New York, NY
Currently working
at Type/Code
infocontact
The Chicago Botanic Garden needed an app that used crowdsourced plant data to further climate change research.
The project’s deliverables included a refreshed brand identity, a website, and a mobile and web-based app for submitting and viewing plant data.
Starting with moodboards helped open up a broader conversation with our client and content strategists about the emotions we wanted to evoke.
Large, bold typography highlights key data in an engaging way, and minimal, abstract iconography distills complex ideas. Hand-drawn botanical illustrations add a “field notes” touch, while concentric circles represent the cyclical nature of plant life—death and rebirth.
The chosen logo featured a continuous line forming both a bud and a flower, anchored by a location pin.
Designing a movement for citizen scientists
Getting users to download an app, photograph a plant, and enter data takes a lot of effort. Our priority was to position this process as part of a movement to further climate change research. That message was reinforced with a bold headline and a dynamic, collaged UI animation that placed users and their data side by side—emphasizing the diversity of people who can participate in this mission.
Unifying promotion and product
The marketing site not only served as Budburst’s promotional front, but also as the primary entry point to its in-browser application. Users can explore local plant data by using either an interactive map or a grid view. They can also search for specific species and view related tags across an entire region—making discovery both intuitive and impactful.