One beautiful spring morning, my boyfriend and I were walking home through East Vancouver. The plants in front of the houses were beginning to bloom, vibrant and full of life, but we couldn’t name a single one.

We guessed, trying to pull names from memories from back home, but nothing felt right. I had a book on identifying Canadian plants, but it was sitting useless at home.

All we had were our phones, so I snapped a few pictures, thinking Google Lens might give us some answers but the experience was slow, vague, and disappointing. I lost interest almost immediately, and the plants remained nameless...

To find the user, I research the existent communities in British Columbia (Botanists, native people, first nation healers, scientist, hikers, plant enthusiasts) that might use Cherry Bum.

What are their needs, what are their activities, what are their behaviors, etc.

I also found that the population in British Columbia are between 15 to 64 (43 y/o the average) years old and the majority lives in Vancouver. 30% of them are foreign-born and also 34% of British-Columbians faces depression and loneliness, and that there’s a large amount of social groups and meet ups in Vancouver to find friends and socialize.

Having collected the necessary data, I approached the prospective user. The primary audience of Cherry Bum is a flora aficionado residing in British Columbia. Their age ranges from 18 to 43 years, and they wish to socialize with fresh faces at plant-associated gatherings and functions.

Based on the survey I conducted, I developed a map outlining a potential user interaction.

The grpahics were done following the Google Material Design Guidelines.

When I was thinking of a name, I wanted to give it one that sounds like a term of endearment but related to fruits or veggies, like sweet pea or pumkin pie.

Lost in translation, I thought 'cherry bum' was also a common nickname (it was honey bun), and my friend mentioned that that's the name of the vegan restaurant in Commercial Drive that we go often (The real name is 'My Sweet Cherubim'. We were pretty close, though!), but we can never say its name correctly. I found it funny and decided to name it Cherry Bum as it links the app with Vancouver's east side more.

Another friend even thought of fireworks (Cherry Bombs)when I was telling him about my project and that gave me an idea for the mascot: a berry with explosive but sweet personality.