Urban gardening is the collective use of urban open spaces for horticultural purposes. The individual urban gardens are organized as associations or small projects and offer their members the opportunity to participate in the design of their city, to strengthen their own awareness of sustainable cultivation and to integrate socially. The challenge of the gardens lies in the networking of the members, the organization and the formation of an integrative community.

This is where the māra application comes in. The tool is designed not only to improve communication, but also to promote social interaction within the garden projects. Concrete functions will encourage garden members to actively help and vice versa. Each user should be able to individually determine his or her willingness to work together. The goal is to strengthen cooperation within the gardens, regardless of background, and to make it barrier-free.

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„The application is not meant to replace local communication and exchange, but to enhance it." - Dr. Peter Stebbing from Paletti Garden Schwäbisch Gmünd

māra

The eponymous concept title "māra" comes from the Polynesian language Maori and means "garden". In the concept, one's own garden bed is presented as a digital twin that documents and comments on important gardening activities. It is also the starting point for all community gardening activities.

‍Garden Profile
Each networked garden has its own garden profile.  Here they can present information about their garden, its members, rules, etc. to new members.

Search Gardens
The application is designed to provide both existing and new members with an easy and quick way to connect with a garden project of their choice.

‍Add garden
The interactive garden map is the heart of the application. The garden map displays the layout of the garden and the beds within it. ‍Owners of urban garden projects have the opportunity to add their garden to the "māra" network. A configurator can be used to create the entire garden profile, as well as a garden map, a floor plan of the garden and the beds.

My bed in detail
A digital profile of their own bed gives users an overview of all activities in their bed. They can ask for help directly, for example, if someone should water their bed while they are on vacation. Comments can be written under the beds of other members, e.g. to point out complaints.

Events
A key service of the app is the scheduling of garden events. A context-sensitive visual design helps users participate equally in garden activities across language barriers and better integrate.

‍Knowledge Transfer
Basic gardening information is provided in a knowledge glossary. Step-by-step instructions help users learn important gardening basics.

‍Behind the screens

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Our concept
‍The individual functionalities of the application create a layer to facilitate collaborative actions in the garden. The tool is not only intended to improve communication, but also to promote social interaction within the garden projects. Another core aspect of the concept is the improvement of social interaction within the garden projects. Easy exchange, knowledge transfer and mutual help in gardening should be facilitated. In most of the gardens the community is the first priority. Through a concrete function in the concept, garden members should be encouraged to help actively, such as helping with planting, and vice versa. Each user should be able to individually determine his or her willingness to work together. It is also about bringing members together and strengthening their community.

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‍‍Visualizations‍

The goal is to provide equal interaction and communication within the garden for all garden members through functionally appropriate iconography. Language barriers and comprehension problems can be avoided through visual language.

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‍Wireframes & Informationarchitecture‍

Over the course of the project, the navigation architecture evolved and changed. Even in the early stages of the project, we were able to define menu items according to importance and find deeper levels. The focus should always be on collaboration and getting information to the end user.‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

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‍Away from Screen

User Tests
In close cooperation with the International Garden in Ditzingen and the garden manager Sylwia, our first prototype has already been tested several times. We were also able to inspire volunteers from our university, who are actively involved in the university's own gardening program, to use our prototype. In a total of four user tests, we tested the usability, the general comprehensibility and the information architecture. In addition, we examined how the individual functions are perceived and operated, and the general "joy of use", i.e. how the handling itself is designed for the user. In this way, we first identified the strengths and weaknesses of our prototype and then moved on to improvements. In addition to interactions, layout and wording, highlighting, onboarding and enhancements were better elaborated during our process.

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Here is an example:

Layout and wording
To better focus on the garden map and events, the layout of the home screens was revised.
We also replaced and improved some misleading menu item wording.

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