DogSpot
Socializing dogs early on is an important stage in canine development. Dog parks can pose multiple risks due to inattentive owners, an overwhelming amount of dogs, unfamiliar environments, dog bullying, and lack of health screenings. DogSpot is a healthy, safe, and trusted alternative to random meetups at dog parks.
My Role
I was the sole product designer of DogSpot and spent nine months conducting extensive user research, designing, user testing, iterating, and prototyping it.
Problem
Dogs need to be socialized, but there are an overwhelming amount of threats that dog parks pose. These threats include dog aggression, conflicting play styles, distrust in other owners, and unknown vaccination history. Many dog owners are uncomfortable bringing their dogs to parks due to these risks.
Solution
DogSpot addresses the two primary concerns that owners have when it comes to socializing their dogs: distrust in other owners, and anxiety around unknown dogs. It fosters positive relationships between dog owners and facilitates the scheduling of safe dog meetups with tools such as shot record submissions, personality quizzes, and compatibility predictions.
Key Phases
Evolution of Designs
Low Fidelity Wireframes & User Testing
User Interface Design
High Fidelity Mockups & User Testing
High Fidelity Wireframes
Secondary UX Research
Research Plan & Screener Survey
Interviews
Empathy Mapping & Affinity Mapping
Personas
Ideation
Secondary UX Research
As a dog owner, advocate, and enthusiast, I was personally invested in extensively performing and compiling secondary research on the dangers of dog parks. I organized a document containing a quantitative analysis and demographic study on the various threats that dog parks pose, dog altercations, types of dog personalities that are incompatible, and common personality traits of different dog breeds. I also researched and downloaded dog meetup applications that are already available to the public, and evaluated their UX/UI processes.
Some key findings that stood out in my research:
In a 2016 study surveying over 3,200 dog owners: 74.8% of their dogs had shown aggressive behavior toward another dog and 32% had shown serious aggression such as biting and snapping
Most dog bites involve dogs unneutered/unspayed dogs
There are 4.7 million dog bites in the US per year
Many trainers warn against dog parks and encourage one-on-one play dates instead
There are several dog meetup applications that do not meet proper UX and UI requirements, leaving them with little usage and poor reviews.
I organized a document that contained a research plan with objectives, questions, and methods for my primary research. I surveyed over 50 dog owners from around the country to analyze common psychographics and attitudes toward dog parks, dog interactions, and other dogs in general. I organized their responses in a color-coded spreadsheet to keep track of the owners I wanted to connect with again for in-depth interviews.
Research Plan & Screener Survey
Interviews
I chose 5 participants to interview in great detail about their dog socializing and park going experiences, as well as their views on other dog owners, dog health, behavior, and temperaments. These participants expressed particular concern regarding their lack of trust in other owners and their dogs.
After completing my in-depth interviews, I sorted the responses through affinity and empathy mapping. This helped me sift through the different feelings, thoughts, and actions of the dog owners I had spoken with, and visualize them in order to find my key insights.
Key Insights:
Dog owners have a low level of trust with other dog owners.
Dog owners are worried about other dogs’ health and the lack of screening processes with dog parks.
Dog owners are apprehensive of unknown dogs approaching theirs at dog parks, and also of their own dog’s reactions.
Many dog owners are fond of doggy daycare, Nextdoor, and meetup groups.
Empathy Mapping & Affinity Mapping
Personas
I created the personas of Abigail Evans and Taylor May based on my interviews and key insights. Abigail owns a rescue dog and Taylor purchased a dog from a breeder. I chose rescue vs. bred as the main distinction between the personas because of an interesting discovery I uncovered during interviews:
Owners of rescue dogs were more worried about how their rescue would react around another dog. Meanwhile, owners of bred dogs were more worried about their dog coming into contact with an aggressive dog. Both sets of owners had little to no trust in other owners within dog park settings.
How Might We Questions
How might we facilitate the building of trust and relationships between owners through a safe and secure platform?
How might we keep owners engaged in the application and continue using it?
How might we ensure the health (vaccinations, neutering, etc.) of all dogs on the platform in order to put owners’ minds at ease when signing up for a dog playdate?
How might we provide a way to help owners feel confident that their dogs will not be placed in a potentially dangerous situation where an altercation could occur?
How might we provide an environment for owners and dogs to bond through a social platform similar to Nextdoor, but with more security and safety precautions?
Ideation
I created word maps and thumbnail sketches of possible solutions to the questions above. After ideating on them for some time, I came up with four possible solutions to the problem questions.
Allow owners to take a personality quiz for their dogs so they have the opportunity to find other dogs with similar personalities
Allow owners to rate how their meetups went
Require owners to submit proof of vaccinations before allowing them to schedule meetups
Allow owners to report aggressive behavior or other irresponsible owners through the application to ensure a safe and positive environment
Evolution of Designs
I created user stories of common actions that would be taken on the application. I used Miro to color code and organize my notes before beginning my sitemap. The sitemap helped me sort where pages would go, action items, and routes that users would take.
Low Fidelity Wireframes & Usability Testing
I implemented my sitemap and user stories into my low fidelity wireframes. I also added specific touchpoints to visualize how the pages related to each other.
Upon testing the application on potential users, I discovered additional adjustments that needed to be made to the wireframes.
· Alter the bottom navigation elements
· Alter how to schedule meetups
· Add additional triggers
· Alter the Code of Conduct
User Interface Design
The DogSpot brand attributes are: trustworthy, safe, playful, and caring. DogSpot should bring a sense of joy and adventure to the user, but also a sense of safety and relaxation. The intended UI of this application should feel both comfortable and energizing for the user. I chose the color palette of DogSpot for these exact reasons.
The DogSpot logo was brainstormed and iterated many times. I fell in love with the final design, as it is extremely versatile. All of the letters in the logo can be taken out, leaving just the paw print and location pin, and it conveys the same message.
I chose Proxima Nova as my sans serif font because it is clear, clean, and easily readable. It also pairs nicely with the DogSpot logo.
High Fidelity Mockups & Usability Testing
Once I had defined the application’s logo, button sizes, fonts, color palette, brand attributes, and iconography, I implemented those styles into my first round of high fidelity mockups. I placed them in an Invision prototype and performed several usability tests. I discovered multiple user pain points within the application that needed fixing.
The flow for scheduling a meetup was slightly confusing
There is no inbox feature, and one should be added to keep messages separate
Revisions need to be made to the personality quiz
The veterinary records page seemed slightly excessive and could use some copy changes
NEW High Fidelity Wireframes
I revised my mockups and transformed them into high-fidelity wireframes according to the helpful user feedback I received. DogSpot is one of my favorite projects, and as I have progressed in my career, I have found several areas for its improvement. As they say: “Good design is never finished”. Over two years since its creation, I took time to rework DogSpot’s UI so it can reflect my current design skills.
Takeaways
Always begin with a solid foundation.
I found that the more research I was able to do on the backend, the more informed and intentional my design decisions were.
Revisit often.
I really enjoyed creating DogSpot, but after revisiting the project a few months later, I discovered so many design flaws I wanted to fix. Good design is never finished, and editing my previous projects has helped me to stay on top of my game as a designer.
Adjust to user needs.
Before doing my user research, DogSpot was a completely different product. The more users I interviewed, the more they helped me to tailor DogSpot’s model to best fit their needs.
