Bringing Cannabis Cultivation to new heights

aroya.io • 2018 - 20 • Research, Strategy, Design, Prototype, Testing, Project Management, Handoff

  Summary

  Helping professional cannabis growers grow better, keep track and stay on top of their operation.

In 3 phases, from 2018 - 2020, I worked with Aroya to develop an SaaS solution based on their soil and environment sensors. After conducting extensive contextual research and I designed a platform that helps growers manage their cultivation, from optimizing plant yields to managing compliance and managing staff.

  Large scale research to find the right opportunities

  A growing market

Each year, we started our collaboration with extensive research. Initially with contextual interviews across industries (from decorative plants to tomatoes to cannabis) we later focused on cannabis cultivators and – even later – on existing users.

The findings refined our understanding of the human needs and behaviors and allowed us to create a competitive and future proof strategy that wouldn’t go up in smoke.

Synthesising findings to strategic recommendations

Growing cannabis

Through the research we realized that AROYA combines human behaviors and workflows with the natural timing of plants.

Consequently, in addition to User Journeys for each persona, we developed a plant & compliance journey from germination through harvest all the way to its curation process. Co-creatively with the client, we mapped both journeys together to develop a meaningful symbiosis and determine what the system has to provide at which point in order to actually provide meaningful value.

UX Challenge I

Inferring actionable insights from abstract data

During cultivation, growers constantly have to make decisions in order to ensure the most optimal growing conditions and maximize yields. Aroya enables those decisions through monitoring the plants real time with their proprietary high-tech sensors.

The data from these sensors has to be easily digestible and effectively communicate the essentials, e.g. growth phase, thirst, hunger. A lot of effort went into choosing the right way to visualize the right data, enabling quick actions as well as deep investigations.

Large line graphs communicate development over time for managers starting in the morning and quickly readable gauges give a sense for the current status for the grower walking through the rooms.

UX Challenge II

Inventory data, compliance and learning

After the harvest, plant material goes through several steps of processing before becoming a consumable product. At the same time, growers are just now starting to see tangible results of their cultivation by receiving results such as yields or cannabinoid contents.

We designed an inventory system that allows for the comparison of harvest and processing data from different grows, enabling cultivators to further understand the impact of their decisions and consequently improve their cultivation methods.

We also added an inventory system that integrates with task management. That way, teams on the ground can process the material while managers can track the process from up top.

Drying cannabis, 2020 — Field research, 2020

Summary

An ecosystem of value

Since the cannabis industry is strictly regulated the system also has to integrate with governmental compliance at any point of time. We made sure to test our design incessantly to verify that it is not only user-friendly and easy to use, but also relieves some of the users’ workload and fits in with the complex regulations varying from state to state.

The result is a cross-platform solution that incorporates hardware (sensors) and software (a mobile and web app) components. Additionally, a professional service educates cannabis growers through training and support.

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