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AnthoFile is a multimedia toolkit to guide landscape designers, their customers, or any interested gardener in designing and maintaining beautiful landscapes that restore native habitat to those that rely on it.
The toolkit provides resources applicable for each stage of the design process to minimize time spent researching regionally-specific plants, and to take the guesswork out of caring for land in a way that maintains human-pleasing beauty while respecting the animals and plants present in the area.
At the core of this product is the aim to:
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overturn perceptions regarding native plants and culturally-accepted aesthetic beauty,
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stress the importance of maximizing the window of time in which there are native flowers blooming in an area,
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and to educate landowners on how to care for their land in ways that support local wildlife.
AnthoFile is developed by four University of Wisconsin–Madison graduate students to support the health of native bee species in the state of Wisconsin.
Slide Deck
These slides are designed to assist landscape designers in their customer consultations. They help designers communicate the benefits of native plantings and show different landscaping styles, from naturalistic to formal, to help customers understand their own preferences.
Below is a sample from the complete deck.
App
This mobile-first web-app is designed to help gardeners create a palette of plants that they love and that supports local wildlife. After installation, the gardener can access care instructions for each native plant on the property, learn about native bees that are likely to be present, and find information on what maintenance tasks should be completed throughout the year.
Below are prototype walkthroughs of a landscaping professional's interface and a customer's interface.
Care Sheets
A series of downloadable and printable care instructions for each native plant on the property help landowners know exactly how to care for each plant and learn more about its significance to the local ecosystem.
Below is an example for a common native Wisconsin flower.
Newsletter
To help landowners throughout the year, a seasonal e-newsletter provides information on which tasks should be completed to care for the property.
Below is an example e-newsletter for Spring.
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