Seeking feedback on prototype
Summary:
Seeking feedback on a web app for gardeners that allows them to drag and drop plants on to a virtual yard
https://www.dropbox.com/s/te9buhec9xnthpc/bluplanted.mov?dl=0
Background:
I'm working a landscape planning web app to help the home garden enthusiast better plan their home gardening projects. The problem I'm trying to solve is for homeowners that want to plan their landscape, but struggle knowing how many plants they can allocate in their front or backyards and what type of plants are available. I came up with the idea as I had this problem firsthand trying to figure out how to best plan landscaping for my front yard.
To solve that problem, I'm creating a web app that offers a drag and drop interface for homeowners to blueprint their virtual yard.
I've recorded a screen walkthrough of a crude prototype in the link below and appreciate any feedback on ideas for growth, whether this is a problem worth solving and/or if I should pivot to something else.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/te9buhec9xnthpc/bluplanted.mov?dl=0
Thanks!
I formerly ran my own florist shop, so really like the initial idea!
The things which would make this work:
A super ambitious plus would be a 3d view where you could see the layout and heights of different plants, and maybe even a colour palette matcher.
Thanks for the feedback and great suggestions!
Once you were done creating a blueprint, what would you do with it?
By be able to draw the shape of your garden, do you mean be able to outline your garden? How would this help you?
Great idea regarding the 3d view, but there are actually apps that do this for you so I decided to focus on the top down view :)
Once done with the blueprint, i would probably start looking at how to prepare the garden. Eg, do i have the right type of soil for what i plant or do i need top-soil? For those newer to gardening, it would probably help to have some information about how to prepare the ground.
The next step would be where to find the plants i've chosen - maybe this is where you can monetize. You could maybe have an online plant store with links to each plant chosen in the blueprint.
With the outline suggestion, yes, it would be to create an outline of my own garden. This would better help me imagine how it would look in real life. Eg, maybe i have a pond/shed i need to accommodate or want to leave space for garden furniture
On the topic of of being able to imagine how things would look in real life. Would you use an app like iScape (link below) to help you do that?
When would you see yourself using what I'm working on (a bird's eye view of your landscape for high level planning) vs something more in-person that iScape offers?
https://www.iscapeit.com/
Thanks again for the feedback very helpful!
Couple other questions - since you formerly owned your own florist shop, how do shops or other plant stores like yours get your information on sun needs, water needs, drought tolerance, soil needs, etc.
Does the farm/supplier give you this information? Do you have any suggestions on how I could reliably get this info?
Also, on the subject of monetization, do you see plant stores like yours partnering with an app like mine to help them drive more leads to their store? For instance, is it feasible for me to link to a plant shop that carries a certain plant and monetize off of commission for driving a lead?
Re sources of information, this is varied. Lots of people in that industry will have gone to floristry school or a horticulture college where they teach you. Most suppliers are also very knowledgeable, and happy to answer any questions about how to take care of the plants. and of course there's trial and error. Once you've killed a plant, you find out what it does and doesn't like. There are lots of websites now that have information on this, if you a google search on 'how to take care of x...'
The problem i see with affiliates is that most florist shop owners won't have the software to track where the sales are coming from and you won't be able to track if your leads are driving sales. Florists also take telephone orders, so this would need to be considered too.
Thank you for info! This is helpful. Would you happen to know if suppliers openly share this information with nurseries? Specifically I mean things like a plant's height, its spread, the zone it grows well in, water needs, light needs, etc.
To be honest, I'm not sure how much of this suppliers share with nurseries. I guess the nurseries themselves already have a wealth of information before starting the business. Any time I talk to the owners / employees from them, they really know their stuff. But it's also possible some info is provided by the suppliers.
Got it thanks! With the outline suggestion, wouldn't the satellite image be enough to identify where your garden boundaries should be since you can see things like sidewalks, walls, and structures?
It'd be ok if things are exactly the same as when the satellite images were taken. But allowing me to do my own would let me add things that aren't currently there eg decking, shed etc
That makes total sense thanks!
No worries, good luck with the project. Let me know if you need testers / more feedback!
Any suggestions on websites, forums, or other communities where the audience that would be interested in this type of app hangs out?
Also, what kind of blog content would this audience be interested in seeing?
We're everywhere, but I suspect instagram and twitter would be a good start.
Look for pple following the chelsea flower show, good housekeeping and landscaping companies etc. They'll probably be house-proud homeowners - not many pple would spend their own money fixing up the garden just so the landlord can profit.
I'd want to see examples of real gardens which were designed using the app. Think property porn but for gardens.
Content-wise, it's difficult to know even for someone like me what thrives where. Education about how to look after plants, which ones to choose depending on location / sunlight, how to tell how acidic your soil is, how to attract wildlife would be helpful
Awesome idea! Where do you think your community hangs out? Gardening forums? Garden shops? Instagram handles on gardening?
I think gardening forums and places like Houzz, but not entirely sure
Interesting project!
Some years ago, I thought to realize this kind of tool for my own garden first, and then for selling it as a SaaS (but it was more to design a forest garden).
Unfortunately, I'm not sure that many people will accept to pay for this kind of tool for several reasons:
...
Have you validated your project before starting developing it ?
Anyway, good luck because it's a cool project for a developer ;-)
Thanks for the feedback. I don't see this being offered as a SaaS, but likely as a free tool supported with advertisements.
My goal is to make this as simple as possible so that there will be no drawing, but simply dragging and dropping.
When you realized this kind of tool for your garden, did you build a prototype or did you not start at all after coming to this realization? How far did you get and at what point did you stop? What kind of feedback did you get?
In fact I never realized this tool because of common issues in side projects: I was too ambitious, I thought about too many features and at the end, my "specification" was too huge :D