As global warming and other planetary catastrophes are worsening, tension forms between the ecosystem and the future—when will Earth be healthy again? How do we get there faster? When the media force-feeds us the doom of the biosphere on a global scale, it can be difficult for an individual to appreciate the sustainable progress we have made thus far. The Climate Clock, for example, is designed to instill fear, in that we are running out of time to turn things around. It is here where I observe how design influences our perception of the future; what role can design play instead to show our progress? How can design influence our perception of “doing enough”?

 

The Bottom of My Garden is the concept for an app designed to ease this tension by focusing on you. This experience displays the sustainable progress of an individual through the metaphor of a garden. While Earth’s ecosystem is vast and difficult to quantify, a garden is small and local, benefiting solely from its caretaker. Users create their own personal ecosystem, thriving on the tasks they complete, to help integrate sustainability into their daily routine.

 

Through The Bottom of My Garden, I design an intimate user experience where sustainability feels attainable. Users are guided through the app by illustrations and animations to feed their garden with task completion, such as carpooling or taking a shower in less than five minutes. Over time, the garden quantifies the user’s personal efforts without comparing their impact to a global degree of change. Users experience design that is meant to encourage. By the aid of these visuals, users can better digest lengthy, overwhelming realities into smaller, more helpful and hopeful possibilities.