to build a working physical prototype for.

The context was to imagine the future City of Experiences and what products we predict would become available with technology in the future.

So, this project is a little unusual since we had to come up with a product for users that would exist in the future.

Problem

How can we keep produce healthy and accessible?
︎︎︎This was the main problem we decided to explore in this project.

As more and more people live on Earth, we will inevitably run into housing and food shortages. Taller buildings will be built to accommodate for increasing populations, but having easy access to food is still a challenge that does not have an easy solution.

Prior to this assignment, we had an exploratory assignment where we explored the technological developments from 1920s - 2100s. Through that research, we knew that our potential users would be facing overpopulation and food scarcity was brought about from that problem based on our research.

Competitor Analysis

We did a competitor analysis of three personal vertical farming systems to pin down the features we wanted for VPlant -- and here are the main selling points we had:

🎨 Various colours and patterns that fit any home
👩‍🌾 Seed pod options - buy from local farmers to support the local market or buy/trade with other VPlant users
🧠 Intelligent system that maximizes yield
💡 Adjust brightness levels to fit your home environment
🌙 Night mode - reduced noise disruption from the water pump
💵 Affordability - accessible on an individual and city-wide level

Personas

The personas we developed were created so that we didn’t get caught up with the tiny details and were able to understand their needs from a more general perspective.

Touchpoints Diagram

Diagram details the connections that the bluetooth planter will have with the mobile application.

Systems Map

The Systems Map is a more detailed depiction of the technical aspects of our physical prototype. It highlights the specific connections that we need to achieve our desired end product.

User Journey

The User Journey shows how Skyler goes from receiving the VPlant planter, troubleshooting during connecting, and beginning to grow her own plants using the system.

Experience Map

This Experience Map goes through a user’s typical experience from figuring out what type of product they want, searching and comparing options, and finally buying the product.

Branding and UI

As we ideated on the key screens that we wanted to show, we developed the lofi wireframes as seen below. We gradually expanded on certain sections, such as the loading screens when the user is connecting to the planter.

Wireframes of the VPlant app

Midfi wireframes with flow

The next step for VPlant was to flesh out the branding and overall feel that we wanted for the UI. We described the voice to be friendly, dynamic, and modern. This was brought out by using a lot of neutrals in our palette and a familiar green that is commonly associated with plants.

The roundness in both our logo and UI elements reflects a more natural feeling that parallels VPlant's goal to provide users with quality produce.

VPlant’s UI Kit

Physical Prototype

We encountered a lot of technical problems when we tried to connect the mobile app to the physical prototype via Bluetooth because the initial Bluetooth module we wanted to use had a very complicated setup.

Once we found a suitable module, we rebuilt the VPlant app within Unity so we could have the app connected to the planter wirelessly.
Below are some images (both wip and the final result) and a video of the physical prototype.

︎ See the physical prototype in action here

Result and Reflection

Overall, I'm really happy with the result. My team and I worked on VPlant over the course of two semesters while juggling our other courses. I learned a lot from this project and it was really amazing to see how fleshed out the idea got at the end, compared to where we started off with our initial three concepts.

This project was probably the most collaborative project that I've done and required a lot of coordination to meet the various deadlines we had for each part of the project.

If I could redo this project, the only thing I would change would be the app UI and cleaning up the slides a bit more. I'm super proud of the work we put in for the 3D renders, connecting the app to the physical prototype, and making a video for the product.