Home Depot Project Planning App

The Challenge

The Process

Brainstorm

Help users generate and capture creative project ideas with intuitive tools

Plan & Track

Organize materials, timeline, and project steps with smart planning tools

Document

Capture progress and share completed projects with the community

User Research

We interviewed five DIY enthusiasts to understand their project habits and identify pain points in their current workflow.

Discovery

🔬 Research Insights

• Most began by researching projects on websites

• Used phones to take notes while working on tasks

• 5 interviews conducted with DIY enthusiasts

🔑 Key Pain Points

• Making multiple trips to the store

• Scattered notes with no central organization

• Underestimating project timelines

How might we bridge the gap between DIY inspiration and successful project execution?

👥 User Quotes

"I always end up forgetting something and have to go back to the store—sometimes more than once."

"I've got notes all over—but I wish it were all in one place."

"It's hard to know how long a project will take. I usually underestimate."

"I find great ideas, but they're scattered across Pinterest, Blogs, and Instagram with no way to save or compare them in one place."

Comparative Analysis

While The Home Depot app offers robust shopping capabilities, it currently lacks integrated DIY project planning features—these are only accessible via the website. To inform our design process, we also drew inspiration from key features in the Crouton app, particularly its approach to organization and task management.

Home Depot App

Strengths: Strong shopping features, brand recognition

Gap: No integrated project planning tools on mobile

Competitive Apps

Crouton: Clean organization and task management

Insight: Content may be too robust for our target users who prefer simplified experiences

Problem Statement

"Jamie needs a way to accurately plan and effectively track projects so she can have a clear roadmap leading to a successful project"

How Might We...

• How might we make tracking projects easy & intuitive?

• How might we make tracking projects fun?

• How might we streamline users' idea execution?

• How might we assist in accurately planning projects?

• How might we give users tools to accurately plan?

• How might we encourage users to track projects?

Define

Design

Primary User Persona

Feature Exploration

After synthesizing our research, we identified three key priority areas that are most important to users when managing their DIY projects:

Material Planning

Accurate material lists and shopping integration

Task Management

Step-by-step project tracking and organization

Time Management

Realistic time estimates and progress tracking

• Build material checklists

• Space for detailed dimensions & photos

• Tool requirements planning

• "Where to buy" feature integration

• Task checklist system

• Disruption markers for chaotic tasks

• Photo storage & note-taking

• Project collaboration features

• Suggested time estimates for common tasks

• Progress bar indicating completion

• Notes for common project hangups

• AI assistant for time estimation

Information Architecture

• Project Dashboard (home screen)

• Discovery feed with project cards

• Photos/sketches/notes integratio

• Timeline view & project pages

Sketches

Here’s a look at our early exploration of information architecture, including rough wireframes of key screens like the project dashboard— which shaped our final design— and the “add a project” page.

Wireframes

From our sketches, we built mid-fidelity wireframes for key screens: the project dashboard, individual project page, discovery feed, and manual project builder.

Visual Style

Our visual design approach focused on familiarity and usability:

• Brand Alignment: Leaned into Home Depot's existing style for familiarity while making modern refinements

• Color Psychology: Used near-black and near-white to create a softer, less eye-straining experience

• Iconography: Minimal but intentional icons that tie into the Home Depot aesthetic

• User Focus: Kept the interface uncluttered to support user focus and reduce distraction

Usability Testing Results

User Feedback

"Clicked through all the buttons and made my own project and discovered an existing one but the task bar didn't update so I couldn't figure out how to move forward!"

"I prefer to see the steps one at a time with each new screen."

"The project home page confused me at first, but I eventually found the 'Create Project' button at the bottom. I would rather have it at the top, as my eyes naturally look for things in that position."

7.2

Average Overall Experience

100%

Task Completion Rate

182.7s

Average Duration

5

Testers (iPhone 16)

Testing Takeaways

• Not having everything clickable in the prototype resulted in some confusion, though 100% of users still completed tasks

• Users achieved the assigned task according to heatmap data, indicating good core functionality

• Would benefit from more testing with a fully interactive prototype to gather more actionable insights

Hi-Fi Prototype

Hi-Fi Prototype Highlights

Project Detail Screen

Central hub for creative inspiration and practical planning where users can upload photos, sketches, and notes.

• Creative inspiration meets structured planning

• Multi-format content support

• Integrated material list building

Discover Screen

Browse project ideas with time, cost, and difficulty displayed upfront for informed decision-making.

• Quick project browsing

• Transparent project metrics

• Direct Home Depot app integration

Project Details

Interactive materials list with disruption markers and flexible planning that adapts as projects evolve.

• Interactive material checklists

• Disruption markers for planning

• Flexible, editable project plans

Next Steps

We identified several exciting opportunities to enhance the app further:

Smart AI Assistant

Automatically suggest tasks, offer tips to avoid common mistakes, and recommend tailored tutorials.

Linked Materials

Make every material hyperlinked for easy viewing and purchasing directly from the app.

Built-In Break Points

Allow users to mark smart stopping points within task steps for better project management.

Social Inspiration

Browse real projects from other users, see completion times, and access pro tips and notes

Customizable Detail Level

Toggle project detail levels including time estimates and disruption markers based on user preference.

In-App Tips & Tutorials

Context-aware guidance throughout the app with material calculations and task-specific tutorials.

Key Takeaways & Lessons Learned

What Worked Well

• Strong user research foundation led to clear problem identification

• Feature prioritization based on user needs created focused solutions

• 100% task completion rate demonstrated core functionality success

• Recipe app inspiration proved valuable for step-by-step planning

Areas for Improvement

• More comprehensive prototype testing needed for better insights

• UI element placement requires optimization based on user feedback

• Step-by-step flow presentation could be enhanced

• Interactive prototype completeness affects user testing quality

Deliver

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