PetsFit
Ideation, User interview, Competitive research, Wireframing, low and high fidelity prototyping, Usability studies
Aug 2022-Oct 2022
We love our pets and want to provide them with the most healthy and nutrition-balanced diet. PetsFit is an app that combines a pet food online shopping platform with diet monitoring, nutrition tracking, and pet food management functions. The project aims to help pet owners make good decisions for their pets’ diets and monitor pets’ health.
THE PROBLEM
Problem 01: The Increased Need of Pet Food online purchasing during the pandemic
Consumer needs have surgered
14% of respondents, including pet owners and non-pet owners, obtained a new pet during the pandemic.
Pet owners' purchasing behaviors have changed
More pet owners prefer purchasing online with purchases shipped to home than in-person purchasing at the store.
According to The American Pet Products Association 2021-2022 National Pet Owners Survey, an estimated 70% of U.S. households have at least one companion animal in the house. During the pandemic,
problem 02: How do pet owners pick their pets' food?
As the pet food industry grows, persuasive marketing claims about pet food’s nutrition and ingredients promote sales and also have made it challenging for pet owners to make informed decisions for their pet friends.
goals
Based on the research, two primary objectives were set:
help pet owners make informed decisions for their pets' diets.
provide pet owners with seamless online pet food shopping experience.
FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH
Secondary Research
To decide what features should be included during the product development, I did a secondary research on several pet food nutritional guidelines and research to understand what information can help pet owners select pet foods.
During the research, I narrowed the target audience of the project to dog and cat owners, because dogs and cats are the most popular household pets globally and have most nutrition guidance and research than other domesticated pets. Some other insights were:
Screening Evaluation
Pet's physical status is important for making a specific dietary recommendation for the pet. This includes:
age
weight,
activity level,
disease condition, medications and/or dietary supplement
body condition score (BCS)
Obesity
According to the survey, over 50% of dogs and cats are overweight or obese. Pet owners need ways to manage their pets’ weight.
Key Nutrition
Several key nutrients that are essential for dogs and cats are: water, protein, fibers fat, minerals, vitamins.
Emphasize with Users
I conducted user interviews and developed personas to understand the users I'm designing for and their pain points.
In the recruitment, I decided to divide the target participants based on the type of pets they have, and recruit them separately (experiences of having a dog and a cat could be different).
First, I talked to 4 cat owners in my network. I’m currently living in a community with many dog owners. Because of that, I recruited other 4 dog owners in the dog park nearby to answer my interview questions (script). I tried to have people different in age and occupation for forming a more representative sample.
Goals of the interview were:
Understand user needs and frustrations as they choose and purchase pet food.
Understand user behaviors and experiences as they use the existing products.
Understand common user patterns of feeding their pets.
After the user interviews, I summarized the users' pain points as below:
Time
Working adults do not have time to purchase pet products in person at brick-and-mortar stores.
Nutrient Requirement
Difficult to determine whether the pet's daily nutrient requirement has been met.
Key Nutrition
Takes huge effort to select the pet food that matches with their needs (e.g. pet's health concerns, price range, etc.)
Nutrition Label
Confusing information on the pet food package makes it difficult for pet owners to select pet food.
Persona Development
Two personas were created to represent two distinct groups of pet owners identified during the user interviews. Problem statements were further developed to describe two groups of users' needs that should be addressed.
Persona 1 - Problem Statement:
Diana is a busy doctor who needs an efficient way to select optimal pet food for her pet and monitor her pet's health, because she has unpredictable working schedule and Snowball (her pet) has a fragile stomach.
Persona 2 - Problem Statement:
Cindy is a young marketing specialist who needs a fast and seamless pet food delivery service and inexpensive, high-quality pet food for her cats, because she wants to devote more time on working.
Design ideation
No products in the market have integrated the pet food online stores with nutrition tracking function
After analyzing the existing products in the market, I found out that no products in the market have integrated the pet food online stores with pet's nutrition tracking function.
I looked at several indirect competitors in the market. Although they have different set of target audiences or offerings, they still provide insights in my product development phase.
Same target group,
different offerings
Similar offerings,
different target audiences
Insights I gained after the competitive audits:
Logging pet's diet takes many steps. some products' pet food searching is difficult to use.
Besides pet online stores, some offer pet related services.
Some products cannot manage multiple pets
Competitor product offers flexible delivery options: same day-delivery, shipping, and pick-up
Ideate possible solutions to user pain points
After the foundation research and competitive audit, I began to ideate the possible features my product can offer to address users' pain points and the gaps in the existing products.
Desgin kickoff
User Flow
I started the design with constructing the main user flow for the core functions of the app.
Information Architecture (IA)
IA states the main structure of the app. It was used as a guide during the wireframing phase.
Low Fidelity Wireframes & Flow
Quickly sketching on paper to try different layouts and include different elements. Paper wireframing allowed me to iterate quickly and explore different ideas.
Before moving to visuals, based on paper wireframe, IA, user flow, I constructed the digital low-fidelity design that specify the user flow, main screens appear in the app. I group the screens according to their functions. This was used as the "backbone" in my mockup and high-fidelity prototype designing phases.
Design & testing
Usability Study
With my low-fidelity prototype, I conducted a usability test to help guide the transition from the low-fi prototype to the mockup. The goal was to determine if functions were difficult to use and some user needs were not met or noticed. Some changes were made after the first usability study:
Finding 1:
User need a better cue for logging pet food
In early designs, I used a 'plus' icon to indicate pet food logging, but the cue was easily missed during the usability test.
After the usability study, I changed the icon to the phrase 'ADD FOOD', making the cue more direct.
In early designs, 'Nutrition' button was located under the diet diary. Users must tap the button to see the calories information.
After the usability study, I divided the diet section into 3 parts (diary, nutrition, basket) by creating a top navigation bar. The layout is more organized. Also a summary of diet's calories was added at the bottom of the diet diary section.
Finding 3:
No confirmation page before order submission.
No confirmation page before the usability test.
Confirmation page was added before submission.
Updated IA After Usability Study
High-Fidelity prototype
User Onboarding
I integrated the pets' screening evaluation to the onboarding process. This allowed the app keeps track of the pet's physical status and make specific suggestion on pet food.
Key Features
01
Track nutrients of pet's daily intake
Log pet's diet in food diary and track their nutrients and calories to ensure their nutrient requirements have been met and prevent obesity.
Log the pet food
Swipe left to delete the pet food you don't want
Check specific pet food's nutritional information
To calculate the feeding amount, simply select the pet, enter the pet food product name.
Want to calculate for the pet not in the profile? Click "Add a pet" and enter pet's info needed for calculation.
02
Don't know how much to feed your furry friend?
Select the pet and enter the pet food brand, Pet food calculator automatically calculate pet's ideal weight, the feeding amount, recommended daily calories to pet owners.
03
Flexible way for pet food logging
Both search bar and barcode scanning allows pet owners to log the pet food they want. Pet owners also can quickly log the pet food in search history and pet food basket.
Provide alternative ways to log pet food.
04
Pet food Basket keeps track of all the pet food in home
Manage all the opened, purchased pet food in home.
05
Pet food Basket keeps track of all the pet food in home
Both pick up and delivery services
One time purchase and subscription option
Search, sort by, and filtering functions to quickly find the items
Design Details
Style Guide
Based on the competitive and secondary research, I wanted the app to have a tone that was: warm, joyful, energetic, which aligns with the emotions pets bring to us. The color palette I chose was inspired by a retro design style called, Memphis style. Bright, strong and clashing colors are used in this design style to evoke a fun vibe.
TAKEAWAYS
Impacts
Numerous nutrition monitoring apps are available, almost all of which were created with people in mind to support our continued health. According to the previous competitive audit, there were no equivalent products on the market that aim to track pets' dietary needs and eating patterns. Petsfit has focused on our pets and helps pet owners feed their animals properly and keep track on their health.
What I learned
While designing Petsfit, I discovered that developing a design system from the prototyping stage helps speed up and create consistency across the entire designing process. Additionally, conducting usability studies was crucial because they offer feedback and occasionally reveal new user needs.
next steps
Conduct multiple usability studies to ensure that the problems users encountered have been successfully resolved.
Closely collaborate with veterinary scientists to update the app's functionalities.
References
American Pet Products Association. Manufacturers & Pet Product Brands Industry Trends and Stats. Accessed Oct 23, 2023. https://americanpetproducts.org/industry-trends-and-stats