The Flora Pod boasts as a high aesthetic, smart garden device for busy individuals.
The project was to create a design for a smart garden product that made growing your own food easier for the users, which was able to be used indoors or in smaller spaces, such as balconies and small courtyards in the average home, where it was more difficult to grow food.
The target market for my design was users that needed an affordable design, that was aesthetically pleasing, easy to use and small enough for use by a range of user’s homes, where space may be limited. This was also aimed to save money over time by producing and consuming homegrown produce. The purpose was to make growing your own produce a more attractive idea, which encouraged a wide range of users to grow their own food, using a smart device which made the process more appealing and easier to do so.
I took on the brief by focusing on research first, which led to the discovery of the needs, wants and market gaps for products similar to this. From these findings, I defined the key features and issues the smart garden design was to solve for the user. From this, I focused on high aesthetic values without the price tag of luxury products.
The purpose was also for this device to make food production easier to handle and more mess free (the absence of dirt) by using hydroponics systems. The smart garden capabilities include infrared cameras, LED lighting and grow structures that could be changed out to fit what was growing. The use of these infrared cameras was to monitor and alert the user to plant health needs, which would relay the message to an app concept and change the indicator lighting on the Pod base from green to orange (and vice versa) as a visual prompt that the plants needed attention. The LED lighting was also used for grow lights, if the product position was inadequate to the need for the plants.
The project took a lot of dedication and time, which taught me very valuable skills in Creo Parametric modelling software and Keyshot rendering skills. The design and my aims for the project were ambitious and challenging, but the outcome was worth it.
