I. Discovery
Where should we begin?
I have started looking into some statistics about the pet industry, more specifically, statistics related to dog owners to understand the market and our target audience.
How big is the market? How many dog owners are in Canada?
Has anything changed since the pandemic?
Do they train their dogs? How often? What are their goals?
Gaining a better understanding of the target audience and their needs is crucial, it helps inform my design decisions and ensures that the final product meets the needs of the intended users that I am designing for.
II. Research
(Source: 23 Pawesome Pet Industry Canada Statistics for 2021, Canada Pet Ownership Statistics to Know in 2022: How Many Canadians Have Pets?)
Interviews
I conducted user interviews to build a persona and to inform the design, as well as understand if there are existing issues with pet owners finding pet companions. Besides that, we hope to discover the current actions pet owners are taking to find pet companions, and the motivations or considerations when finding a buddy for their pets.
Surveys
After the project kickoff, my team and I defined the research strategy and objectives. Understanding the target audience and their challenges was our priority. We received 10 survey submissions during the first week.
Here are some of the results we pulled from the survey:
60% of pet owners think their pet needs a pet companion
40% of owners are looking for a pet community
Most interviewees with small dogs expressed frustration when finding a companion with a similar size and play style
III. Ideation
58% of Canadians were pet owners in 2020 (Reviewlution, 2021) - I created this persona because most pet owners in Canada spend more time browsing the Web or watching television than playing with their pets (Petkeen, 2022) I interviewed a few pet owners in Ontario, they all expressed that they are willing to spend more time with their dog but their work occupied most of their time, and they wish there is a way they can arrange a play date for their dogs. Hence, I created this persona based on the information I gathered from statistics online, interviews and the problems that we're trying to solve.
User Journey
IV. Sketches
I quickly sketched a few lo-fi screens that explain the flow of the app. I specifically included the location services screen because the whole idea is to connect owners based on geographical proximity.
A lot of interviewees mentioned that they couldn't narrow down their choices to find a suitable companion (i.e. size, weight, etc.). Another major thing I learned from the interview is that most owners want to learn a little more from the person they connect with so I also designed a profile or bio page as well.
Sketching out the idea helps me understand the essential features that allow me to "think first, implement after" - focus on the solutions that ease users' pain points without considering too much of the technical constraints.
V. User Testing
I created a functional mid-fidelity prototype of multiple flows using Figma. At the same time, I started recruiting people who own dogs for the test. I focused on the most commonly brought-up actions that our users mentioned - the onboarding process: profile creation + search
Action #1: Verification + create an account
Action #2: profile + search + chat
VI. Prototyping
