Garden Ally

Overview

Garden Ally is a mobile app that helps urban residents turn their gardens into pollinator-friendly ecosystems. Many people care about the decline of bees and birds but don't know how to help. The app closes that gap between awareness and action with guidance, small interactive tasks and rewards.

My role

Solo project, Dec 2023 – May 2024. I covered research, interaction design and UI design, working in Figma and Notion.

Process

Research. Private gardens make up roughly 35–47% of urban green space, and about 87% of households have access to one, yet they are rarely used for ecological purposes. A 62-response survey and five interviews with garden owners surfaced three pain points: a knowledge gap (where to start, which plants help), low motivation without visible impact, and information overload.

Problem. How might urban residents easily and enjoyably turn their gardens into thriving ecosystems?

Early concepts and testing. I sketched daily eco-tasks, AR pollinator identification and map exploration. Rough clickable prototypes showed problems with onboarding and navigation, and a disconnect between the gamification and real ecological actions. I restructured the experience around an action-first task flow with instant feedback and visible progress, and reorganised the information architecture so every section helps users act, reflect or grow.

Design. Low-fidelity wireframes came first, then a soft, friendly visual style backed by a small design system. Usability testing with five users informed the final revisions.

Outcome

The final design centres on three features:

• Smart garden planning: recommendations based on soil, light and biodiversity conditions.
• Live tracking: visual insights into your environmental impact over time.
• Gamified challenges: eco-friendly tasks earn points that unlock gardening tools and upgrades.