Problem:

Sustainable Agriculture education on plants doesn't offer a path to purchase. After learning about a plant or system the potential customer is left on another hunt to find the seed, cutting, or plant. Secondly, plant nurseries lose money when items are out of stock.

Hypothesis:

The website offers plant-customer-pairing based on filtering of customer's climatic region and plant function needed. If the item is out of stock the customer's shopping cart adds a tracking number to the same plant being sold on Amazon. Nursery gets Amazon Affiliate commission.

User Journey:

Needs to find plants
Learns about plant functions in the sustainable agriculture system
Pinpoints user's geographic area and range of climatic conditions relevant to plant growth and survival (hardiness zone)
Chooses functions they are interested in (ex. drought tolerant and medicinal)
Plant database filters based on criteria
Chooses plant
Learns about sun requirements, watering needs, propagation, etc.
Orders plant directly from the nursery
If not in stock links to plant on Amazon through API
Nursery gets direct sale or Amazon Affiliate commission

User flow:

Ecologically regenerative food forest nursery that specializes in unique edible plants as well as plants to fill specific functions in agroforestry and permaculture designs.

Goals:

Education on plant functions with a filtering tool.

Revenue, regardless if it is in stock or not.

The website must be easy to navigate and simple to use. The agriculture industry can be confusing and intimidating for people that feel they don't have a "green thumb."

Website Features

I made some JavaScript animations on the website's homepage to entice the customer to explore and learn. It featured a breakdown of the common plant functions, the staff's favorite plants, newsletter sign-up, blog, shopping cart with checkout, easy backend database for staff to add new plants.

Branding

I made the logo, branding, and animations for the farm in order to have a uniform look. We naturally choose a green palette. The farm is based in South Florida, it has a lush tropical jungle look.

I hired a professional drone pilot to film and animated a simple intro for their Youtube channel.

Functions & Filtering

The first goal of the website is education. This is accomplished by blog posts and the almightly plant filtering system. First, we identify the functions and give them their well-deserved badges. After explaining the functions and why each is important we lead them to the filter.

On the plant page, we have the options for filtering. First, they will find their Hardiness zone based on where they live. Next, they can check and explore which plants are best for them and their needs. There are multiple toggles and options for viewing and organizing their curated plant list.

Once a plant is selected that specific plant will be displayed with all information about it. This page can be used as a resource for planting instructions and will include things like watering, sun, and soil requirements. Here the user can also learn about techniques used to propagate the plant as well as highlight its specific functions.

Shopping & Revenue

Header

The top of this page features a large image of the plant that has a Javascript overlay applied to give it a bright green hue. The name, scientific name, and function are automatically pulled from the plant's MySQL database.

Under the header is a sentence that makes this plant special.

Gallery and Info

Next, we have an image gallery and the plant's information pulled from the MySQL database. These are linked to a page where the customer can find others in that specific category.

Pricing

If the plant is in stock at Huckleberry Holler's nursery it will show that price made by them. If it is out of stock it will automatically pull the latest price for that same plant on Amazon using an API. The "Add to Cart" button is linked to the SKU based on the availability (ie if it is out of stock it links to Amazon's SKU)