Permaculture
Guild Builder

UX Project Development

A case study demonstrating application design to enhance people's resilience in creating and maintaining permaculture food forests and gardens.

Figma file

Discover

What is Permaculture?

Permaculture is an approach to land management that mimics the patterns and relationships found in natural ecosystems.

Permaculture Principles

Observe and interact
Catch and store energy
Obtain a yield
Apply self-regulation and accept feedback
Use and value renewable resources and services
Produce no waste
Design from patterns to details
Integrate rather than segregate
Use small and slow solutions
Use and value diversity
Use edges and value the marginal
Creatively use and respond to change

Our users are individuals who practice or aspire to practice permaculture and are interested in utilizing plant guilds* and the seven layers** of a forest.

*Plant guilds: Groupings of plants that support each other in various functions, similar to companion planting.

**Seven layers: A design tool for creating sustainable ecosystems, considering trees, understory, ground cover, soil, fungi, insects, and animals.

DALL-E depiction of a Food Forest

Discover - Creative Summary

The Problem
How can we enhance people's resilience so they can create and maintain a permaculture food forest?

The Problem Space
My family and I maintain a smallhold and practice permaculture in an urban setting in the Pacific Northwest. Designing garden guilds within the seven-layer principle is challenging without substantial effort. This project aims to develop a mobile app to assist people who face similar frustrations, integrating diverse information and best practices to create thriving food forests.

Discover - Competitive Analysis

I analyzed Garden Plan Pro, Garden Manager, and the Natural Capital Plant Database.

Permaculture Principles

GrowVeg: A drawing app for designing vegetable beds.
Garden Manager: A handheld garden guide that provides proactive notifications based on user preferences, garden specifications, and local weather.
The Natural Capital Plant Database: A comprehensive plant database for ecological design, offering information on plant characteristics, functions, and associations.

Discover - Inspiration

TurboTax is a model for transforming a tedious process into an enjoyable one through effective UX and UI design. Key takeaways for developing the garden guild app include:

Orient messaging around the goal, not the task.
Personalized user onboarding.
Automate and minimize common points of friction.
Inject brand personality.
Keep the user focused on one task at a time.
Break up long workflows and set expectations.
Show progress toward a goal.
Celebrate success.
Provide ongoing value.
Pay attention to details.

Personalized Questionnaire:
Tell us about yourself, and we'll recommend the right garden guild for you.

“Tell us about you and we’ll recommend the right garden for you.”

“Let’s get an idea of your garden plans.”

Discover - Interviews

Objective:

Clarify content needs and improve process intuitiveness.

Introduction:

A portable application guiding users in discovering, developing, and planning plant guilds with permaculture practices.

Open Questions:

What are your expectations using this plant guild application?
How did you first approach planning your plant guild?
How have you managed to plan a plant guild in the past?
What aspects of this application do you care most about, and why?

Specific Questions:

How often would you use this application?
How do you prioritize establishing your plant guilds?
What features excite you the most, or what would you like to see?

Discover - Affinity Mapping

“I usually rely on friends for information.”
“My process usually starts with a new plant.”
“Books and resources help a lot.”
“Starting with one plant and then researching resources.”
“Using permaculture resources is beneficial.”
“Finding secondary resources like books is helpful.”
“I use internet searches and forums.”

Discover - Key Insights

Receiving free plants is a common start.
Friends are a critical source of information.
Novice gardeners often lack confidence.
Users value both healthier plants and the gardening process.
Users enjoy gardening after feeling confident with their plan.
Lack of clear and transparent information affects user confidence.
Users feel overwhelmed with initial steps.
Users need expansive information for each step over a timeline.
Time constraints stem from extensive research needed for successful planting.
Better access to information can improve time management and reduce resource loss.
Initial frustrations prevent users from creating successful gardens.

Discover - Personas

Alice

Needs and Goals: Planning her property and establishing plant guilds around existing fruit trees.
Challenges: Limited time due to full-time jobs and managing a smallhold.
Behaviors: Busy daily schedule, limited time for research. Benefits from aggregated plant information and spatial representation for planning plant guilds.

Jacob

Needs and Goals: Better serving clients with plant recommendations around trees.
Challenges: Limited time for understanding complex property needs.
Behaviors: Seasonal work, client consultations on-site. Benefits from immediate plant guild plans for clients.

Emery

Needs and Goals: Developing urban food-growing programs.
Challenges: Limited resources and space for testing ideas.
Behaviors: Active student and community organizer. Benefits from convenient plant data navigation for planning community gardens.