Project Overview
Timeline:
10 Weeks
Role:
UX | UI, Branding, Design Systems
Tools:
Figma, Otter A.I,
Adobe Illustrator
Platform:
Mobile IOS
Problem
Many aspiring dog owners lack breed specific knowledge, resulting in stress and thus increased likelhood of rehoming.
Solution
Dawgo, a social network app that empowers dog owners to connect and learn from trainers and each other.
How?
Networking apps like Meetup tend to be free, and a lot of value is obtained from connecting to people within the same field or, in this case, dog owners who may share similar experiences.
The Why
I remember back when Game of Thrones was popular, and there was this rise in Husky popularity due to the resemblance huskies have to dire wolves. However, at the time there was also a surge in Huskies being brought into shelters once new owners discovered the behavioral & economic difficulties of having a Husky.
Research
Secondary Research
As an aspiring dog owner myself, I was curious to see how relevant & true these behaviors might be today compared to back then. Beginning my investigation (AKA Google), I found some data points concerning such a correlation.
Affordability
60% of shelters reported receiving surrenders (or surrender requests) of dogs that people say they paid a lot of money for and now can’t afford to keep(2023)
Vet Costs
40% of former owners said free or low cost veterinary care would have prevented rehoming(2016)
Behavior issues
37% of shelters stated returns for nuisance behaviors occurred within the first 7 days post-adoption(2023)
How Might We?
Taking how my secondary research highlighted money as a strong stressor for people rehoming their dogs, I sought to tackle this problem space even further by asking how?
"
"How might we connect new dog owners to affordable pet care support and ease their parenting difficulties in order to reduce the risk of rehoming?"
Ideation
3 interviews
Criteria would be that they were dog owners
Since I did not have access in my local network to aspiring or inexperienced dog owners.
From those interviews I was still able to gather valuable insight.
I used Otter A.I to record my interviews
I made sure to ask participants for permission before recording
Otter A.I was helpful for transcribing and reviewing my interviews since I had no notetaker
Notable quotes
Doug(Phone call)
“Had to take Banjo to the emergency vet because he swallowed a rock... $700.”
Maurice (In-Person)
"I didn't account for how hyper and active she is."
Devon(Phone call)
"I think it really helped when I was little having a dog, and then when I got my own dog, like having that knowledge prior was helpful."
Insights
Theme 1: Surprises Despite Experiences
Theme 2: Time Management & Difficulties
Theme 3: Resourcefulness of Dog Owners
Chosen Theme: Surprises Despite Experiences
Persona: Meet Emma! a new dog owner!
Emma recently adopted, a beagle named Pickles. While she is thrilled to start her journey as a proud beagle parent, she is also a busy schoolteacher who is overwhelmed by the amount of information out there for dogs and wants to make sure she can easily find trustworthy resources at an affordable price.
User Stories + Epics
The user stories I created built further empathy between me and the persona/user. It helped me even further visualize who they are and what they want. As a result, this helped me hone in on features I should include in my app.
Dog Care & Management (11 user stories)
Community & Support (6 user stories)
Tracking & Planning (6 user stories)
Chosen Epic: Dog Care Management
Going through each user story, about 23, and categorizing them into epics, I chose this epic since it encapsulated more accurately the whole sphere of Emma’s main frustration and goals, while also covering elements of community & support as well.
Task Flow Diagram
For this task flow, I wanted to focus in on one particular goal for the user Emma, which would be to attend a teach-your-dog-to-fetch event. The event would not only help Emma teach her dog Pickles how to fetch but would also be an environment for Emma to connect with other dog owners.
Usability Testing & Iterations
2 rounds of usability testing with wireframes. I used the name Biscuitteer as a placeholder name for testing.
Usability testing sample question
Imagine you’re trying to find an event; how would you do so?
Imagine you are trying to find a fetch event; how would you do so?
Imagine you are only free this week. How would you find an event that fits your schedule?
Feedback
They enjoyed the simplicity of the app.
Difficulties with typography and unclearness on the donation part and events weekly screen.
Suggestions to have filter for days and overall average reviews with filter to find 4 star or 5 star reviews were insightful as well
Branding
I did originally have a bias for Biscuiteer, but tried not to get attached to the name. I explored different options, and I noticed how other apps and companies tend to use puns or just simply a name that conveys the usability of the product. i.e Meetup.
Name options
Biscuiteers
Fatch
Catch
Metch
Shake
Pawtch
Bartch
CEET
LEET
Dawgo
Final Choice: Dawgo
Dawgo won me over because it was a pun on paw and dog
Dawgo also had an emphasis on going to events with the word GO in it.
I originally used icons from Iconify and then went into Adobe to tweak the icon
I wanted to make the paw look like a W because I thought it'd be clever.
I used Adobe Illustrator since I had heard this was the gold standard for crafting logos.
One free trial later and I pushed myself to learn the platform
Youtube & tinkering were my best friend
Chosen Logo
Takeaway from logo design
It was taking too much time trying to figure out how to make a paw look like a W
I noticed if I put a normal-looking paw in between DA and GO, people would read it as DAGO
I felt comfortable with having this W as my logo for Dawgo since it was clear it was a W but also dog-related because of the nose.
Color Injections
For color injection, I wanted accessibility to come first, so I made sure to use Stark to keep track of contrast issues.
However, as I went along with my color injection process, I came across a roadblock.
Contrast Issues
Even though I had accessibility in mind, I noticed that the color theory in my design iterations were not meeting that standard and the design layout still felt too simple and barebones.
Given my little Figma experience at the time, I sought advice from my teachers and cohort, which ultimately helped lead my design towards a stronger direction.
Design System
Atomic Design Principles
I followed Brad Frost's Atomic Design principles for creating my design system for Dawgo who a strong background in coding and design systems. As designers, I think it is important to have our designs be as translatable for developers who will be turning our prototypes into real products.
Atoms = HTML Tags, i.e form labels, buttons
Molecules = 2 Atoms
Organism = Group of molecules
Templates = Group of organisms
Pages = Instances of templates
UI Library
Even though developers were not involved, I made sure to redline the sizing and distance of my elements as though I would be handing off my UI library over to a developer.
HI-FI
Marketing
If Dawgo were to launch as a real app, I prototyped & delivered a responsive marketing website to call users to download Dawgo and see how its ease of use and all-in-one dog platform can help users on their dog journey.
Desktop
View Prototype
Design Impact + Future Thinking
For this case study it was also important for me to consider any possible highs and lows for my solution in order to maintain a realistic and objective mindset towards my solution, and so I thought about certain what-if scenarios.
What would a bad actor do with my product?
How would a community of your most passionate user behave?
If two friends use my app, how could it enhance or detract from their relationship?
Takeaways
Self-awareness & reflection, I believe, are important skills to practice not just in life but also in UX. This project and overall bootcamp experience played a major role in setting my foundation for the design process. Coming from an English background, I learned a lot and still have much I look forward to learning in the world of UX.
Learnings
Self-awareness is a very important trait to practice.
It is important to adapt once new information arrives
Do not get attached to your design & ideas, i.e William Faulkner's quote, 'Kill your darlings.'
Flush out the app more and play with different color combinations and see if better colors for branding and accessibility may have been missed.
Take on volunteer or paid roles to have real design impact
Engage in case studies involving design systems; I would love to work with an already established design system.
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