2021 - DePaul University - Masters Thesis
Natural Companion - The plant care app that grows with you.
Plants can be difficult to manage and often times don’t come with instructions. Natural Companion connects users with a community of local enthusiasts to spread knowledge and help at-home gardens thrive.
“Say good bye to the lonely garden and hello to new friends!”
Roles & Responsibility
This project was an original concept. Serving as Creative Director, I performed research, designed prototypes and mock-ups and conducted user testing.
Team
Concept and Execution: Andrew Stephens (DePaul 2021) Advising: B. Rich and LeAnne Wagner (DePaul) Consulting: Lauren Henry (United Airlines), Mike Schulz (Gorilla Group). Illustrations: Syd Veverka. Voice Over: Elif Geris (WGN). Music: Paul Wierdak
About
Natural Companion is a home plant care social networking application that connects users with seasoned experts for advice and local community members that share similar horticultural interests.
The app features a dynamic interface that adjusts to the functions you utilize most–cataloging, photos, plant library, maintenance tracker and discussion forums.
Features
Unique artificial intelligence responds to your interests and personality, shaping the overall tone of the user experience and interface. The functions you use determine the app’s layout–so hop into a forum, peruse our library or post some tasty plant picks.
Adaptive UI and Network Recommendations - your personal plant catalog and discussion participation drives an individual experience.
When it comes to looks…
there are five themes to pick from. Adding to the catalog will shape a layout that’s made for you–let your garden do the talking!
A Look and Feel that adjust to create an interface designed for you based on usage.
Plant parenting can be a challenge…
discussion boards and web libraries are filled with ambiguity. Natural Companion connects you with a network local users that cultivate similar plants in comparable growing conditions. Our helpful virtual assistant provides you with suggestions and push notifications to stay on top of watering schedule.
Say good bye to the lonely garden and hello to new friends!
A LOCAL COMMUNITY – connected by shared interest for a collective environmental experience.
Check out our prototype to find out what your interface looks like today!
Click the PLAY button in the UPPER RIGHT corner to engage in FIGMA
Documentation
A collection of presentation videos, research decks and user testing materials is available upon request. This application went through THREE major iterations: from a hardware system, to plant “personality” matching game and then finally a social media application. I am happy to share this process with you! For complete documentation, please reach out.
Winter 2020 - DePaul University - Interactive Media
Chowser - A better way to reduce our impact.
Food waste is a global issue that most struggle to manage individually. Chowser is a dual-interface FoodShare application that uses technology to improve our environment.
“Connecting members with exciting resources for reducing the food waste in their local communities.”
Our Challenge
Each year 30-40% of food in the United State find its way to our waste bins. Around the world, the Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that 1.3 Billion tons is disposed of annually. While most would like to reduce their environmental footprint, finding viable ways to contribute remains perplexing.
A Community Based Solution
Utilize technology to route unused food to people who need it most. While our early designs featured both Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and Peer-to-Business (P2B) food sharing opportunities, led our team to remove the P2P function in the final prototype. Making way for a smooth, simpler and less cluttered interface.
Users & Audience
Intended to serve urban and suburban markets, Chowser relies on app-share technologies common in platforms like Uber, Lyft, Thumbtack and Postmates. Our target members are between the ages of 18-45 years old, technologically inclined and eager to improve the environment but struggling for solution.
Scope & Constraints
Chowser was designed as part of a 10-week course at DePaul University aimed at introducing our class to the key-principles of Human Centered Design.
Roles & Responsibilities
I worked with a team of (3) other classmates, serving as Creative Director. Within this role, I conducted primary research, user testing, designed prototypes and furnished comprehensive mock-ups with supporting photography while leading product presentations.
Download the PDF below for more complete details on on research
Features
Welcome to CHOWSER
Where neighbors and drivers are offered a unique set of features housed in a single application.
Two functions, one app. Flip from contributor to courier with a single tap. Click the shuffle button in the upper right to swap interfaces.
Neighbors
Saving food from the waste bin and helping enrich health conscious communities.
Integrated Technology
helps contributors stay up to date on their donations, informed about their local community, and knowledgeable about industry practices. Our Tools include:
Progress Report
Community Activity Feed
Scheduled Donations
Pantry Locator
Connecting with Peers
Chowser wants to make environmental sustainability a blast, not a burden. Staying up to date on what’s happening in your area helps keep our users current with their community.
Drivers
Our Daily Heroes of Food Delivery
Drive when and where you want.
Chowser helps you find a route, tally up stats or ask for help all in one place. Features include:
Comprehensive Interactive Route Maps
Up-to-date Statistical Reporting
Unique Rewards and Incentive Program
Charting a Course
When you’re out on the road, it’s important to know where you’re at.
Get real-time stats that help tally your contributions. From milage, to weight, and meals served. We take the guess work out of calculating your impact. Drivers are eligible for their own unique set of benefits.
Research and Methods - HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN
Empathize
After selecting the area of food waste we discovered that our target users struggled with environmental problems and found difficulty in locating reasonable solutions—despite a deep interest improving their communities and volunteer efforts.
Define
Users needed a quick and convenient way to share the excess or left-over food in their own homes with those who would benefit most. For items that couldn’t be salvaged, we created a composting feature.
Primary & Secondary Research
A comprehensive survey was sent out to participants via Google Forms.
Participants
17 Respondents. Age 18-34. Dine-out 2-3x per month. ALL report taking left over food home. Insight: 75% of participants throw away unused food 2x or more per month.
Community Involvement
58% City, 42% Suburban. MAJORITY involved in volunteering. Insight: MOST expressed uncertainty for how they can contribute to improving environmental and food waste initiatives.
Digital Fluency
ALL respondents have access to web enabled mobile devices. 95% are active on social media. ALL report use of ride and rental share applications. Insight: Overwhelming support for continued use based on positive experiences.
Competitive Analysis
Aimed at both food distribution applications and share economy platforms, our market research provided a clear snap-shot of current trends in the digital sector.
User Personas
Through research and testing, our team built comprehensive profiles on our contributors in order to make sure our application satisfies our prospective users.
Meet Our Prospective Users
Alex
Sustainability Advocate
“Preserving our planet’s future through community service.”
Goals: Alex wants to find easy ways to support issues she cares about most, while simultaneously contributing to what she already does as a volunteer and philanthropist.
Frustrations: Finding easy way to encourage her peers to commit to environmental sustainability.
Key Opportunities: Providing Alex with a platform to contribute to food waste elimination and promote ways other people can become active volunteers/donors.
Sam
Informed Student
“Staying informed is the first step towards progress.”
Goals: Sam wants to find convenient, inexpensive ways to help the environment and his community.
Frustrations: He’s well informed on various world issues and feels like there’s nothing he can do to help—he doesn’t want to be “all talk.” Sam is concerned that his financial limitations will prevent him from making an impact.
Key Opportunities: Providing Sam with chance to support his community on issues he cares about.
Fabrication
Ideate
We knew we wanted to connect users with food pantries and played with the idea of incorporating restaurant contributions. Our initial design even channeled Offer Up and Craigslist, by allowing users the ability to purchase and sell items to folks in their immediate vicinity.
Prototype
Our team rendered hand drawn and digital wireframes to arrive at our primary functionality. We then built out a clickable prototype via Adobe XD. Our innovation is the “switch profile” function that allows users to toggle between the neighbor and driver menus.
Test
Our clickable mid-fidelity prototype underwent two phases of user testing. Through these tests, we discovered our hiccups and design flaws. These suggestions were implemented in future iterations.
Repeat
After each stage our team circled back to our guiding thesis allowing us to empathize with users and advance our iterations.
Early Designs
Our team travelled from pen and paper to prototypes and back again in order to furnish our volunteer community with an interface that checks all the boxes and feels natural.
Sign Up and Home Screen Prototype
Side Navigation and Upload Prototype
Sign Up Page Wireframes
Results
Connecting our community to resources that allow them to make meaningful contributions is at the heart of Chowser’s goal. Our project aims to inspire and encourage users while creating a global impact that starts in the home. We were able to achieve our objects through the Human Centered Design process, which guided us to amend our application, within our given constraints, to deliver a product that members would be delighted to use.