Experience Design┃Spring 2023 ┃Group Project (2 members)

Rooted In

How might we help college students spend more time in nature in order to improve their well-being by growing their attention spans?

1. Issue & Objective

The Problem

Throughout the Spring 2023 semester, my teammate and I researched the impact of the lack of nature in urban settings. We found that access to nature has a direct impact on people’s well-being, happiness, and productivity. After reflecting on our research and finding secondary sources to support our claims, we wanted to design a conceptual service to improve college students' access to nature.

Design Question

How might we help college students spend

more time in nature in order to improve their

well-being by growing their attention spans?

Interviews

We found that 20% of respondents don’t have plants in their dorm and often feel distracted by their phones when studying. Those without plants in their room attributed it to not really considering it, not having enough room and the maintenance. Additionally, 70% of respondents believed that technology (e.g. phones) hinders their experience in nature.

2. User Research

Surveys

Over the course of multiple weeks, we conducted a variety of different interviews with college students in Boston and around the country.

Examples of questions in the survey:

1. Would you consider your hometown to be

rural, suburban, or urban?

2. How often do you try to connect with nature?

3. When you want to connect to nature, where do you go?

4. How would you rate your focus level while studying?

5. Where do you usually go to study/work?

The final question in our survey provided respondents with 7 unique study spaces and had them choose their ideal study space. Each photo had different amounts of greenery/nature, for example, options 1 and 2 did not feature any plants while options 4-7 had varying amounts of natural lighting, plants, and biophilic details.

Cultural Probe

Task:

Draw your current study space/the study space you use the most
Draw your ideal study space on top of the current study space (using highlighter/marker or the same pen). Transform, add, or remove anything in the space.

During our probe, we found that a majority of the participants had several changes that they wanted to make to their space. Almost all participants drew large windows to allow for natural light. Additionally, participants prioritized having plants either on their desks or on the ground as well as a larger working area in general. A majority of participants also wanted more flexible seating and larger desks/multiple desks.

3. Design Process

Brainstorming

Many of our ideas included themes of agency, bringing nature to college students, and study pods that incorporated nature. We wanted to make our design as accessible for college students as possible and improve the spaces that college students inhabit.

As we continued to brainstorm ideas, we decided to design a concept for an app and service that simplifies the process of owning a plant for college students. We created a draft wireframe for the photo screen on the app.

Intent

Our app is aimed at college students who want to incorporate nature into their daily lives but don’t have the time, budget, or knowledge to do so. We wanted to simplify the process of owning a plant so students can study with them and improve their productivity, attention span, and wellbeing. Additionally, we wanted to eliminate the obstacles that keep students from being able to own a plant while they are in college.

4. Using Rooted In

Step by Step

1. Pay a small deposit and order your plant for pick-up. Customize your plant and pot

2. Pick up your plant at the Snell Library green room.

3. Bring your plant(s) to your apartment/dorm and upload pictures to the app (continue this each week).

4. Water plants as the app notifies you.

5. Take the weekly survey and rate your productivity, well-being, and plant health.

6. Study around the plant and improve study habits, attention span, and well-being.

7. Leave for break/summer and return the plant to the Snell Library green room. (the small deposit is returned)

Wireframes

I took the lead on creating the wireframes using Figma, where I aimed for simple, clean designs that highlight each feature of our app. The first screen is the plant pick-up section, where users can select their plant, choose a pot, and place an order for pick-up. The second screen showcases the app's social media feature, allowing users to post photos of their plants and like others' posts. The third screen presents a weekly survey where users can track their well-being and their plant's health. Lastly, the home screen includes an example of a notification reminding users when it's time to water their plants.

The Green Room

The Green Room is a Rooted In plant pick up/drop off location on the college campus. This room also acts as a study space for students who don't want to participate in the app. The Green Room offers tips and educational services for teaching people about how to take care of their plants/plant health (this can also be found in the app under the “?” tab). This area is also for researching the long-term results of student productivity and overall well-being as they use this service/app.