pet lifestyle + diet tracking
In today’s society, individuals treat their pets as integral members of the family. Nurturing them involves a deep sense of responsibility, particularly in determining the most suitable dietary choices. This application goes beyond merely monitoring your pet’s daily food consumption, exercise, nutrition, and overall well-being. It also imparts valuable insights into age-specific dietary needs and requirements, assisting users in providing the optimal diet for their pet’s current life stage. While other apps focus on demonstrating the mechanics of tracking pets’ nutrition and eating habits, they often fail to educate users on the underlying reasons and the benefits of a personalized diet and feeding routine.
Project Title: Let’s go for a walk! | My Role: UX Researcher & Designer / UI Designer | Timeline: 4 Months
Design Process
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Empathize
Research Plan
User Interviews
Competitive Analysis -
Define
Project Goals
HMW & POV Statements
Affinity Map
User Persons -
Ideate
User Flow
Task Flow
Sitemap
Sketches -
Design
UI Kit
Branding
Wireframes
Hi-Fidelity Prototype -
Test
Usability Testing
Feedback
Refine
Solution
User Research Plan
Pet parents want the best for their pets, and will do what they can to provide for them. Many pet owners require specific tailored diets and exercises for their pets. Individuals with multiple pets have very different approaches to their various pets. Each pet has unique needs, from cats to dogs, young and old. Pet parents struggle to keep track of their pets and want a better method of tracking their unique needs.
Research
Goals
I want to educate users on the benefits of monitoring their pet paired with a preventative diet that suits their needs. Users should be able to record and access health information about their pet(s) at any given time. This app will allow users to track their pet’s diet, and health, and also help build an eating/feeding schedule for you and your pet.
Research
Objectives
Objective: Assess what pet owners are doing or not doing to track the health of their pets.
Objective: Identify any problems pet owners may have maintaining a healthy diet for their pets.
Objective: Assess what areas current apps could improve upon, and what is most important to users.
User Interviews
Kyle N.
City Employee
Multiple Pets
40
Tasha A.
Shelter Employee
Two Dogs
35
Brandon P.
Doctor
Two Dogs
36
Kelly A.
Graphic Designer
Former Pet Owner
34
Sarah M.
Veterinarian
Two Dogs, Three Cats
43
Sam H.
Marketing
Two Cats
35
Research
Pet Food Preferences
The most important factor in selecting pet food is the quality of the ingredients.
Users prioritize feeding their pets nutritious food made from real, wholesome ingredients to ensure their health and well-being.
Routine and Care
Users maintain a consistent routine for feeding and playing with their pets.
Some users currently use tracking apps, but there are features they feel are missing.
Motivation for Health Tracking
The primary motivation for tracking their pets' health is to ensure they receive the best care and to detect potential health issues early, enhancing the care provided and the bond with their pets.
Experience with Pet Apps
Users value features like customizable reminders, medical history tracking, and access to educational resources.
However, they note that the user interface of these apps can sometimes be clunky or difficult to navigate.
Medication Management
Setting reminders, creating a medication schedule, and incorporating medication administration into the daily routine helps users stay consistent with their pets' medication.
User Problems
“It’s hard to keep track of pet habits.”
Goal: With the varying needs of pets, and the busy schedules of pet owners; it’s hard to maintain a proper routine.
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With the varying needs of pets and the busy schedules of pet owners; it’s hard to maintain a proper routine.
“Lack of proper diet information.”
Goal: Provide users with the proper dietary information for their pets needs by tailoring a diet based on their breed, age, and weight.
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Pet owners don’t always realize what the best diet is for their pets. There are many sources online that can provide this
“Pet owners with multiple pets.”
Goal: Allow users to add and track multiple pets from the same app.
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Users with multiple pets expressed their desire for an app or method of keeping track of each pets individual needs.
Competitive Analysis
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Pet Care Tracker Dog Cat Log
With Dog Cat Health Tracker you can: Create Reminders, Track Weight, Create Logs/Notes, and Vaccines.
Potential Demographic: Users of all ages
Price: FreeStrengths: 21 total animals can be tracked, not just dogs and cats.
Weaknesses: Doesn’t have preferred settings. Customers have to enter their criteria over and over again. Limited Metrics
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DogLog - Track your Pet’s Life
DogLog is an easy-to-use pet care app that makes pet ownership less stressful. It helps dog owners track their pet’s health, coordinates daily pet-related tasks, and lots more! DogLog is great for single pet parents and for families and has been downloaded by +100,000 pet owners.
Potential Demographic: Users of all ages
Pricing: Free
Strengths: Puppy and Senior dog-specific information.
Weaknesses: Only for dogs
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11Pets
Pet Care Caring for the needs and health of our pets can get complicated sometimes. At 11pets, we are a big family of animal enthusiasts and have developed the best digital platform to help you better care for your pets.
Potential Demographic: Businesses & Vets
Pricing: High Cost
Strengths: Designed to track multiple animals with different needs
Weaknesses: Lack of refine-able categories and options. Past, and present pets
Project Goals
Business Goals
Develop and launch a comprehensive pet wellness app.
Educate pet owners on tailored pet diets.
Address the gap in existing pet tracking apps.
Establish partnerships with Veterinary professionals.
Promote Healthy Pet Lifestyles
Collect user feedback for continuous improvement
User Goals
Provide pets with the best possible health options.
Establish and maintain habits, and track behaviors.
Vet-certified feeding and diet recommendations.
Easy way to track medicine schedule.
Track multiple pets with unique needs.
Customize and track many different aspects of a pet’s life.
A place that has all of a pet’s information in one place. Medical histories, food recs, scheduling, alarms, reminders, notifications, diet exercise, tailored life stage information.
Multi-user support, and duty lists.
Technical Considerations
Customizable pet profiles.
Multip-pet customizable trackers.
Users expressed their desire to have as many customizable options as possible.
Users who have used pet tracking apps explained they had issues with usability.
Pet apps lack support, and valuable “why” information.
Concerns
How do we differentiate ourselves from competition?
What animals do we have available at launch?
How do we provide the most value for users?
HMW
HMW Statement #1
How might we develop a system that allows for users to
enter the information for multiple pets with unique needs?
HMW Statement #2
How might we build a UI that is easy to use, and is customizable for each
user and their pet’s specific needs?
HMW Statement #3
How might we create a reliable platform for users to access accurate
information to customize their pets' diet, exercise routines, and overall
care regimen, ensuring a healthy lifestyle for their furry companions?
POV
POV Statement #1
I aim to create a fun and easy-to-use application that
encourages pet owners to establish healthy habits with their pets.
POV Statement #2
I’d like to explore ways to record and present accurate data for
pet owners.
POV Statement #3
I want to find a source to gather accurate data on pet health, and
life stage information.
Affinity Map
The Affinity mapping suggests that users struggle most with acquiring ingredients and finding recipes that work for their cooking knowledge, dietary restrictions, and family structure. These things have validated my original thought that a social community approach to cooking would benefit users by providing them with the tools, and knowledge to feel more comfortable cooking, and possible workarounds for their challenges.
User Personas
User Flows
Taking feedback from the interviews into account; the userflow was designed to make navigating to the recipe as simple as possible. A few participants expressed their issues with having to scroll through many paragraphs, and ads to find the actual recipe they’re looking for.
Sitemap
Basic site structure to ensure a simple navigation for the user. The sitemap will serve as the foundation for the app structure.
Sketches
The original sketches for the project.
Lo-fi Wireframes
By this stage of the project, I had a clear vision of the interface layout. The next steps involve testing, iterating, adding colors and branding, and conducting a usability test.
Mood board
I wanted to go with with a warm, and playful design for Dynamo.
Navigation & Color
The original color scheme needed a slight adjustment. The navigation dial was lost in the scheduling menu. This menu was also scrapped in the final design.
Navigation Dial V.1
The first round of testing proved work needed to be done on the dial. Users felt it had low visibility and poor contrast.
UI toolkit
The overall branding and design system used for this app is outlined below. I wanted to develop every element and component from scratch to learn more about the process.
Hi-fi Wireframes
The colors, illustrations, and overall mood finally come together in the high-fidelity wireframes.
Usability Test
All users have had trouble sourcing ingredients for specific recipes.
Recipe websites and blogs are a viable source for recipes, but pose challenges for some users.
Community engagement would be a welcomed addition to sourcing recipes, and enhancing knowledge.
Healthy cooking is a concern for some, but not for everybody.
Social media enhances users experiences, and can enrich an individuals cooking experience.
Navigation Dial
The navigation dial is very accessible, and easy to use. It puts all of buttons at the bottom allowing for single handed navigation.
Colorful Dashboard
A fun and playful color palette makes this design fun & functional.
Prototype
Give the prototype a try and let us know if you have any feedback you’d like to share!
Email us with your suggestions, and thoughts. We’d love to hear from you!
Reflection & next steps
Developing an app from the ground up was an invaluable learning experience. By creating all elements from scratch, I gained deep insights into user interface design, backend architecture, and user experience. Working without a predefined design system allowed me to explore different design principles and develop a unique visual identity for the app. This approach enhanced my problem-solving skills and technical expertise, as I had to independently tackle challenges and optimize performance. Overall, this project significantly broadened my technical skills and creativity, providing a comprehensive understanding of app development.
The next steps involve continuing refining, and iterating design to ensure it meets user needs and expectations. Building a responsive prototype that works seamlessly on both web and tablet platforms is crucial to providing a consistent user experience across devices. Future features to implement include schedule sharing, allowing users to share their pet care schedules easily.
Expanding the app to accommodate additional pet species will broaden its usability. A feeding calculator can help pet owners determine the right amount of food for their pets based on specific criteria. Additionally, offering food recommendations and breed-specific details, such as size, weight, feeding schedule, and exercise requirements, will provide users with comprehensive and tailored information, enhancing the app's value and functionality.
