Duration

3 Weeks

Tools

Invision

Figma

Miro

Adobe XD

Project Type

Development of App Prototype

Showcase App on website

Role

UX Research & Design

Visual Design

Front end Development

The Pet Companion App

Design Process

Research

Ideate

Define

Prototype

Test

Objective 1

Identify issues with pet owners finding pet companion

Objective 2

Discovering the current actions the pet owners are taking for their pet to find a companion

Objective 3

What is the desired outcome for finding a friend for your pet? = motivation/considerations behind finding a pet companion

Research question

5 people were Interviewed
We attempted to discover what's important to a user while finding a friend/ companion for their dog
Google Survey was used to provide a quantitative element to our research. Results of8 surveys were used
Based on findings, we further decided on the most important aspects of the design & features

When he's alone at home. He might be feeling a little lonely.

My dog is extra social. She hangs out with one of us all the time

He's a very curious dog. He loves spending time with people

He is not very friendly...We wish we could socialize him more.

Interview Process, Findings and Results

Research

About Pawz & Play

Project Description

The goal of the project is to build an application that will help pet parents find companions for their dogs locally. This app will allow users to create personal profiles and chat with other pet parents.

Hypothesis Statement

Pet Parents need a platform to find their dogs a companion because they sense that their dogs are lonely and they enjoy socialization.

Competitive Analysis

App also top rated vets, pet food stores, walkers, or anything else related to pets?

Barkerz

A dog meetup app! to Match, chat, and meet dogs and their owners using geolocation.

Also aims to build the biggest community of dog lovers around the world.

Features

Custom Profile
Match with Pups
Meet and Greet
Customer support
Chat Services

Ecosystem for services and products for pet owners to explore

Petzbe

Social media pet app connecting pet owners in a community where they share their pets’ daily lives

Aims to communicate in the pet perspective to break down barriers between people

Features

Sharing Daily Insights
Connecting with other pets
A community for pet owners
Access to Products & Services

Provides adoption services, with complete information about the pet, based on location.

PetDesk

Supports pet health compliance, reducing call volume, and overall communication.

Also maintains calendar on pet related appointments, reminders and confirmations

Features:

Simplifying communication
Virtual care
2-way communication
Customized messaging
Mass messaging

Covers pet health, pet products, training and travel

Bauwow

Its a social application and a directory service, providing complete pet services

It's also a community for pet-related business to promote their products and services.

Features

Profile
Social Media
Events
Areas of Interest
Pet services community

User Persona

Introducing our User Persona, Avery and Buddy Smith. These two are inseparable and more than just a pet, Buddy is Avery's family. Join her as she finds Buddy, a buddy for life.

User focussed Motivation

We believe that Dog owners and their dogs can benefit from our application because it will allow an opportunity to build long-lasting relationships for the physical and mental health of both of them.

1

User Insight

Avery needs help to find a companion or friend for her dog, Buddy located closer to their home.

She feels like it is an absolute necessity.

2

The Problem

Just like people, dogs also require friendship and companionship. Unfortunately, pet parents find it challenging to arrange activities and meetups with other pets.

3

Featured Projects

Design an app/webpage that allows pet parents to create profiles and use geo location in order to find friends and companionship for their dogs.

Define & Ideate

Now with the understanding of the ideal Pawz & play user, the next step was to think about problems that were being faced by pet parents and to come up with a solution to solve those problems. The insights from the empathy map, led us straight into the user sight, problem statements and How Might We (HMW) questions that would help further with the brainstorming process.

01

When Buddy met Rover

It was like any other day when Buddy and Rover went out for their routine walks. Little did they know that they would be seeing each other, though just in the passing. It was friendship at first sight, which even their moms noticed.

02

Is Buddy lonely?

After getting back home, Buddy’s mom started to think about how happy he was seeing Rover and wondered if sometimes he feels lonely at home when she is at work, and decided that she needs to find Buddy a friend.

03

Time to take action

She set out searching for anything she might find online and came across the website of Pawz & Play, on which Rover was also a member, and she immediately signed Buddy up, after filling up a few simple but important details.

04

On the other side

On the other side, Rover’s mom already was aware of the app and had taken notice of the scene during the walk that morning, began searching for Rover, and realised that they were a great match for each other.

05

The play date

After going through the really-well-laid-out details about their pets and each other, Marley’s and Rover’s moms set a play date, which was extremely easy. They decided to meet at the park the following weekend.

06

PFF

The play date was fun, and Marley and Rover are pet friends forever. They now meet each other every week thanks to Pawz & Play.

Story Board

With the problem and solution in place, the next step was to depict a storyboard to help create an insight into the user’s experience and with a goal in mind for the end product and to visualize the features necessary to create a functional product.

Sitemap

Though the app is where all the action is happening, the website was going to make that first impression and it is where the app is going to be showcased. The most important role of the website is to give people the basic idea of what the app is all about and a little bit of information about Pawz & Play as a company and where the app could be downloaded. This would be the starting point where one could, Sign up, subscribe, read about paws and play and also where people can find more information about managing their pets through the articles on the blog. Social Media is another important aspect, where a community would be built, where people would be able to find reviews as well as share their thoughts, crucial information and ask questions.

Mood Board

With the features in hand, it was not time to envision the look and feel of the app. The mood board truly inspired us to create a space that the user would be happy to land into. Inspirations were drawn from other dog-related applications that gave an idea of what colour palette should be incorporated and what emotions should be conveyed while developing the final product. This was the beginning of the process to assemble the idea of what Pawz and Play should really look and feel like.

User Flow

Based on prioritization and knowing what value can be provided to solve the user's problem, emphasis was made on the initial development to registration + verification, as well as the pet matching process = MVP.

The aesthetic was inspired by the mood board, it incorporates light and playful colours, which was used to create a welcoming atmosphere. The pastel colours were considered as they are easy on the eye and avoid using much contrast.

The dominant colour is a baby purple or lilac which is associated with friendliness, youth, open-mindedness and extroversion. The logo is a combination of text and an image that alludes to the nature of our app for the user. Small references were included to the pets with a paw in the navigation bar along and pet-related graphics.

Style Guide

Hi-Fi Prototype

A lot of calm colours have been used to really include pictures to create emotion in the app.

1 —

Introducing a playful prototype which allows users to feel calm and positive as they navigate through the app

2 —

The prototype involves communication for dog owners to build a better connection

3 —

The prototype will be designed to be as seamless as possible to keep users engaged.

INTRODUCING

PAWZ & PLAY

View Prototype

Choose a Buddy

Location & Proof of vaccination

Chat & Confirm

Profile Creation

Empathy Map

The information gathered from the user interviews were transferred to sticky notes on Miro and an empathy map was created. The common patterns were arranged methodically into an affinity diagram. This helped in further uncovering insights what was truly required by someone who would use the Pawz & Play app

Value Proposition Matrix

The data was further narrowed down to features that can actually solve the user’s pain point.

According to the findings, it was observed that pet owners want validation and safety. When this data was transferred to pain points, it lead to the finalization of gain creators and pain relievers - such as uploading documents, connecting with pet parents quicker, creating social platforms etc

Value Proposition

A safe and trustable social platform to find pet matches nearby which saves time and provides the best results the owner is looking for

Customer Segment

Pet parents that desire companionship for their dogs, with the help of geo positioning.

Feature Prioritization Matrix

The data from affinity map and empathy map was categorised into high and low complexity of usage to the user and prioritized into a matrix to understand what features make it to the top of the list to be showcased on the app to start with, what would be avoided completely and what would be used in future. This step was crucial to identify and implement only those features that the users felt were really important to them and also to avoid scope creep.

Prototype

Lo-Fi

Based on the feature proritizations and Task flow and knowing the values that would benefit the users,the emphasis was built on the ease of use, such as availability of information both on the pet and the parent, verification of vaccination and chat options to set play dates etc. This in totality made the app both user friendly and trust worthy.

Objectives

Understand the application process is as intended & useful to the dog owners
Identify potential issues during the pet matching process

Task

Register an account
Find a potential match
Connect with another dog owner

Feedback

No email sign up option = limited user’s choice
Confusing signup process and buttons
Unclear with some submission on the verification page
Lack of dog information shown when scrolling
Filtration doesn’t draw their attention

Suggestions

Add email sign up option
Switch from drop-down menu to one-tap select
Add description on the verification page
Add more information on pet profile
Change the buttons → more visible

User Testing

Final Thoughts

Overall, this case study was challenging as well as interesting. It pushed me to think differently especially to tackle a real world problem. It is so important to understand how people interact with the final product, since that will always determine how it is used and if it serves the intended purpose.