Pet Buddy
Background
Pet Buddy was created to help pet parents manage their pets' care with ease and efficiency. In the hustle of busy schedules and personal commitments, it’s easy to miss vet appointments or forget essential activities like walks and playtime. Pet Buddy empowers pet owners to stay organised and engaged, ensuring their furry companions' needs are met in a seamless and enjoyable way.
Details
Role: UX Designer
Duration: 3 months
Tools: Figma
User Research
I conducted primary research through qualitative interviews with eight participants to understand the challenges pet owners face and how they manage information about their pets. Using affinity mapping, I analysed the data to identify recurring themes and pinpoint three key pain points shared by users. To complement these findings, I performed a competitive analysis of popular pet care apps as part of my secondary research.
Pain Points
Affinity Mapping
Affinity mapping is an effective technique for organising and analysing qualitative data from user interviews. Using this method, I identified recurring concerns from the interview data and grouped them into meaningful themes.
The main categories included external help for pet care, activity tracking, grooming, pet mood, exercise, and food and nutrition, each with corresponding subcategories to further detail user needs.
Competitive Audit
I conducted a competitive audit to assess Pet Buddy's market competitors, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. The findings were then analysed through a SWOT framework to identify how Pet Buddy could differentiate itself and attract a unique user base. Key opportunities included simplifying navigation, enhancing the visibility of important buttons, creating well-labelled menus, and offering credible, pet-related articles.
Problem Statement
The Pet Buddy app addresses common challenges in pet care, including disorganised information, finding time for walks and play, and gaps in knowledge about pet behaviour and health.
How Might We
How might we simplify and streamline daily pet care tasks for pet parents, ensuring their pets stay healthy and happy?
Goal Statement
Our pet care app helps pet parents organize their pets' information and stay on top of activities like vet visits and grooming appointments.
Wireframing the solution
On the homepage, I designed a bottom navigation bar for quick access to key features. Additionally, I included pet profile icons, enabling users to easily add or switch profiles, with the page content updating accordingly.
On the notes page, I opted for a list format, with an action button next to each title for easy access. The 'Add Note' page allows users to include tags, making it easier to organise and search their notes.
Homepage
I incorporated pet profile icons on the homepage, allowing users to easily switch between different pet profiles. Upcoming appointments were given priority, followed by personalised articles tailored to each pet's needs.
Track
Each core feature page also included pet profile icons, ensuring the content updated dynamically based on the selected profile. Action buttons were placed next to the 'Appointments' and 'Reminders' sections for quick access. Initially, a calendar feature allowed users to view reminders by swiping through dates or using a pop-up calendar.
Learn
On the Learn page, users can access personalised articles by selecting their pet type, with the option to choose both dogs and cats. Although I initially planned to include quizzes as a fun, interactive feature alongside articles, I decided to exclude them from the final design to maintain the app's primary focus.
Notes
I placed an 'Add New Note' button at the top of the page for visibility, encouraging user action. While I initially planned for users to swipe through notes by date, and included tags beneath each note for easy categorisation, these features were ultimately not included in the final design as more critical elements took precedence.
Developing the screens
We chose Inter for readability and used mint + lavender to convey calm inclusivity.
Results and Takeaways
The app's design solves common challenges faced by pet owners in fast-paced urban environments, providing a streamlined and organized way to care for their pets. I’ve learned that understanding the priorities of target users, from the most important to the least, is crucial when designing an effective interface.
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