Design a product that enables people to interact with animals.
We focussed on desk research, a survey and user interviews. Desk research showed me that pets can improve the wellbeing of people. Yet, pet ownership can also cause a lot of stress, affecting the mental health of their ownsers negatively. I also found out that abandoned pets often have trust issues that can only be resolved through positive interactions with humans.
Survey findings and interviews showed me that people aren't always aware of opportunities that exist that would enable them to interact with animals. It also showed that users find it very important that any human-animal interactions are ethical.
Following the research phase, I decided to think about a market-place style app to connect users with businesses that work with animals.
Personas:
User journey:
Storyboard:
After focussing on the user and looking at the products of competitors, I designed some lo-fi wireframes and the information architecture of the product. I then built a functioning prototype in Figma (see demo of this at the top of the page).
Information architecture:
Wireframes:
I tested both sides of the track with a few people and incorporated their feedback.
I created a moodboard and style tile to start working on the UI of the app.
Moodboard:
Style tile:
The process I went through was of course not perfect due to time constraints and course expectations. It would have been great to reach out to business owners, rather than rely on desk research alone, for example. But as we had to do the research in groups and each create a different project, it impossible to tailor the research fully to my product.
It would also have been beneficial to narrow down the target audience sooner. Finally, work needs to be done to make the animal wellbeing rating system as credible as possible. Currently, there is no universal quality mark for animal care and wellbeing which businesses can use. As a result a good way needs to be found to enable businesses to address the topic and for customers to feedback in a way that is fair to all.