Approach

For this project, I wanted to go beyond checking the plant’s moisture level. Although it is important to keep your plant healthy and watered, I feel that adding something fun makes the experience more interactive and gives the user a sense of reward for taking care of their plant. The “dancing plant” idea was influenced by positive reinforcement from video games – for example, if you take care of a pet, their health or love for you will increase and they’ll smile or show you appreciation in some way. I wanted to create a subtle emotional attachment to the plant to potentially lengthen the lifespan of the plant.

The LED indicators were influenced by ambient design where a plant owner can just glance over at their plant and see if the plant needs water or not. This was similar to the umbrella that has a handle that indicates the weather outside and helps the user decide if the umbrella is needed at a quick glance at the glowing color [1].