In collaboration with MONUM (Boston Mayor's Office of Food Justice), our team rethought urban farming in order to create a positive social impact through an innovative and uplifting experience.
02
Qualitative Research
We decided to approach the problem space in several directions including:
The growing process of food
Local urban farm
People`s interior space ...
We also reached out to several experts to have a conversation to get valuable insights.
Key Insights:
There is a significant interest in incorporating greenery into living spaces, though beginners face notable obstacles in plant cultivation.
We identified a range of plants that thrive indoors, catering to the varying skill levels of gardeners.
Successful indoor gardening hinges on specific conditions and resources, highlighting the importance of tailored care practices.
Urban agriculture emerges as a vital connector, strengthening community ties through shared experiences and interests in green living.
Problem Framing:
03
First iteration & testing
We did some sketch and made two prototypes of our concept. To test our prototypes, we conducted a focus group to hear their voice. People love our idea and also give us feedback.
Key Insights:
Most people prefer aethetically pleasing plants
People enjoy harvesting
For novice, watering scedule is a big problem
Further Ideation:
With all the research data, we conducted a brainstorm session to discuss what we want to encourage people to grow at their place. We discovered flower tea as a perfect medium. We did some secondary research and found out that the whole industry relies heavily on the cost of transpotation and packaging which can be solved by indoor growing.
04
Second iteration
Drawing from the findings of our prior research and focus group discussions, we were inspired to develop a smart device capable of monitoring plant growth.
Prototyping
We also also prototyped the device for key functions.
Watering indicator
Planting calendar
Soil humidity detector
Site visit
We know that Pebble is a device that would help individual planters at home. But we want to discover what kind of experience a community farm offers and what we are missing.
In order to test our prototypes, we conducted a focus group to gather their feedback.
Key Insights:
A local community farm is not only a place to farm, but a place that local events are happening.
There are some collective experience that our product can not offer
There is a waitlist happening to join a community farm
05
Third iteration
From our site visit insights, we learned that community gardens are more than just spaces for growing plants; they're venues for events, education, and guidance. Inspired by this, we're aiming to create an online community to connect users with these gardens, even if they're not formal members, enriching their experience with these communal green spaces.
Final user journey
We also made a video to map our user journey
System inovation
We did some sketch and made two iterations of our concept
Next Step
#1 We are thinking the ritual aspect of tea drinking experience and want to make the whole experience more enpowering and engaging for consumers. #2 Pebble could be more useful when the user needs to grow different plants in one space. We will use plant growing data to train our model for biodiversity and help users to understand the needs of different plant when they grow at home.
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