Rooted
Mobile app
OVERVIEW
A seamless, centralized training platform for farm volunteers, aimed at improving productivity and volunteer retention
What I Did
UX Research (lead)
UX & UI Design
Videography
Team
3 other designers
Tools
Figma
Timeline
5 months
CONTEXT
Background
5-month project for my capstone at MHCI+D
My team and I were interested in the issues concerning the volunteer-run University of Washington (UW) Farm, where we had the opportunity to conduct ethnographic research in the urban sustainability space. Over 5 months, my team and I researched, designed, and prototyped an MVP for the UW farm, which I presented in front of over 200 industry guests, peers, professors, and family at our capstone presentation. After graduation, I spent additional time getting feedback and iterating on the UI.
Whiteboarding insights with my team to pinpoint core problems on the farm.
CONTEXT
Problem
An influx of 50-100 inexperienced volunteers every 10 weeks
Students looking to fulfill class requirements come to the farm each quarter. Farm leadership are overwhelmed and frustrated by trying to manage these newbies in addition to running the farm itself, especially meeting production needs. Existing solutions include delegating teaching responsibilities to other experienced volunteers. There are online resources that management would like volunteers to use, but volunteers don’t use them because they don’t fit their mental model of the farm.
CONTEXT
Opportunity
Improve volunteer engagement, autonomy, and retention
The farm also has volunteers who are experienced and capable. They are intrinsically motivated by camaraderie, understanding how food grows, and seeing the impact of their work. By providing improved educational resources and making them personally meaningful, we can better support new volunteers and help them grow into a strong, engaged community.
short-term design opportunityEducate service learners on basic farm tasks and crop knowledge, freeing leadership up and making work on the farm more efficient.
long-term design opportunityRetain service learners, transforming them into a larger base of ongoing, experienced volunteers that can be relied upon.
The Challenge
How might we improve volunteer education and retention on an operational urban farm in order to relieve burdens on farm leadership?
Research
The University of Washington Farm (UW Farm) is a 1.5 acre farm with approximately 400 volunteers in any given year.
The farm is fully operational and relies on production revenue to stay afloat. The only funding the university provides is to pay the salaries of the mere two farm managers, who are responsible for the entire gamut of farm operations, from the volunteer program to administrative roles and production and distribution.
We used three methods: contextual inquiry, ethnographic research, and semi-structured interviewing, to learn about the volunteer program from the point of view of the entire farm ecosystem.
Synthesis
We synthesized our findings by using an affinity map and creating a service journey map.
There was a communication breakdown between service learners having questions throughout their journey and staff being unable to get to them all due to the high volume of new volunteers, and volunteers needing readily available resources.
From the Farm Manager
“We have students for 10 weeks and then they disappear… it’s always a new group revolving like a turnstile… we have that as a disadvantage.”
Insights
The problem we identified—as well as glimpses into what could help the farm community—is felt by multiple stakeholders.
Farm staff are overburdened and managing the influx of “service learners,” including training them, adds more strain.
This is the core problem.
Service learners (SLs) are volunteers who come in large numbers for only 10 weeks to complete a UW class requirement.
They have unmet informational needs.
Volunteers who are capable and come of their own volition stay because they find purpose, meaning, and connectedness.
We can give SLs this deeper experience.
Design Principles
We developed these experience design principles based on our research insights in order to center human meaning and purpose in our approach.
01
The solution should enable volunteers to be autonomous.
02
The solution should convey the impact of the farm work.
03
A solution should provide a source of information to volunteers that is convenient and accessible.
04
A solution should help volunteers feel that they belong on the farm and are connected to their community.
Design Hypothesis
Retain and convert novice workers to capable workers by improving training and work flow.
Ideation & Downselection
I wrote HMWs for the team to guide our brainstorm of over 100 ideas, and then we downselected by dot voting using our design principles.
We landed on the concept of a mobile app that volunteers can use to track the crops they’re working on.
I iterated on the design using storyboarding, sketches, and wireframes
We collaborated on a storyboard to create and iterate on feature ideas and key touchpoints, such as when users would prepare for their next shift.
From the Farm Manager
“If students are involved with the farm over a series of seasons, they become people who can run the field.”
The Final Design
Home
The home screen consolidates volunteers’ information needs into a centralized place that fits their mental model of the farm itself as the source of answers.
Farm leadership would have more time when volunteers are more autonomous.
Upcoming Tasks
Our research showed that newer volunteers felt awkward asking questions on the farm. And farm leadership wanted volunteers to be more resourceful in seeking out answers on their own.
The Upcoming Tasks flow guides volunteers through their tasks for a shift, including how-to videos (such as those on the farm’s YouTube) preparing them for their work.
Growth Care Dashboard
In our research, we found that both service learners and farm leadership experienced friction and chaos when it came to task delegation.
Volunteers can be autonomous by using a reference for their prioritized work assignments.
Growth Cycle Tracker
Tracking a single crop provides insights into its growth and highlights contributions from fellow volunteers.
Our research shows that volunteers are motivated by visible crop progress, learning about the big picture behind their work, and teamwork.
Shift Manager
Shift management and hours requirements are an essential part of the service learning volunteer program. Integrating this into the centralized mobile app streamlines volunteers’ workflow and service duties.
Measuring Success
I showed our proof of concept to the farm committee co-chair and an experienced volunteer. The feedback was positive.
Their feedback has validated Rooted’s potential to
help train inexperienced volunteers,
build community by facilitating communication and planning among student volunteers, and
integrate well with existing farm operations such as monitoring harvest dates, production metrics, and record keeping for organic certification.
Next Steps
Prototype test Upcoming Tasks, Growth Care, and Cycle Tracker
Build out flow to upload videos for volunteer-driven farm education library
Create companion app for farm leadership
Reflections
01
Moving from initial sketches to polished Hi-Fi designs taught me a lot about best practices for UI and presenting work for critique.
02
Ideation can be a non-linear process that involves taking multiple perspectives.
03
Storyboarding can be a powerful, low-cost method to “test” design ideas.
04
Listening is an important part of leading.
