Dog Grow
I created an end-to-end platform that encourages and assists in dog care, from training to healthcare to task management.
UX RESEARCH
UX/UI DESIGN
BRANDING
THE PROBLEM
Determined to provide Theo, the miniature schanuzer stray from OC Animal Shelter, with the best care, we faced the need to organize information on a progressive timeline. This need grew from scattered notes, missed training goals and endless online searching. Keeping track of Theo's needs and changes became chaotic.
THE QUESTION
To better understand Theo and his owner's experience, I searched to understand a user's needs and goals when caring for a loved animal companion. They were looking to track his progress, set reminders, and celebrate every milestone. I explored the topics of customization, intuitive learning, and information architecture to build an effective and supportive application.
THE SOLUTION
Crafting Pet Care Through Education and Management
Mobile Screens
TASKS THROUGH SCREEN DIVISION
Users can review an interactive timeline on their training progress to see what they've accomplished and what's ahead
Tasks can be accomplished through seamless screen transitions, managing a vast amount of information in intentional displays
CONNECTION BETWEEN PET OWNERS AND CARETAKERS
Users have the ability to create a network of caregivers, inviting and scheduling pet care sessions
Produced for clarity, this feature facilitates communication, updates, and organization.
FREQUENCY AND CONSISTENCY
Routines rooted in daily basics, enrichment, and scheduling
Users can review their pet's routine for daily needs and future planning
Dogs thrive on a schedule, owners can ensure fulfillment and be reminded of it
THE RESEARCH
I conducted a competitive analysis, user interviews, user surveys, affinity mapping, and user personas to drive and support my research. These categories of research allowed me to dive deeper into the existing market while understanding and organizing my research participant’s experiences. This information empowered my overall design and feature implementation.
OBJECTIVES
1
Determine the goals users have when establishing a relationship with their dog
2
Discover obstacles and pain points that affects maintaining dog care
3
Gain insight on the user lifestyles, developing realistic tools to better care for their dog
USER INTERVIEWS, SURVEYS, AND MAPPING
Results from my user research studies discovered common patterns across my participants that highlighted pain points, personal needs, and meaningful intentions in their relationships with their dogs. I learned about preferred organization methods, the need for accessible resources, and opportunities to manage change that inspired feature and design decisions.
KEY RESEARCH INSIGHTS
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
I reviewed and evaluated other competitive applications in the market to discover resources for dog training, healthcare management, schedule organization, etc. I took note of user interfaces, promoted features, common practices, and gaps in what was offered. These varying tools focused on one area like PuppR on step-by-step training, Great Pet Care on sole healthcare management, and PetDesk to discover local services.
USER PERSONAS
Definng personas allowed the research to become humanized, capturing routines, needs, and a wide range of common situations when it comes to discovering dog care personalization.
TASK AND USER FLOWS
After grasping a sense of user routine, I dialed down from situations to details to better imagine an application that would fulfill their needs. These paths were born out of feature ideas and user goals, crafting step-by-step possibilities that would be visual solutions in screens.
LOW FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
DEFINING BRANDING AND VISUAL IDENTITY
Dog Grow was designed to be friendly, playful, and inviting while structured. Designs were inspired by concepts of whimsical clarity through incorporating images of animals and bright colors to be used consistently across all design mediums.
Moodboard
LOGO
COLORS
TYPOGRAPHY
USER INTERFACE KIT
For a wide variety of features, the visual system was integral to communicating the progress of a task flow and general navigation. Beyond the buttons, I additionally utilized these colors as a code for default and active states across screens. From there, I designed components that followed that direction for consistency.
EXAMPLES
USABILITY TESTING RESULTS
Participants completed 3 tasks, where we observed and discussed their train of thought, movement patterns and enjoyment of the experienced. Based on their feedback and findings, I prioritized improving design cues for direction and sizing.
DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS
Through participant conversations and results, I reflected on design choices I was uncertain on. I wondered if I was achieving clarity in my flows. I explored color contrasting and shapes to create division and hierarchy, in hopes of improving my visual system.
TIMELINE PROGRESSION
Defining Visual Cues
Communicating a wide depth of information required design elements to not only appear different, but have different intentions to engage learnability and task flow progression
BEFORE
AFTER
DESIGN STYLES AND THEIR PURPOSE
Illustration vs Icons
These screens urged me to return to brand direction, taking a step back from imagery styles and a step forward to icons and illustrations. This gave clarity in the overall UI, while incorporating a new branding element.
LET ME PET YOUR DOG, PLEASE
Designing for Two Users
This feature having a vast amount of information, I used buttons and screen pop-ups to prevent a long scroll. This is meant to be intuitive while displaying all of the necessary information to give peace of mind and clarity.
BEFORE
AFTER
FINAL PRODUCT
TAKEAWAYS & IMPACTS
Where I Went Wrong
As I progressed through user research, I started to have a strong sense of features to design. Producing the low fidelity wireframes allowed those to come to life, but I struggled when it came to applying color and defining a visual system.
I realized, I was incorporating color to make it visually balanced rather than in great consideration to a system. From user testing, my participants helped me come to the conclusion that although the features appeared to have a clear direction, the use of color in the wrong places created cognitive struggle, overall slowing down the progress and lowering the enjoyment.
From efforts to correct this, I began to feel more comfort and appreciation towards a visual system that prioritizes progression in shapes, colors, and weights.
Compassionate Lessons in Design
My research idea came from my own experience as a dog owner, knowing how much mental energy it takes to holistically care for a pet. Mostly by mental notes, learned skills, and endless Google searches. Through the course of this study, I could see the common struggles from a lack of resources to situations beyond our control. I began to wonder about pet healthcare, learning methodologies, and cognitive disabilities. I started to conceptualize deeper these systematic and societal situations to improved user experience possibilities, which continues to foster and challenge these design skill sets I am seeking to grasp.
Develop a training program campaign that will collect information on how enjoyable the user experience is in completing a training level.
Connect with animal healthcare and dog training teams to develop a feature that allows them to contribute to a dog’s user profile with their specific health/training information.