Community Pollinator Project

The Community Pollinator Project is a platform designed to help people of all ages connect with their local environment by supporting pollinator-friendly gardening. The goal is to make learning about native plants, finding plant swaps, and engaging with the community simple and accessible.

Starting with Raleigh, North Carolina, the project envisions expanding across the U.S. to build connected, pollinator-friendly neighborhoods. The design prioritizes clarity, accessibility, and inclusion — empowering elderly gardeners, parents with young children, and urban residents alike to take small, meaningful actions that help bees, butterflies, and other pollinators thrive.

I served as the end-to-end designer and researcher, leading every stage of the project — from user research and persona creation to wireframing, prototyping, branding, and visual design.

My responsibilities included:

• Conducting research on pollinator conservation and local native plant programs

• Creating user personas and journeys informed by accessibility and inclusion

• Designing wireframes focused on clarity and intuitive navigation

• Developing the logo, color palette, and visual identity

• Building low- and high-fidelity prototypes to visualize the app’s key flows

1. Research & Discovery

I began by researching pollinator-friendly initiatives and identifying key user groups in the Raleigh area — elderly gardeners, homeschooling parents, and urban apartment dwellers. Understanding their different needs helped shape the foundation for an inclusive and accessible design.

2. Ideation & Wireframing

Using insights from research, I sketched low-fidelity wireframes to explore simple layouts for core features like onboarding, native plant guides, and local swaps. My goal was to ensure that every screen felt approachable and intuitive, especially for users less familiar with technology.

3. Prototyping

After refining the wireframes, I created clickable prototypes to visualize how users would move through the app. This helped test early ideas for navigation, accessibility, and user flow — particularly around tasks like saving resources or printing plant guides.

4. Visual Design & Branding

I developed a clean, nature-inspired visual identity using warm pinks, yellows, and greens to reflect the positivity and vibrancy of pollinator life. The butterfly-and-flower logo and minimal layout emphasize clarity and friendliness, supporting the app’s goal of connecting people through shared care for the environment.

Working on the Community Pollinator Project has reminded me how meaningful design can be when it connects people to their environment. My focus on accessibility and simplicity pushed me to think critically about how different users — from experienced gardeners to curious beginners — experience digital tools.

This project also showed me the importance of designing for inclusivity over perfection. Even small decisions, like adding a print button or reducing text, can make a big difference for users who might otherwise feel left out. While the project is still in progress, it’s been a valuable opportunity to blend my love for nature with user-centered design principles — and to create something that feels warm, inviting, and genuinely helpful to the community.

What I would do differently next time:

coming soon