Task
Mountain Crest Gardens (MCG) is a family owned succulent nursery in Northern California with a huge inventory. Over the course of two weeks, I created a mobile version of their desktop interface using the following patterns: vertical stack, filmstrip, collection and cards, infinite list, and more.
Struggle and Ideation
MCG has over 1000 different varieties of succulents, and because of this I initially had trouble deciding which patterns best organized each page. I took a step back and drew inspiration from design texts and other e-commerce interfaces. I started to focus and sketched out a few low-fi wireframes I thought work best.
Sometimes choosing color palettes and typography can feel arbitrary or aimless, but since MCG had lots of existing content to work with, coming up with the aesthetic for the mobile site went smoothly. I went with a sandy beige, earthy green and deep rose to mimic the colors of succulents, and a sans-serif font for a fresh and “healthy” vibe.
I liked the look of my first prototype, but the floral background made it too busy and would likely confuse the user’s intuition. I sought and was enlightened by critiques from others, and created a more calm and user friendly interface.
Solution
Final MCG Prototype
Lesson
I was the sole designer on this project, which reaffirms my belief in asking for outside feedback, as well as the gratitude I have for it. I learned the benefits of being patient with myself, to follow my designer instincts and to allow myself to make huge changes deep into the project. Not doing so will most likely lead to negative results.
First MCG Prototype
