Claude Code was used heavily as a guide to understand how to build back to front end, with React being the codebase for app deployment on iOS and Android. Supabase serves as the DB backend, with Resend and Cloudflare managing web and user signups.
Market research identified two major user issues, payment/paywalls, and accuracy. In addition there's an issue of a lot of these apps looking the same, or being poor user experiences through my own testing. Menus aren't clear, flow is gated, and the amount of clicks to get what I want was annoying.
01
Brand before product
I set out with two goals, providing research backed guidance, and being transparent about it unless it hurts me. From a visual standpoint that meant a mix of educational but supportive. We don't leverage anxiety in our core messaging, no gamification in our designs, just facts and being honest when we're currently not sure.
For naming, I leaned on a personal love of ancient history, matching names against actual market usage, registration, and trademarks. The final choice of EZINA, comes from ancient Sumerian mythology, she was sometimes depicted as the goddess of grain. The accompanying mark is partially Sumerian cuneiform for god or goddess, adjustments were made to bring it more into the world of nature instead of incised clay.
02
Built the database
Assembled a reference database of ~40,000 plant species and animal/insect interactions from verified open sources (USDA PLANTS, WUCOLS, GBIF, GloBI, USA-NPN) with care profiles, traits, pests, diseases, native-range maps, and a citation on every record. Roughly 80 tables of curated data.
03
Building core user flow + monitoring
Screens not final
04
Education through exploration
Common plant questions boil down to one of the following:
- What is this?
- Why is it like this?
- What should I do?
The Ezina Library has cross referenced information, with photoID capabilities that allow users to view, learn, and confirm treatment for potentially impacted plants. All photos contain proper accreditation viewable on click and prevention/treatment having a citable source instead of just best guess. The zone maps and occurrence windows were designed once, then Claude built all possible permutations that are lightweight SVG's that can be swapped in as needed.
Screens not final
05
Marketing site
Creating a memorable brand experience even in Alpha is important. Since Ezina positions itself as educational and supportive, while being old school, I mixed 60's–70's education and organization trends (tabbed folders, rolodexes) with typography styling that was comfortable transitioning from approachable and fun, to scientific and accurate. Small touches of the data inside, and photos to reinforce the beauty.
Screens not final
06
Ezina Dig: Meaningful onboarding with data tailored to your property, and your needs.
Dig is Ezina's proprietary suggestion and planning engine (currently in 0.1). With 9 services meshed together so far, we can provide a unique onboarding experience for anyone interested in outdoor gardening. Dig can evaluate factors such as water runoff, erosion, light/shade, (and more to come) and use your inputs from budget, time, what you want to grow, and other restrictions to provide an accurate suggestion that will only get better with time.
Future planned additions include:
- detailed long term planning for whatever you're wanting to grow. Seed→Prep→Maintain→Harvest→Clean
- isometric bed designer with budgeter based on local product cost. Includes printable diagrams for construction
- (Additional capabilities driven by user feedback)
Screens not final
