Osmo.
2019
A self watering planter designed to reduce plant maintenance for indoor gardeners in urban environments.
Overview
City dwellers with busy schedules enjoy having plants, but feel as though it takes too much time to care for them.
This project is designed to allow city dwellers to retain natural greenery in their apartments, while reducing the need to care for live plants.
Project Details
Project Skills: Design Research, Human-Centered Design, Model Prototyping, User Testing, Design Validation, Process Execution
Duration: 3 Months
Aesthetic Direction
I took design inspiration from clean, aesthetically functional forms that communicate purpose and function simply and effectively, while giving a modern look and feel
Ideation
Ideas were drawn around indoor and automated gardening for city apartments and homes. A few ideas were shown to my users and feedback revealed that an automated gardening system that reduced the frequency of needing to water was a viable solution.
Form discovery
Low fidelity prototypes were created to test different forms and tangible interactions. I was focused on finding a form that was compact and could realistically fit within a city apartment. The models were shown to users alongside CMF sketches to establish the final pill-shape and the swiveling planter of Osmo
Hardware Features
Osmo is designed to reduce the frequency at which plant owners need to care for their plants. A refillable planter with a swivel base allows users to pour in water that can care for plants for weeks at a time by continuously saturating the soil as needed.
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Research
Exploration into the workflows and routines of urban based plant owners was conducted to gain insights regarding the pains of owning plants with in a fast-paced lifestyle.
Insights regarding the time commitment of plant care led to conception and development of OSMO, the self watering planter.
