⏰ THE BACKGROUND
An app I already loved using.
Flora is a gamified Pomodoro timer. You plant a seed when you start a focus session, and if you stay on task, it grows into a little collectible plant by the end. Leave the app too soon, though, and you watch it wilt. It's a small bit of guilt that somehow works really well.
Flora already had a group planting feature, where friends could focus together and earn extra plants as a team. During a stretch of working and studying from home, that feature meant a lot to me personally. It helped me feel like I was getting things done without feeling completely alone in it.
But I kept thinking there was room to make that connection feel a little more real. So I set out to add a face-to-face video option to group planting sessions, along with some new ideas for how the rewards could work.
Flora already had a group planting feature, where friends could focus together and earn extra plants as a team. During a stretch of working and studying from home, that feature meant a lot to me personally. It helped me feel like I was getting things done without feeling completely alone in it.
But I kept thinking there was room to make that connection feel a little more real. So I set out to add a face-to-face video option to group planting sessions, along with some new ideas for how the rewards could work.
📑 THE PROBLEM
A shared timer isn't quite the same as company.
Working or studying from home can feel pretty isolating, even with a group planting session running in the background. People wanted more than a shared timer. They wanted to feel like they were actually working alongside someone.
💡 THE IDEA
What if Flora felt a little more like sitting in the same room?
A coworking space inside Flora itself. Not a replacement for the existing group planting feature, but a layer on top of it: a live video option paired with small reward updates, so sessions could feel both social and still focused on getting things done.
How might Flora help people feel productive and a little less alone while they work?
How might Flora help people feel productive and a little less alone while they work?
📝 THE RESEARCH
I thought video alone would be enough. It wasn't.
I talked to four people, all students taking classes virtually, about their habits around focus, motivation, and what coworking actually felt like for them.
I wanted to check an assumption I was carrying in: that adding a video call and leaning on basic social accountability would be enough on its own. It mostly wasn't and that turned out to be a useful thing to learn early.
I wanted to check an assumption I was carrying in: that adding a video call and leaning on basic social accountability would be enough on its own. It mostly wasn't and that turned out to be a useful thing to learn early.
A FEW THINGS CAME UP AGAIN AND AGAIN:
• Coworking really did help people stay accountable and motivated
• Phones and other apps were still the biggest source of distraction, video call or not
• People wanted some kind of shared reward to keep group morale up, not just individual progress
• A few people said the traditional 25 minute Pomodoro interval felt too short for the kind of work they were doing
• People wanted the "rules" of a coworking session spelled out. Is this a drop in anytime kind of thing? Is talking allowed, or is it meant to be quiet?
• Phones and other apps were still the biggest source of distraction, video call or not
• People wanted some kind of shared reward to keep group morale up, not just individual progress
• A few people said the traditional 25 minute Pomodoro interval felt too short for the kind of work they were doing
• People wanted the "rules" of a coworking session spelled out. Is this a drop in anytime kind of thing? Is talking allowed, or is it meant to be quiet?
That last point especially changed how I thought about the feature. A video call without any shared expectations can feel more awkward than helpful.
🤝 MEET JOSH
Someone who likes working with people around, even quietly.
Josh is a composite of the people I talked to: someone trying to build a consistent routine, cut down on distractions, and feel a little less alone while doing focused work from home.
He already uses Flora and likes the group planting feature, but he's been wanting his sessions with friends to feel more like actually being in the room together.
From Josh's point of view, a few questions kept surfacing. How would he even get from the main growing screen into a video session? How would he add friends to a group? What happens if someone in the group gets distracted and wanders off? How would a shared reward actually work?
I wrote these out as How Might We questions to keep the direction clear before jumping into screens.
He already uses Flora and likes the group planting feature, but he's been wanting his sessions with friends to feel more like actually being in the room together.
From Josh's point of view, a few questions kept surfacing. How would he even get from the main growing screen into a video session? How would he add friends to a group? What happens if someone in the group gets distracted and wanders off? How would a shared reward actually work?
I wrote these out as How Might We questions to keep the direction clear before jumping into screens.
📝 IDEATION
Getting to the root of it.
I landed on building two things together: a video meeting option for group planting sessions, and a weekly shared reward to give the group something to work toward together, not just individually.
To work out where the video option should live and how someone would actually move through the feature, I mapped out a user flow for Josh and his group.
To work out where the video option should live and how someone would actually move through the feature, I mapped out a user flow for Josh and his group.
🪴 THE PROTOTYPE
Five moments worth tending to.
After working through mid fi wireframes, I built out a full prototype covering a few key moments:
✅ Creating and editing a Growing Team
✅ Seeing progress toward a shared Weekly Challenge reward
✅ Starting a Group Planting room
✅ Starting a video meeting once a group session begins
✅ Checking progress on the leaderboard and stats screen
✅ Creating and editing a Growing Team
✅ Seeing progress toward a shared Weekly Challenge reward
✅ Starting a Group Planting room
✅ Starting a video meeting once a group session begins
✅ Checking progress on the leaderboard and stats screen
Creating a Growing Team.
Josh can pick friends who already use Flora from a simple list, since that matched how the app already worked. If he wants to invite someone new, there's a toggle to pull from his phone contacts instead.
Josh can pick friends who already use Flora from a simple list, since that matched how the app already worked. If he wants to invite someone new, there's a toggle to pull from his phone contacts instead.
The Golden Maple.
Once Josh sets up his team, they can see a rare plant called the Golden Maple, something they can only unlock together after 20 hours of group focus time. A progress bar shows how close the group is, which gives everyone a reason to keep coming back.
Once Josh sets up his team, they can see a rare plant called the Golden Maple, something they can only unlock together after 20 hours of group focus time. A progress bar shows how close the group is, which gives everyone a reason to keep coming back.
Starting the Video Meeting.
The video option only turns on once a group planting session has actually started, so friends can still meet without video if they'd rather, and the choice doesn't get in the way of earning focus time or rewards either way.
The video option only turns on once a group planting session has actually started, so friends can still meet without video if they'd rather, and the choice doesn't get in the way of earning focus time or rewards either way.
When Someone Drifts.
This was the part I went back and forth on the most. My first idea was a penalty system that would subtract minutes from the group's total whenever someone left the app.
It seemed fair on paper, but in usability testing it got confusing fast. What counts as leaving? Does five seconds count the same as five minutes?
Flora already lets people pause individually without affecting the group, so a second penalty system on top of that just added confusion.
So I leaned into the part of Flora that already works really well, the visual storytelling. When everyone stays focused, the plant gets water and sunlight. When someone wanders off, it starts to wilt, and eventually pests and a little skull icon show up.
It's a gentle, visual nudge rather than a strict penalty, and it fits the personality of the app a lot better. The distracted friend can always come back and keep contributing to the shared Golden Maple, even if they miss out on their own individual plant for that session.
This was the part I went back and forth on the most. My first idea was a penalty system that would subtract minutes from the group's total whenever someone left the app.
It seemed fair on paper, but in usability testing it got confusing fast. What counts as leaving? Does five seconds count the same as five minutes?
Flora already lets people pause individually without affecting the group, so a second penalty system on top of that just added confusion.
So I leaned into the part of Flora that already works really well, the visual storytelling. When everyone stays focused, the plant gets water and sunlight. When someone wanders off, it starts to wilt, and eventually pests and a little skull icon show up.
It's a gentle, visual nudge rather than a strict penalty, and it fits the personality of the app a lot better. The distracted friend can always come back and keep contributing to the shared Golden Maple, even if they miss out on their own individual plant for that session.
Showing off the Progress.
Everyone ends up with their own grown plant and a leaf toward the shared Golden Maple, and it all shows up together on the stats and leaderboard screen.
Everyone ends up with their own grown plant and a leaf toward the shared Golden Maple, and it all shows up together on the stats and leaderboard screen.
🧪 USABILITY TESTING
Everyone made it through. A few rough edges needed trimming.
Three participants, two tasks: create a Growing Team, then start and finish a group planting video session. Everyone completed both tasks without getting stuck, which was a relief, but a few people mentioned some icons that weren't clear, a couple of conflicting "next" arrows, and some screens that had a bit too much text to read in the moment.
I used that feedback to clean up navigation and cut down on text where I could.
I used that feedback to clean up navigation and cut down on text where I could.
A few things I’d keep refining if I had more time.
I'd love to spend more time on the group reward system itself. Things like custom badges using little gardening icons, a watering can, a birdhouse, that kind of thing. I'd also want to design a smoother way for a friend to join a video session that's already in progress, since right now that flow is a little clunky.
Adding a feature to an app I already loved using was a genuinely nice project to work on. It reminded me that connection doesn't always need to be loud or complicated. Sometimes it's just a few people quietly growing something together. 🌱
Thank you for reading!
Adding a feature to an app I already loved using was a genuinely nice project to work on. It reminded me that connection doesn't always need to be loud or complicated. Sometimes it's just a few people quietly growing something together. 🌱
Thank you for reading!
