The Woodland Trust approached us to help them create a product which would put ‘learning about trees’ into the hands of nature lovers. They wanted the app to be very simple to use, to identify a tree’s species quickly and to present an abundance of facts and trivia such as description, location, value to wildlife, mythology, how the trees are used and any threats to it.

We learned that the identification logic would be powered by a botanical key that could unlock the identity of a species of tree in a handful of steps. With this in mind, our challenge was to convert this huge flowchart of information into a series of visual cues for the user.

Working with a team of botanists, wildlife artists and programmers we deconstructed each tree into a series of identifiable items such as leaves, buds, fruits and bark to create depictions that could be mapped onto the underlying ‘key’ to allow the user to eliminate as many species as possible with each step.

In the finished Woodland Trust app, you can start with a leaf, berry, flower or other item where you’ll discover what native British tree it is within just a few taps. It allows sightings to be added to the map with a photo and any notes too.

Each tree species has a dedicated page providing more about its appearance, location, mythology, uses and threats.

The UX design was intended to provide an intuitive and simple experience that would be understood by people of all ages and levels of smartphone knowledge.

The app can be downloaded here –