End to End Application
Context
Problem
There is no guide for new puppy owners to follow that outlines the health needs of their puppy, such as; the rate at which they grow, how much they should eat, when they should eat, when they should be visiting the vet, behaviours of concern and normal puppy behaviour, how much exercise they need, and so on. Owners are often relying on a variety of sources which can lead to contradicting information and confusion, resulting in their puppy not receiving the right care.
Goal
My goal is to develop an application that assists owners in tracking their puppy's growth. The application will also include resources relating to a puppy's health, such as their dietary needs, exercise needs, any associated costs and so on. This will allow users/owners to better understand the needs of their puppy and to ensure that they are receiving what they need to grow and be healthy.
Scope and Deliverables
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MVP (minimum viable product), and the final deliverable will be a high-fidelity prototype
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80 hours to complete
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My role
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UX/UI Design; User Research, Branding and UI elements, Prototyping and User Acceptance Testing.
Discover
Research Goal
I want to know how puppy/dog owners learned to care for their pet/s, where they got their information from and how they cared for their puppy/dog. I also want to understand what are the markers of a healthy puppy, at what rate they should be growing and what to look for when they aren't.
Research Objectives
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Investigate what information is currently available for puppy owners
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Learn who are the experts in the field and how do they source and share information
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Learn the strengths and weaknesses of the current platforms/sources that puppy owners could be using
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Understand what the priorities are when it comes to owning a puppy
User Research
Interviews & Survey Findings
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Reviewing the results of the user interviews, surveys, and analysis, it is clear to me that the space of animal healthcare is changing. With the rise of search engines, information is infinitely more accessible. Simultaneously, veterinarians are still viewed as valuable and trusted sources of information when it comes to pet healthcare. It is the associated cost that may motivate people to try an alternate treatment at home first.
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The user priorities for puppy healthcare that have emerged from both user interviews and survey responses are:
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food,
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exercise,
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vaccinations.
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Something that can be addressed in this application is the connection between food and exercise and the puppy's growth. Making sure that puppies are getting the right amount of food and the right amount of exercise is paramount to their growth and development.
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Survey Findings
Pet owner priorities
6/8
survey participants listed exercise as a top priority
6/8
survey participants listed quality food as a top priority for their pet/s
7/8
survey participants listed quality time as a top priority for their pet/s
Pet owner healthcare resources
4/8
survey participants listed other dog owners as a resource
7/8
survey participants listed other Google as a resource
5/8
survey participants listed a veterinarian as a resource
6/8
survey participants commented that veterinarians can be expensive
User Interview Insights
"Now i would just google things but the vet would be my ultimate resource."
"Now in this digital age it would be easier to find information on what they are eating, what's wrong with them, are they putting on weight, and you would avoid a vet bill by looking something up."
"The younger they (the puppy) are the more involved you were with the vet so the more you had that as a resource."
Secondary Research
To further support the development of this application I undertook some research on other similar applications available in the market. Researching the strengths and weaknesses of other applications to ensure that what I am building will be able to compete in the current market but also have a/many points of difference.
Define
User Persona
Drawing from experiences owning a pet revealed during the research phase, often a pet/puppy/dog is a shared responsibility or a family pet. This has helped form the below persona as a target user of the application, users who have some experience with animals but want some support and resources to ensure their puppy is getting everything they need.
Develop
Scope
With so many possibilities emerging from the user research undertaken it is important to scope out what features will be built into this application.
With food, exercise, and vaccinations emerging as the most important aspects of puppy health care, they will be the focus of the application. As a result of providing your puppy with the right amount of food and exercise, they will grow, and tracking their growth will be the focus for users here.
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Outlined below, in the information architecture which could be viewed as the full scope of the product but for the purposes of this project the focus will be on the Growth screens and the Puppy Profile.
Four Paws Information Architecture
Wireframes
Below are the key screens that will be hosted in the application. Returning to the user priorities for their puppy's health, focusing on weight and height as key growth metrics will help users know if their puppy is getting what they need to grow and develop.
Puppy Profile
Growth – Weight tracking
Growth – height tracking
UI Elements
When developing the UI elements for this project, I wanted to make something as cute and endearing as the puppy images featured throughout but also neutral, not too masculine or feminine. The UI elements below are a polished version altered based on feedback received from user testing and further refinement.
What is on display below was refined after user testing.
Deliver
User Testing
For the user testing for this product, I invited four individuals to participate. They had all completed the survey so had some. knowledge if the project.
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100% of participants were able to complete the tasks.
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User Testing Feedback
Having users successfully complete the task flows bodes well for the functionality of the application but there was some valuable insights shared about how new features could exist in the application and other general suggestions to improve the application outlined below.
Growth Screen
While users did see the value in having a graph or some kind of data visualisation element included in the screen, some users commented that the graph is hard to read and the data on the cards underneath are more easily digestible. Taking this on board I explored many different graph variations and settled on the bar graph seen below.
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The graph may hold equal weight to the cards underneath at the moment but as more data is entered more detail will be added to the screens. As the graph spans for 12 months it will tell more of a growth story than the cards underneath as on this screen only the four most recent entries are displayed.
Before UAT
After UAT
Puppy Images
Make more of a hero of the puppy images; pet owners love to see pictures of their pets anywhere and everywhere and while there are many photos of puppies throughout the application there aren't many places for users to add photos of their own puppy and really showcase and personalise the application. To allow for this I have added the images uploaded to each of the growth entries to the front of the card so they are visible on the main screen, I have also increased the size of images uploaded where possible.
Before UAT
After UAT
Before UAT
After UAT
Connection points outside of the application
Something highlighted during UT was the lack of connection to the world outside. Caring for a puppy involves many people, and having a collection point can help make it less isolating. Having a veterinarian access puppy profiles allows them to monitor the puppy's health and growth from a distance.
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I have added a 'Share in Community' button too. This is a feature that needs to be considered further, but essentially, it would be a space in the application for puppy owners to connect, ask questions, arrange meet-ups and much more.
Future Features
Whilst undertaking this project user priorities and opportunities have emerged that could not be included in this scope but still have value when thinking about the potential of this application.
Something that is included but not developed in this application is the 'Community' feature. The concept emerged during user research that pet owners use each other as a resource to learn about how to care for their pet, snd as further development of this application, the Community feature would be place to facilitate this. Owning and caring for a dog becomes apart of users' daily routine, building this feature gives users and opportunity to form connections and build a community for to raise their puppy in.
As a starting point it could include the below.
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Find other puppy owners in your area
Based on location, users can search the map to see where puppy owners and map users are in their area, connect with them, and for example, walk and socialise their puppies together. -
Community Forum
A space to ask questions of other puppy owners and learn from their lived experiences. -
Search the Directory
A space for veterinarians to advertise themselves and for users to review them and share their experience dealing with this healthcare professional. This feature could also be extended to dog trainers, dog walkers, sitters and so on. -
Products and Places
A space for users to share their experience or thoughts on a product or place that they have visited or purchased. Examples could include dog parks and dog beaches or dog toys, beds, and so on.
While this is a brief explanation, there is a lot to consider when developing these future features. Before any work begins, as next steps I would recommend a return to user research and investigate puppy owner priorities when it comes to educating themselves on puppy healthcare. While this potential feature has emerged from the user research undertaken for this project it was not the focus of the research and there is potentially more to learn and uncover here to make improvements on this feature.
Final Thoughts
Challenges
As a dog owner myself, during the research phase I had some preconceived ideas about what the findings could be and what I wanted them to be so they aligned with my own priorities as a dog owner. From my experience working with a veterinarian is incredibly expensive and at times necessary but perhaps not at other times. Financially planning for my pets healthcare is incredibly important to me and I was expecting it to emerge as a top priority for pet owners. As I was undertaking the interviews and receiving survey responses it was clear that financial planning is not a high priority for all pet owners. I recognise that I needed to separate my own priorities when it comes to pet ownership from what the research was demonstrating.
Next Steps
Next steps for this project would be to explore how to include a veterinarian profile into the application. As the 'ultimate resource' it would be worth exploring how they can engage with the puppy profile in the application rather than only in a face to face environment. From there, exploring user to user engagement and the potential of the Community features.
