Description
An app for pet owners where you can store important documents, create calendar events, get reminders, find pet-friendly places, get directions to them, share your location with friends. There is also an opportunity to get useful advice for your pet from proven specialists and to see dangerous places for your pet to walk.
I invented this program as an example that would be interesting to improve my skills in user research and usability testing. While working on this project, I was the curator of Junior Designer, to whom I explained all the processes in detail and with examples. The plan was to create an unusual product with creative ideas and find out what its target audience want right now. And create or improve existing flows for Usability Testing.
My role
Brainstorm ideas
UX research
User research
User flow
Wireframing
Design system
UX/UI design
Prototype
Usability testing
Problem
These days, walking cats on a leash is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon among city residents. But many cats are very afraid of dogs and their large gatherings in parks. There are also no places for safe walks with cats.
Many people in Ukraine are internally displaced persons who no longer have the opportunity to see their friends, and this has a strong impact on mental health.
Solution
Create an application that, using GPS, will collect data about the movement of owners with various types of animals on walks. This will help mark on the maps popular places for walking of certain species of animals or dangerous places, according to which users can plan their routes.
Ability to add photos and reviews of places and share them publicly, so users can reply to each other's posts and get to know each other.
The ability to add friends to the application with whom you can share geolocation, route plans and messages.
Create profiles for both pets and owners to make it easier to find friends.
UX research
As a result of the research, it was found that the Ukrainian market of applications for pet owners does not yet have similar products to the one invented by me. However, a survey of the target audience showed that people still lack basic functions in their phones: keeping all documents in one place, a calendar with simple and flexible setting of events and reminders about them, maps with pet-friendly establishments available in their city with reviews from pet owners. Also, the function of creating an announcement about a lost animal was very important to potential users.
But such functions as the display of the most popular places for specific types of animals (the owners of both cats and dogs participated in the study), recommendations and tips for improving or maintaining the health of animals, the ability to track the geolocation of a pet and share the geolocation with a friend turned out to be interesting.
User research
The most interesting functions for the audience
Less popular ideas that require additional research
User persona
Iryna
Age: 24
Marital status: single
Occupation: Freelance illustrator
Location: Ukraine
Owner: Cat of mixed breeds
Goal
◉ Take the cat outside several times a week safely
◉ Explore new places around the house that are suitable for cat walks
◉ Visit pet-friendly properties
◉ Meet other cat owners and share experiences
◉ Take the cat to grooming, veterinary clinics and playgrounds
Frustration
◉ It is scary to take the cat out for a walk, constantly waiting for the appearance of dogs that can scare the cat. Barking, even at a distance, scares the kitten
◉ There are too many different animal documents that are difficult to structure and store
◉ The dates of vaccinations and routine examinations are often forgotten
◉ It's hard to find places that are pet friendly with good reviews from pet owners
◉ There is too much unverified information on the Internet about walks, life and health of cats. It is difficult to understand where is the truth and where is a fake advertising campaign
◉ It is terrible to lose an animal and then not find it
◉ Aggressive marketing, lots of intrusive advertising
Influence
◉ Friends
◉ Social media
◉ Favorite bloggers
Personality
◉ Empathic
◉ Shy
◉ Impulsive
Tehnology
◉ Phone first
◉ Apple
◉ YouTube
◉ Tik Tok
Empathy Map
Think and Feel
◉ My kitty is so beautiful but so vulnerable
◉ Is there anything scary for my cat on the route I have planned for today's walk?
◉ I get annoyed when I see too many ads
◉ It annoys me when I am forced to buy something or tricked into buying something
◉ Should this advice be trusted or not?
Hear
◉ Stories of friends
◉ Meowing and purring of a kitten
◉ Stories about the benefits of walks near the house for cats
◉ Diagnoses, recommendations of veterinarians and zoo psychologists
◉ Stories about the fact that somewhere there are cool establishments where you can stay with animals
See
◉ Her home
◉ District, yard and cityscapes
◉ Video about how people around the world are actively engaged in cat walking
◉ Other people walk their animals
◉ Video about cat care
Say and Do
◉ "I try to give my cat everything I can to make him happy"
◉ Impulsively buys various cat toys after seeing them from bloggers
◉ When walking your cat, try to avoid people with dogs
◉ The mode of walking a cat depends very much on the mood of the owner
Usability testing
Goals
01
Home page: Is it clear how to add a new document to an animal account?
02
Home page: Is it clear how to edit an existing document in an animal account?
03
Home page: Is it clear how to create a new event?
04
Calendar: Is the way to find events for the next year clear?
05
Calendar: Is it clear how to edit an already created event?
06
Map: Are the markers on the map clear (my mark, my friend, danger)?
Testing results
01
On the home page, 2 out of 5 people surveyed had difficulty finding a page with detailed information about their pet. The problem was solved at the stage of UI design, where interactive elements are highlighted due to color and shadow, the hover effect, drawing maximum attention to itself.
02
On the pet information page 3 out of 5 tested people could not find how to get to the page with documents. The problem was solved by raising the block with documents above the description of the animal so that this block could be seen without scrolling. During the UI design step, artwork was added to further highlight this component.
03
On the documents page, 3 out of 5 people surveyed had difficulty adding a new document. I solved the problem by merging the Add Document and Add Section buttons into one big one at the top of the list, because the small button on the button navigation was lost even when I made it the accent color.
04
On the map page, 3 out of 5 people surveyed had difficulty understanding the markings on the map. The problem was solved by adding an avatar to beacons and colors. For, with the use of danger for the user to offer to provide the ability to add comments and photos of users of the area nearby. Dangers can be assessed as large and aggressive breeds of animals, species of animals, stray animals, dangerous people, city infrastructure. Users can independently add danger labels to maps as well.
