As caring for our planet becomes more urgent, the global decline in bee populations highlights the fragility of nature.
This crisis threatens both our ecosystems and environmental heritage. We aim to inspire Norwegian families and home gardeners to take action, emphasizing the vital role bees play in our shared environment.
About
Spearheaded by the visionary duo Anne Karen Toverud and Marcus Bakke, the HumbleBees project is an innovative initiative aimed at conserving bee populations through technological solutions. At its core, the project leverages the power of digital technology to foster environmental sustainability and protect our vital bee populations.
We anticipate heightened awareness and practical engagement in bee conservation among our users. We envision a vibrant community platform where experiences and knowledge are shared, collectively fostering a culture of environmental stewardship in the fuller version.
My role
UX Researcher
UX & UI Designer
Main Roles:
Planning
IA- Information Architecture
User- and Task Flows
Tools used
Research
Primary:
Semi structure interview
Our adaptable interview script focused on uncovering motivations and behaviors for bee conservation. It effectively addressed our main research objectives: discovering the driving factors behind participation in beefriendly initiatives and finding ways to encourage such actions within our target audience.
Secondary:
Literature Review
We delved into bee-related subject matter, reviewing articles and documentaries to understand their environmental importance and existing conservation solutions. This research shapes our strategy to promote bee-friendly practices effectively among our target groups.
Secondary:
Competetive analysis
We delved into bee-related subject matter, reviewing articles and documentaries to understand their environmental importance and existing conservation solutions. This research shapes our strategy to promote bee-friendly practices effectively among our target groups.
Target audience
A key strategic business goal was the precise identification and formation of our target audience. This process was crucial for establishing a clear context for our research, guiding us in defining specific goals and objectives tailored to the needs and challenges of our audience, and aiding in the development of accurate and representative personas.
Home Gardners:
Age: 30-55 years old, single and couple. Urban and suburban areas.
Middle-class and above Enthusiastic about gardening and nature, home gardeners aged 30-55 years are deeply interested in pollinator-friendly plants and practices.
They often have a garden, balcony, or small outdoor space and are willing to invest time and resources in bee conservation. These individuals occasionally use apps that provide practical information and actionable advice to enhance their gardening efforts. They appreciate features such as timely notifications for garden care tips and suggestions, which align with their commitment to creating and maintaining a bee-friendly environment.
Family with kids:
Age: 25-50 years old parents, single parent, kids. Urban and suburban areas.
Middle-class and above Parents aged 25-50 years, including single parents with young children, are on the lookout for family-friendly activities and educational resources related to nature and conservation.
They may have a small garden, a community garden plot, or access to local parks where they can connect with nature. These families value apps that offer interactive and educational content that can be shared with their children, fostering a family-oriented approach to learning about the environment. Notifications from such apps that suggest nature-related family activities are particularly beneficial, as they provide opportunities for parents and children to learn about and engage in bee conservation together.
Affinity mapping
By employing affinity mapping, we transformed our collected data into a structured, insightful foundation for our UX design process. This method ensured that our design decisions were not only data-driven but also deeply empathetic to our users' needs and experiences, aligning with the highest standards of UX research and design.
How We Conducted Affinity Mapping:
1. Data Segmentation: We began by breaking down the information from our literature reviews and interviews into discrete data points. These points included quotes, observations, and key findings.
2. Grouping and Categorization: These data points were then thematically grouped. Similar ideas, issues, and user sentiments were clustered together. This process was iterative, involving constant refinement and re-evaluation of the groups.
3. Theme Identification: From these groups, we identified major themes. These themes represented the core insights and patterns that emerged from our data, providing a clear direction for our UX strategy.
4. Actionable Insights Development: Finally, we translated these themes into actionable insights. These insights informed our design decisions, ensuring they were grounded in real user needs and experiences.
Atomic model
Facts:
There's a significant gap in public knowledge about bee-friendly plants and initiatives. Technological interventions like in-hive sensors, AI applications, and smart technologies are proving effective in bee conservation. Participants show a general interest in nature and insects, with a specific focus on bees.
Insight:
Participants expressed a desire to learn which plants are beneficial for bees and how to support bee-friendly environments. There's a keen interest in user-friendly mobile applications that educate and engage users in bee conservation. Concerns were raised about the lack of accessible information and support for beefriendly initiatives. Participants suggested ideas for apps, including gamified content for children, plant scanning features, and interactive educational tools.
Opportunities:
Develop a mobile application that makes choosing bee-friendly plants easy and informative. Incorporate features in the app for community engagement and information about local bee conservation efforts. Utilize gamification and interactive learning to educate users, especially children, about bees and their importance. Create a platform within the app for local beekeepers and organizations to share knowledge and raise awareness about bee conservation..
Conclusion and Recommendations:
Our research indicates a strong potential for a user-centered mobile application that simplifies the selection of bee-friendly plants and provides educational content. The app should focus on being intuitive and informative, catering to both adults and children. Incorporating community features and partnerships with local bee conservation initiatives can enhance the app's effectiveness and reach. Emphasizing the importance of bees in our ecosystem through engaging and interactive content can significantly contribute to raising awareness and promoting bee-friendly practices.
Insight
Awareness and knowledge variances: There is a range of awareness among participants about the importance of bees for the ecosystem and food chain. Some participants are well-informed, while others possess limited knowledge but express a willingness to learn.
Engagement in bee conservation: Engagement levels vary significantly. Some participants have taken proactive steps like building insect hotels and planting bee-friendly gardens, while others have not considered bees in their gardening practices.
Motivations for conservation: The main motivations for engaging in bee conservation include an understanding of the ecological importance of bees, personal enjoyment of gardening, and a desire to educate children about nature.
Use of technology: There is an interest in using technology, such as mobile apps, to identify bee-friendly plants and to gain gardening tips. However, there is a need for simplicity and ease of use in such applications.
Barriers to action: Barriers include a lack of information on how to create bee-friendly environments, misconceptions about bees, and fears (such as being stung).
Personas
Primary personas
“Mette, a nature-loving teacher from rural norway nutures her garden to create a pollinator friendly oasis”
Secondary personas
“Caroline, a suburban graphic designer and mother, aim to connect her family with nature and educate her children about bee conservation”
Empathy map
Primary personas
Saying
I find peace and tranquility in my garden.
I want to create a beautiful and bee-friendly garden.
Gardening is my therapy.
Thinks
Mette feels joy and fulfillment when her garden blooms.
She feels overwhelmed by the vast amount of information available on gardening.
She feels a sense of responsibility towards the environment.
Doing
Spends hours tending to her garden.
I want to create a beautiful and bee-friendly garden.
Seeks gardening tips and bee-friendly plant recommendations online.
Participates in gardening forums and Facebook groups.
Feels
Mette feels joy and fulfillment when her garden blooms.
She feels overwhelmed by the vast amount of information available on gardening.
She feels a sense of responsibility towards the environment.
Pain
Uncertainty about selecting bee-friendly plants.
She hears about the importance of planting native flowers for bees.
Encountering pest problems in her garden without eco-friendly solutions.
Mette hears about the decline in bee populations, which concerns her.
Lack of knowledge about where to seek help or guidance.
She hears conflicting advice on how to make her garden bee-friendly.
Need
Mette needs clear and concise guidance on creating a bee-friendly garden.
She needs a supportive community to share her gardening experiences.
She needs access to a user-friendly mobile app for bee conservation.
Gain
Mette sees her garden as a canvas for creating beauty and supporting biodiversity.
She notices changes in her garden's ecosystem. She observes the impact of her gardening practices on local bee populations.
Her growing awareness of the importance of bees and what to plant has been both motivating and helpful.
The problem statement
Our home gardeners and families with children are struggling to find information and guidance with meaningful intentions about nature and bee conservation because they have limited resources and lack of awareness.
If we can solve this problem, it would impact and enrich their understanding of the environment positivly because it will motivate and simplify their initiative to implement bee-friendly practices in their daily gardening.
It would also benefit our business by increasing bee conservation awareness, encourage the adoption of beefriendly practices, foster high user engagement, and achieve a significant number of app downloads within six months of launch among home gardeners and families with children.
User need statement
Mette, an environmentally conscious gardener, needs a comprehensive gardening solution that helps her create a pollinator-friendly garden.
She requires guidance in selecting bee-friendly plants, eco-friendly solutions for common gardening issues, and an easy way to integrate environmentally friendly practices into her daily gardening routines. Mette seeks a userfriendly mobile application like 'The HumbleBees' that provides personalized recommendations, expert guidance, and a community of like-minded gardeners.
This tool will empower her to foster a deeper connection with the environment and support bee conservation
Vision statement
“We aim to develop a mobile app that enables home gardeners and families to participate in bee conservation. Our goal is to become a key resource for bee conservation knowledge and action, creating a community dedicated to Bee-sustainable practices and environmental care, with a target to drive widespread adoption of bee-friendly actions within the first three years after post-launch."
Ideation workshop
In our ideation workshop for the HumbleBees project, we meticulously navigated through three distinct phases, transforming a wide array of ideas into actionable solutions:
The Opening Phase: The workshop commenced with engaging activities, including icebreakers and bee-related trivia, to stimulate participant involvement. The employment of "how might we" statements, coupled with the laddering technique, fostered an environment conducive to expansive thinking. This approach ensured the generation of a diverse pool of ideas, each deeply rooted in the fundamental challenges associated with bee conservation.
The Middle Phase: This phase was characterised by a skillful balance between divergent and convergent thinking. Creative ideation techniques such as brainstorming and mind mapping were employed to encourage the free generation of ideas. Concurrently, the application of evaluative tools like the NUF Test and the Moscow Method was instrumental in distilling these ideas into the most viable and impactful solutions. This dual-faceted approach guaranteed a thorough and comprehensive exploration of concepts, allowing only the most promising and feasible ideas to advance.
Closing Phase: In this final stage, ideas were concretized through sketching, pitching, and collective decision-making. The team reached a consensus on prioritizing bee facts and garden features for the app's immediate launch. Subsequent phases will focus on integrating personalization and community features, with an emphasis on developing content for families and children. This strategic approach streamlined decision-making and aligned the team with a focused, actionable plan.
Recommendation
Implement Bee Facts Update Cycle: Establish a regular content update cycle, leveraging expert insights and user engagement data to ensure the Bee Facts feature remains accurate, engaging, and educational.
Develop a Garden Feature Database: Collaborate with horticultural experts to create a comprehensive database of beefriendly plants. This feature should provide personalized gardening advice and maintenance tips, encouraging users to adopt bee-friendly practices.
Enhance Personalization Mechanics: Design and implement a sophisticated personalization engine. Utilize user feedback and engagement metrics to continuously refine and tailor the app experience to individual user preferences.
Create Engaging Family and Kids Games: Develop interactive and educational games focused on bee conservation, in collaboration with educational experts, to engage children and families, fostering a foundational appreciation for environmental stewardship.
Establish a Community Engagement Framework: Post-app stabilization, introduce a community feature designed for interaction and collaboration among bee enthusiasts. This platform should include moderation and feature user-generated content to foster a vibrant community spirit.
Information Architecture
The Information Architecture of the Humblebee app clearly organizes its features and content, ensuring users can easily navigate and engage with its bee-friendly resources.
This intuitive structure supports the goal of educating users on bee conservation, which is essential for delivering an optimal user experience.
User flow
Mette's user journey is meticulously structured to support her garden's transformation with bee-friendly plants. Decision nodes within the app guide her at critical junctures, like choosing between various plant options or learning about their benefits for bees.
Each page presents information that is relevant to her current task, with interactions designed to be straightforward and informative. This facilitates a smooth transition from planning to execution, ensuring that her experience is not only seamless but also contributes positively to bee conservation, embodying an design that prioritizes user engagement and environmental stewardship.
Task flow
Mette is using camera to find bee-friendly flower and plants
Mette is using camera to find bee-friendly flower and plants
Low fidelity wireframing
In designing our low-fidelity wireframes, we applied core design principles, guided by insights from our persona studies and ideation sessions, to guarantee an exceptional user experience.
Our commitment to consistency ensured a cohesive design language throughout the app, promoting intuitive use. We introduced a clear hierarchy to ease navigation and inspire user participation in bee conservation efforts. Careful attention to the visual grouping of elements like shapes and sizes was crucial, allowing users to quickly and efficiently make selections relevant to their interests in flora.
These deliberate design strategies, rooted in our understanding of user needs and creative brainstorming, exemplify our dedication to providing seamless and engaging interaction with the Humblebee app.
Test Lo- to mid-fidelity wireframes
We opted to conduct a remote, unmoderated usability test for our early prototype design, excluding any in-person guidence. This decision aimed to closely mimic how participants would interact with the final product. Usability testing assumed a pivotal role in ensuring the effectiveness and user-friendliness of our product. We meticulously followed a structured process, encompassing the definition of objectives, creation of test scenarios, and the careful selection of suitable participants. During the testing phase, participants actively engaged with our low-fidelity wireframes, executed tasks, and shared valuable insights.
Usability test goals
The goal of our usability testing is to thoroughly evaluate the user experience of the HumbleBees app. We aim to:
Assessing the ease of use and intuitiveness of the app.
Evaluating the app's navigation to ensure users can easily access features.
Measuring the effectiveness of the educational content in educating users about bee conservation.
Identifying usability issues, pain points, or areas for improvement based on user interactions.
Gaining a deep understanding of user behavior, preferences, and needs to inform design decisions.
Ultimately, creating a highly user-friendly and effective product that users will love and find valuable.
Usability objectives
Onboarding and Personalization: Focus on evaluating the effectiveness of the onboarding process, including the ability of users to sign up, personalize their profiles, and understand the instructions provided.
Feature Accessibility and Navigation: Includes tasks like scanning the garden for bee-friendly flowers and accessing information about different bee species, which are aimed at evaluating how users interact with key features of the app.
Card Sorting for Personalization: Emphasizing the understanding of user preferences and behaviors, as a component of personalization, to create customized content aligned with users' needs and goals.
Identifying usability issues, pain points, or areas for improvement based on user interactions.
Feedback and User Experience: Prioritizes gathering feedback on user experience, challenges such as support, suggestions for enhancement, and feature updates.
Test tasks
Task 1: Testing onboarding experience:
Task 2: Identify bee-friendly flowers in your garden:
Task 3: Learn more about bees and how you can help them:
Task 4: Show how you can make a bee-friendly bath in your garden
Task 5: Card sorting
Data collection
Qualitative
data collection
To organize the data we had collected, we employed affinity mapping for the issues and observations derived from voice scripts, noting these on sticky notes and then categorizing them into themes. Concurrently, feedback from qualitative post-session questions, which was not part of the affinity mapping, was systematically sorted using Excel following a data export from Userberry. Through this dual approach, after synthesizing the findings into coherent insights, we identified actionable solutions. This process allowed us to clearly discern the areas where our app needed improvements.
Step 1, gathering data points of pain points (quotes) from voice record:
Step 2, grouping findings into themes:
Step 3, consolidating findings and convert them into insight:
Step 4, identifying solutions for each insight:
Step 5, mapping out the solution on a time vs. matrics:
Quantitative
data collection
We utilized Userberry and Figma to collect the data and used Google Sheets as our central tool for conducting and analyzing, the usability test data.
Task completion status (e.g., success or failure of tasks).
Task completion metrics, such as time taken (in milliseconds) and the number of clicks.
Post-task ratings on a scale (e.g., ease of completing a task or usability of features).
Demographic data (age, gender, etc.). General task performance metrics, like the success rate and average time taken for task completion.
Findings
Findings Qualitaive
data collection
The overall purpose of this matrix was to help us make informed decisions about where to focus the development efforts to maximize impact and efficiency.
The key findings that emerged from our usability test:
Users requested a visible search fiels for easyer navigation.
Certain terms and elements on the home screen needed clarification.
Text readability, especially on mobile devices, required improvement.
Onboarding process needed streamlining for a more intuitiv experience.
Dashboard elements needed clearer explanations.
Icons and buttons needed improved understanding, possibly through redesign or tooltips.
Users expressed a need for a searchable knowledge base or FAQ section.
Ensuring all buttons and interactive elements in the prototype worked properly was essential.
Adjustments to the wireframe in the "Facts" section were necessary for logical flow.
Implementation of a tutorial or tooltips for first-time users was recommended.
Users should be allowed to report bugs, request features, or give feedback conveniently from the support menu.
Findings Quantitative
data collection
Quantitative Insights: The quantitative data from our usability test indicates a high success rate among participants in completing tasks, with only one participant encountering challenges in Task 3. Participants expressed positive attitudes toward specific app features, such as gender options and the introduction video. However, issues related to text legibility (due to low fidelity), task comprehension, and navigation were identified, emphasizing the need for design improvements in clarity, accessibility, and user guidance.
Implications for Design Iteration: Based on these findings, we recommend prioritizing enhancements in text legibility, task comprehension support, and navigation assistance. Additionally, focusing on personalized onboarding experiences and clear task instructions can further improve the user experience. These design iterations aim to resolve usability challenges and enhance overall satisfaction with the HumbleBees app.
Recommendations
Enhance Clarity in Onboarding: Address the feedback about small text size and overwhelming information during the onboarding process. Consider providing clearer instructions and ensuring text readability, especially on mobile devices.
Improve Navigation: Focus on improving the app's navigation. Implement user-friendly mechanisms that help users easily find their way.
Clarify Dashboard Elements: Users expressed confusion about certain dashboard elements. Provide clear and concise explanations or tooltips to ensure users understand the purpose of each element.
Streamline Personalization: Participants found the number of options in Garden Preferences overwhelming. Consider simplifying the personalization process or providing guidance to help users make choices more easily.
Enhance Visual Clarity: Improve the understanding of icons and buttons, possibly by redesigning them or adding tooltips. Additionally, consider incorporating a search field to help users find specific information quickly.
Multilingual Support: Given the language barriers some participants faced, consider offering multilingual support or providing additional language resources to make the app more inclusive.
User Testing Iterations: Continue to conduct user testing and iterate based on user feedback to further refine the app's usability and user experience.
Design iteration
Some of the iteration we did after the usability test:
Added an introduction video to enhance the information overload in the onbording process.
In Demography, some of our test users were uncertain about the slide component as part of the customization, so we added som text explanation. Additionally, there were comments regarding the necessity of providing an address. As a result, we made a toggle so it ispossible to turn it off.
Some of the participants found the number of options in Garden Preferences overwhelming. Consider simplifying the personalization process or providing guidance to help users make choices more easily.
High fidelity wireframes
Home screen
The high-fidelity home screen, have features with clear and consistent text and images, a search bar, and easy access to the menu. The bottom bar with distinct highlights ensures seamless navigation.
Bee-friendly flowers
Mette, the primary personas, scans her garden to identify whether her flowers are bee-friendly or not. She can also find information about the flowers she discovers in her garden.
Bee-friendly activities
This is how Caroline, secondary persona, can transform her garden into a more bee-friendly environment while also engaging in a fun and educational activity with her kids.
Summarize
The HumbleBees project was initiated to tackle the escalating crisis of bee decline, a situation threatening global ecosystems and food chains. Recognizing the pivotal role of bees in pollination and ecosystem balance, the project aimed to empower gardeners and families with children, living in Norway to participate in bee conservation through a user-friendly digital tool. The development process was deeply rooted in user-centric research, involving the creation of detailed personas like Mette and Caroline to represent the app's target audience. These personas were instrumental in shaping the app's features and design, ensuring they met the specific needs and challenges of users interested in bee-friendly practices. The design and development of the HumbleBees app involved a series of steps including ideation, sketching, and prototype creation using tools like Google Docs, FigJam, and Figma. The focus was on creating an intuitive, accessible, and engaging user experience, incorporating educational content about bees and personalized gardening suggestions.
Usability testing played a crucial role in refining the HumbleBees app, with both qualitative and quantitative data gathered from user interactions. Key findings highlighted the need for improvements in text readability, onboarding processes, and personalization features. The app was generally well-received, evidenced by high task completion rates and positive feedback on specific features like the flower scanning tool and bee species information. Based on the feedback, the app underwent several design refinements to enhance clarity, navigation, and overall user experience. Additionally, recommendations were made for adding a searchable knowledge base, simplifying the personalization process, and ensuring the functionality of all interactive elements.
These insights and subsequent improvements underscored the app's commitment to not only raising awareness but also fostering active participation in bee conservation, ultimately contributing to a sustainable future for bees and our natural environment.
