Industry: Health
My Role: Visual Design | UI/UX
Year: 2021 - 5 Months
Tools: Figma | Adobe
VITA APP
General Info
About VITA
VITA is a mobile app that addresses food insecurity in Toronto by empowering users to grow vegetables and herbs in urban environments. It connects people to a smart gardening system with tools for guidance, tracking, and community support.
Empowering Urban Sustainability
The app encourages food autonomy through simple, accessible design. Users can track their plant growth, receive tailored guidance, and connect with a like-minded community focused on sustainable living.
Project Overview
Goals:
Make urban gardening feel simple, intuitive, and empowering for beginners.
Provide clear, structured guidance without overwhelming the user.
Foster a sense of connection among users through community features.
Support sustainable habits and increase food resilience in cities.
Target Audience:
VITA is designed for urban residents—especially those with limited gardening experience—who are interested in growing their own food at home. This includes young adults, families, and community members looking for low-barrier ways to engage with sustainability and healthy living.
Challenges:
Make urban gardening intuitive: Design a flow that guides users through growing food step by step.
Balance information with simplicity: Present helpful content without cluttering the interface.
Foster community: Encourage connection, support, and knowledge-sharing among users.
Design Approach:
I led the visual direction of the app, focusing on UI design, branding, and creating a cohesive, human-centered interface. The goal was to make the experience feel approachable, clear, and aligned with VITA’s mission. Using Figma, I translated research insights into high-fidelity prototypes and refined the visual system through iterative collaboration with the team.
Branding
Logo:
The VITA logo was designed to feel clear, approachable, and grounded—just like the app. Its clean, geometric structure reflects balance and simplicity, while the open letterforms support legibility across digital and print. Rather than using literal plant imagery, the logo channels the focused calm of growing your own food, aligning with VITA’s mission of intuitive and empowering design.
Custom Icon Set:
We developed a cohesive set of custom icons to represent key features such as planting, home setup, community, and messaging. These visuals guide users through the app and reinforce a sense of continuity and confidence.
Colour & Type
Color Palette:
The palette combines two organic shades of green to evoke freshness, calm, and sustainability—anchored by a deep indigo for contrast, reflecting the app’s mission while ensuring modern visual appeal and readability. This combination reflects the app’s mission while ensuring modern visual appeal and readability.
Typography:
We chose Avenir Next Regular for its modern, rounded character, enhancing approachability and readability. Its clean design supports a calm and supportive experience, ideal for a tool built around learning and growth.
What I Learned
Working on VITA deepened my belief that technology can be a powerful tool for environmental good. I saw how thoughtful design can help people reconnect with nature—by making gardening feel more approachable, educational, and community-driven. This project reminded me that digital products don’t just live on screens—they can shape real-world habits, support food autonomy, and contribute to more resilient, self-sustaining cities.