Case Study: Who let the dogs out?
This case study outlines the process I went through on my first UX Design project at Red Academy. I developed a prototype of a map-based mobile app — Doggie Recess — to help Dog Owners find Dog Caregivers in their vicinity.
I went to see a man about a dog (Opportunity)
What problem occurs when everyone in the family — except the dog — are out of the home weekdays between 9 and 5? Doggie accidents.
Patrick W. is one of the many dog owners that are in this situation. Fortunately, he has a temporary fix as his neighbour lets the dog out around noon. Unfortunately, someone else will need to take over the task in the very near future. The ideal would be for someone to go into his home and spend time with the dog — let him out, play with him in the back yard and make sure he has food and water.
But, how does Patrick find that person when he lives in a suburb with limited resources? How can he check qualifications of the person going to care for his dog? What are the security risks of having a stranger in his home?
Where does Patrick even start? Within the constraints of three and a half days, I came up with a solution.
Barking up the right tree (Research & Insights)
First, meet Murray, a 6 year old, beagle-terrier mix. He’s playful, hyper and probably has ADD. When he’s on the trail of a smell, you can’t stop him; he’s a hunter by trait. However, if you try to go for a run with him on a leash, he won’t budge. He likes other dogs, especially those his size, is not aggressive and likes people.
Murray is not “my user”, but he directly impacted my research and insights. From the user interview with Patrick, I was able to determine three goals:
When searching for this type of service, I found a few “mom-and-pop” style sites in the suburbs; a few large-scale competitors (mostly catering to urban centers) and only one app. For example,
- Go-Fetch — only offers longer term care (like when you go on vacation);
- Woofy — mainly for the dog walkers to communicate with the owners;
- Care.com — meets some of the requirements but not strictly for dogs; they also provide services for seniors and children. You have to sign up first to see pet caregivers available near you, but there were a surprising number (23) for Patrick’s area. The app version of Care.com is a bust — many times I had literally a blank screen.
Sniffing out a plan
My data was clear — Patrick needed the ability to search, assess and contact Dog Caregivers near Murray. Later on I could expand the features to include in-app booking and payment; chats; and links to a live feed or social media, but for now, the core features resulted in a simple user flow .
Creating a fetching Design & Prototype
Now I was entering an area I had some familiarity with — design, however, I did not want users testing the prototype to be focused on aesthetics, so I created a low fidelity paper prototype.
The testing generated valuable feedback that I implemented into the next prototype and advice on how to conduct the user testing (see Usability Testing & Results).
Kinda like “Plavlovian Conditioning” (Usability Testing & Results)
It was very interesting to see the various users interact with the first prototype. With the simple user flow, I gave everyone the same scenario — login, search map, review profiles and contact ‘a profile’. Unfortunately, everyone’s understanding of the icons were different and it greatly affected navigation and comprehension.
The user testing indicated three areas in need of improvement (basically my whole app):
- app navigation;
- icon comprehension;
- and map comprehension.
User also had some great suggestions:
- when ‘briefing’ a test user, preface that they have already signed up and have a user profile that includes information on their dog;
- future releases should include booking;
- add filters on the map search;
- and add location input on the map search incase the dog is not at your residence and you need a walker elsewhere.
My second prototype was slightly higher fidelity. I was able to address all the feedback in the design without compromising the simplicity and it resulted in smooth navigation, comprehension of the icons and flexibility in the map search feature.
Getting a leg up (Summary)
I found the whole process energizing. Within the time constraints, I was able to provide a solution for Patrick, and for Murray — an app that enables a Dog Lover to locate qualified resources in the vicinity, mitigate security risks and contact the Dog Caregivers.
