Leafly Introduces New Visual Language for Cannabis

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leafly, the world’s leading cannabis resource, today introduced the Leafly Cannabis Guide, a new visual language that redefines the way people understand cannabis and find the feelings and effects they want. The Leafly Cannabis Guide represents a significant expansion of the language of cannabis — going beyond indica, sativa and hybrid — to leverage the latest scientific understanding of the plant. Using lab-sourced data and proprietary generative design software coupled with more than a million customer-generated reviews, Leafly is helping people choose cannabis with more confidence.

The Leafly Cannabis Guide simplifies exploration of cannabis strains for consumers through flower-like visualizations that provide a straightforward way to explore the complexity of cannabis. It uses easily recognizable shapes to illustrate each strain’s dominant cannabinoid profile — circles for CBD and diamonds for THC — and uses vibrant colors to illustrate flavors and aromas that come from terpenes. Ultimately, this unique combination of data and customer-generated reviews will mean that anyone, regardless of cannabis experience, can quickly apply key information such as cannabinoid profiles, potency, dominant terpenes, and customer-reported effects, so they can find the best product for their needs and minimize surprises.

The new Leafly Cannabis Guide can be found on the newly rebranded Leafly.com and on the Leafly app.

“Cannabis has unique physiological effects for each of us. As our understanding of cannabis grows, so does our need for a more sophisticated, yet intuitive language to help people navigate the very personal effects cannabis has,” said Leafly CEO Tim Leslie. “While indica, sativa, and hybrid are a starting point for understanding cannabis, this form of categorization doesn’t take advantage of our growing understanding of the effects of the various compounds found within the plant. With the Leafly Cannabis Guide, our team of Leafly scientists and visual designers have distilled this all down to an intuitive visual language that will help people understand cannabis better and find the right cannabis for their needs, whether enjoyment or wellness. It’s an exciting step forward for those seeking cannabis.”

The Leafly Cannabis Guide is made possible through Leafly’s partnership with leading labs to source accurate data, giving consumers confidence that a cannabis strain’s chemical composition is what’s indicated by the visual flowers — i.e., what they see is what they are likely to get. Leafly scientists worked with a group of select labs, including Confidence Analytics in Washington, SC Labs of California, CannTest of Alaska, ChemHistory in Oregon, MCS in Florida, PSI Labs in Michigan, and Anandia in Canada. Leafly will announce more trusted lab partners later this year.

“One of the great benefits of legalization is the opportunity to more fully research and understand the effects of cannabis and the unique chemical compounds that influence our experience,” said Nick Jikomes, Ph.D., Leafly's principal research scientist. “We developed the Leafly Cannabis Guide to give everyone the ability to visualize, learn, and apply information about the amazing diversity of this plant. We’re embracing complexity while providing simplicity — and have created the most comprehensive way to explore cannabis strains yet. We’re excited to see the ways consumers, retailers, doctors, scientists and others will use it to evolve the conversation around cannabis.”

Visit Leafly to explore the new Leafly Cannabis Guide, and to learn more about the flower visualizations and how to use them.