Smart Farm Tools

Overview

Smart Farm Tools (SFT) is a Seattle-based startup building products for small farms and home gardeners. Their goal was to create a single app that allows users to monitor soil quality, control watering devices, and manage their gardening equipment, consolidating multiple disconnected apps into one intuitive experience. I was brought on as the sole UX and product designer to define their brand and design the accompanying app, including light interactions and animations.

Challenge

Users of existing gardening tech often have to juggle multiple apps, each tied to a single device. Early feedback from product testing indicated that users primarily wanted to water their plants remotely and track gardening finances, such as buying seeds and selling produce. When I joined, SFT had no design system beyond a logo, and the brand had no visual language, leaving the product with a fragmented identity.

Original demo screens for Smart Farm Tools companion app

My Role

I was responsible for both UX and branding, which included:

Defining the brand’s visual language: colors, fonts, patterns, and imagery rules
Collaborating with the founders and the app builder (developer Josh Beck) for feedback and implementation
Designing key app screens: login, dashboard, finance, profile, and journal
Creating light interactions and animations to improve usability

I worked mostly independently under strict time and budget constraints, limiting billable hours to 3-4 per week. Despite this, I delivered a cohesive brand and app experience.

Tools used: Figma (desktop & mobile design, prototyping), Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Rive

Users

The primary audience was home gardeners and hobbyists (ages 30–50), with small farmers as a secondary audience. Users needed a balance of technical comfort for initial device setup and intuitive design for daily use. My design approach prioritized simplicity, clarity, and familiarity, so users could manage their gardens quickly without feeling overwhelmed.

Research & Discovery

User Insights:

Users wanted remote watering control and easy monitoring of soil conditions.
Financial tracking was cumbersome and unclear in existing tools.

Competitive Analysis:

Most products offered only single-device control apps, lacking integration.

Brand Prompts:

The founder described a preference for retro-futurism, cottagecore, and “juicy textures,” while avoiding greens and browns.
I translated these abstract ideas into Art Deco-inspired patterns, cozy-but-not-overwhelming layouts, and translucent containers that subtly refract textures behind them.

Constraints:

Limited billable hours
The need to keep designs consistent with common UX patterns for accessibility and usability

Design Approach

Brand & Visual Language:

Colors inspired by fruits (plums, oranges, nectarines)
Fonts and spacing defined for clarity and hierarchy
Cozy, bento-box layouts to maintain visual interest without overwhelming users
Design rules to keep personality consistent across screens and graphics

UX Decisions:

Dashboard: Centralized watering controls, soil data widgets, weather, and notifications for quick, glanceable insights.
Navigation: Bottom nav with no more than five icons; top nav for settings/profile. Data presented in larger, readable sizes.
Interactions: Familiar gestures (swipes to archive/delete), subtle animations for confirmations, intuitive affordances.
Finance Screen: Simplified dense data; unified edit actions to reduce clutter.

Brand colors, font styles, patterns, and images.

Key Screens

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Dashboard: Placed key watering controls front and center; used iconography, color coding, and text for fast comprehension.
Login Screen: Bright, playful backgrounds with fruit and vegetable imagery to inject personality.
Finance Screen: Simplified interactions, clear hierarchy, and reduced visual clutter.

Outcome & Deliverables

I delivered:

A basic design system: colors, fonts, and reusable components
High-fidelity screens for key flows: login, dashboard, finance, profile, journal
Light interactions and animations integrated into the app
Brand guidance for imagery, layouts, and visual style

The designs were implemented by the app builder, and I received iterative feedback over weekly meetings. The team moved forward with Kickstarter planning, although the project seems paused at the time of writing.

Reflection

I’m proud of how I translated abstract brand directions into a cohesive, playful, and usable design system under tight constraints. The dashboard, login, and finance screens effectively solved core user problems and balanced personality with usability. If I were to revisit this project, I would refine user flows and scenarios further, but overall I’m satisfied with how the app and brand came together, creating an intuitive and visually engaging experience for home gardeners and hobbyists.