Above: A couple pages from my notebook while planning Plant Tracker's page layouts
In class, we began thinking about how Plant Science could be applicable to everyone in order to create an app that could benefit scientific research. After thinking of ideas about which features are important in research, I got to work designing the individual app pages.
After an initial rough (then final) sketch, I lay them out on my desk, planning how to link one page to another, then I finalized each design. Describing unknown plants is tricky for the untrained eye, so I created the simplest way users could gather helpful, complete data for scientists without overwhelming the user.
I took a photo of each page, uploaded them to POP, and brought it to life by linking the pages to create a prototype. I filmed a video showing how the pages go together as well.
Above: Planning out how the app pages connect together. Rough sketch, then final sketch.
It was difficult for me to plan an interface that was both informative as well as simple. I ended up creating an over-simplified information tracker for each added plant, but it may be helpful as the targeted audience (people who walk around their urban or suburban neighborhoods) is very broad and it is better to have something clean and visually appealing to encourage continued use of the app.
Since I was creating the app, I had to put myself into the shoes of my audience and try to think the way they do. Perhaps next time, I will ask a sample set of users to test the app and provide their input.
I really enjoyed the creative freedom that this project allowed. Designing the pages and deciding where each button went was definitely a challenge that enabled me to think about exactly what the users and the scientists needed. It was fun creating this prototype on the app as well, and it was fun bringing it to life using photoshop. Taking my ideas and making them real is always a pleasure.
Here are some useful links as reference:
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