Mobile App
Pollination Nation was designed to help protect and teach about native pollinators around
the country. Pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and beetles have a large influence on
what we eat and even more so on the wider ecosystem around us. While pollinating insects
have been neglected over the year, Native Tribes have been able to cohabitate with nature
for centuries without leaving much impact on the land.
The goal is to increase awareness for pollinators and native tribes by teaching students
and younger generations. We aim to increase support for protecting pollinators in the future
and keeping the traditions of Native Tribes alive for many years to come.
UX designer leading the app and responsive website design from conception to delivery.
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, iterating on designs, determining information architecture, and responsive design.
October 2022
I began by creating some rough paper wireframe sketches of what I thought the app should loook like. I came up with a few different ideas through a couple rounds of Crazy 8’s. I choose the ideas that seemed the most appealing to me and created digital wireframes in Figma.
Using the Lo-Fi Prototype, a few user frustrations emerged.
This app is designed to be more accessible to Native people’s by including the option select your language preference. I also spoke with a friend with a walking disability. He provided valuable insight in creating the mapping feature and other considerations I had not considered. Going forward, I tried to make the app more accessible by using high contrast visuals with easy to tap buttons so more users can successfully use this application.
While creating the sitemap for the web-app, I wanted to make the Native Tribal History a bigger portion of the site since the mobile app is more pollinator based. When thinking about a version 2, I would consider putting more opportunities to learn Native History throughout the app.
There is a lot of history that needs to be told when it comes to Native Americans. Because of that, I had to add more pages to the sites navigation and layout. I like the website design for this product since it is fairly simple with many reusable components. Many elements were tried to be reused from the app to help with brand awareness.
This project taught me that simplicity is a great goal to have for UIUX design. Many components were reused throughout the app and web-layouts. Not only did reusing design elements and components make building out the app easier, but they also made everything feel more connected. The image cards to display pollinator species worked well for categories and the Native Tribe categories as well. I’d love to see how useful this app could be in helping youth learn more about the pollinators that help produce the food we eat. I hope this product would also bring more attention to Native American tribes as well as their stories and traditions. This project gave me the opportunity to learn a lot. Not only about design, but about the culture of Native American’s and their expansive history. I look to improve on these designs going forward after further testing and usability studies.