01. Overview

Project Goals

Building a pet-friendly environment that allows owners and pets a convenient life.

1. Consolidate essential pet care functionalities into a single, convenient app.
2. Empower users with pet care knowledge through an intuitive and engaging user experience.
3. Encourage pet adoption and streamline the process.

Final UI

Before getting into the process, let's take a look at the final designs!

02. Research

Competitor Analysis

To understand the existing landscape, I took a look into the competitor apps in the pet care market.

• Limited Functionality: Most existing apps focus on a single function, such as pet-friendly location finding or appointment reminding. This can be inconvenient for pet owners who require a comprehensive solution.

The insight highlighted an opportunity for iPet to differentiate by offering a one-stop app for all pet care needs within a single, user-friendly platform.

Expert Interview

To gain a deeper understanding of pet care challenges and adoption processes, the team had an in-depth interview with an animal shelter officer, which provided some key insights:

• Value of Gamification: The officer highlighted the potential of gamified elements to educate users and prepare them for pet ownership.
• Challenges of Pet Adoption: We discovered a significant pain point – the lack of a centralized platform for pet adoption.
• Information Sharing as a Solution: However, a centralized platform wasn't feasible. The officer suggested focusing on information sharing as a way to support pet adoption.

Survey

To complement our interviews, I conducted a quantitative user survey to gather broader insights.

1. Educational Gamification: We investigated user perception of gamified elements as a learning tool for potential pet owners. The survey asked if an educational game would help them feel more prepared before welcoming a pet.
2. Desired App Functionality: The survey presented various potential features and asked participants to rank their importance. This data helped us prioritize functionalities based on user preferences.

03. Design Process

IA and Main Functions

Based on the research, now it's time to decide the functions and IA of the app. Here's how I translated the research into actionable decisions:

1. Prioritizing Core Functionalities:
Based on the survey results, I prioritized essential functionalities for the app.

2. User-Friendly Information Architecture (IA):
I designed a user-friendly IA to ensure smooth navigation and information access.

• Clear Navigation: Creating a clear and consistent navigation system that allows users to easily find the information they need.
• Information Hierarchy: Organizing information in a logical and hierarchical manner, ensuring easy discovery of relevant content.

3. Gamification for Learning :
Building on the suggestion and positive survey feedback, the team decided to have a dedicated function for a game, which I later designed the characters as well.

• Interactive Learning: Developing an interactive game to help users learn about pet care basics in a fun and rewarding way.

Wireframes

Now, after having a detailed structure of the application and knowing how we would like to show the information within the process, I am able to make a wireframe and prototype for the app.

04. Final Design

Mobile Application

After finish designing the interfaces, developers in our team started to turn the design into an actual mobile application! All the functions that we designed worked well in the final app.

Usability Testing

To ensure iPet met its goals and delivered a positive user experience, we conducted usability testing sessions. We employed the 5Es framework (Effective, Efficient, Engaging, Easy to Learn, Error Tolerant) to evaluate the app across various usability dimensions. Users were asked to rank their level of agreement for each category based on their experience using the app.

Results shows that users found iPet to be:

• Engaging: The app's design and functionalities kept users interested and motivated to explore its features.
• Easy to Learn:The interface allowed users to grasp the app's functionalities quickly.
• Efficient: Users could complete tasks within the app seamlessly and without unnecessary steps.

These positive user ratings confirmed that iPet achieved its goals of providing an engaging, user-friendly, and efficient platform for pet care management.

05. Outcomes

This project is truly a rewarding journey for me. As a one-and-a-half year long project, the team had a chance to came up with everything from stretch, and got our hands on the researching, designing, and developing stages. It was such a fulfilling experience to see our vision come to life.

My biggest takeaways are that about effective communication and how to work as a team in a bigger time length.

1. Effective Communication: The project stressed the need for clear communication within the team. At first, my UI design was misunderstood by the programmer, showing the importance of giving clear explanations and having detailed talks to make sure everyone understands. This experience improved my communication skills and ability to explain design choices clearly.
2. Teamwork and Collaboration: The project greatly improved my teamwork skills. Working well with team members was essential for solving problems and reaching our goals. Since we had to work together as a team for a while, we spent sometime making some team working ground rules so that we are able to transit our work between one another smoothly , without interfere one another. Also, the project won third place in our graduation capstone competition, showing me the value of working together and supporting each other to achieve a common vision.

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