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iPet

UX DESIGN l UI DESIGN l RESEARCH
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INTRODUCTION
Having good friends in life is really important, because friends keep us company through the difficult times of our lives and help us grow. However, when people move to a new city or town, fear and social anxiety can keep them from making new friends. The goal of this app is to create a social user experience that will help users get out and do activities in-person.
MY ROLE

Responsible for the entire design process which included the research, user interviews, personas, sketches, wireframes, prototype, usability tests and more.

TOOLS

Figma, InVision, Miro

TIMELINE

Oct 2021 - Nov 2021

The Problem
The number of people who say they are going to an event is significantly higher than the actual number of people who attend. It seems like, on average, anecdotally 20% of people who say they are going end up attending events.
The Solution
Becoming friends with strangers right away is difficult, but if they have something in common, that will make them keep the conversation going and get closer easier. I thought about using dogs as a bridge to connect people. What if people could make friends and their dogs could socialize at the same time? With ipet, users will be able to search local dog owners and dog friends and events. Participating in dog events will increase the conversion of accepted invites to dog events to event attendees.
Competitor Analysis
I analyzed some competitor apps to look at the problems they solve and what solutions they offered to users. I also focused not only on positives, but also on shortcomings and thought about how to make up for them. The apps I chose to research were Eventbrite, Meetup and Nextdoor.
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User Interviews
I conducted interviews with 6 dog owners aged between 26-40.
User interviews helped me to identify problems and understand the users.
I focused on users past experiences about how they met new people and how  they socialize their dogs, so that I could figure out their needs and preferences.

All users said there were some things they needed to consider and know before letting their dogs meet other dogs, but that they would be willing to meet other dog owners and be friends with them.
As a dog owner, meeting dogs with similar temptations as mine is important.
I would love to connect with dog owners as long as I have information of who they are.
I am interested in local dog events, but I don't know how to search.
Affinity Map
Based on the research, I created an affinity map to synthesize data which helped me understand users’ thoughts and needs. The following are the insights I gained from users.

I learned most users need to see certain information before meeting new dogs and their owners, such as dog breed, size, sex, temperament and personality. This is because dog owners think similar bread, size and energy level dogs will get along better. Also, users want to check dog owners personality to see if they too would match.

Users want some features in the app for them to use it more efficiently. Users want to meet dogs and dog owners near them and participate in local events. They also want to communicate with other dog owners about dog matters or casual things easily.
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Persona
Based on the research, what users want and need is pretty obvious, so I decided to make one persona.
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User Flow
Mainly, there are three outstanding flows in ipet; feeds, joining events, and finding new paw friends. In the user flow, I focused on joining a local event as a user.
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Sketch
I sketched essential screens to understand the features and the structures of the app before starting UI Design.
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Hi-Fi Design
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Sign Up/ Login Page
This page appears to the users  when they enter the application. Users can choose to sign up or login.
Creating Profile/Location Page
Users need to create both dog and owner profiles to start the app. Also, the app will ask users to allow them to use their location to find friends and events near them. Users have the option to not allow it.
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Menu Page
This page appears when users click the hamburger icon on the top left. Users can mainly use feeds, paw friends and events along with editing profile and setting.
Feed Page
Feed page offers users the ability to post anything about their dogs and communicate with other dog owners who live nearby by commenting, liking and reposting.
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Event Page
Users can search for local events. They can always search by location, wherever they are.
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Filter Page
Using a filter will help users narrow down the list of events. They can filter availability, event type, dates, and times.
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Joining Event Page
Once users decide to participate in the event, after reading the details of it, the app will guide users through the joining the event process.
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Find Pawfriends Page
Find the perfect paw friends near you. When clicking the picture of each dog, users can see both the dog and owner profiles for more detail.
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Chat Page
Users can share their thought or talk about things with other users and get closer.
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Usability Test
I conducted two rounds of usability tests with 12 users to see if the app was easy to use and intuitive. I asked users to complete a series of tasks using the app prototype. I learned a lot from the test because I could see the reaction of users. The feedback I received from these users was very important. This feedback lead me to understand users the better and make the app more intuitive.
Task Assigned
The users were assigned 8 tasks in total.
1. Create a user profile/ 2.Read the post and comments/ 3. Find the event/
4. Filter the events/ 5. Get information from the event/ 6. Join the event/
7. Find paw friends/ 8. Send a message to other users
Findings
  • The meaning of some words like 'message' or 'cancel the event' was confusing.
  • There are two types of share icons and they needed to be unified.
  • Filling out the dog profile was overwhelming.
  • Could not find the dog owners profile because there’s no button or indicator.
  • The color of the hashtag of paw friend cards is light and hard to see.
Improvement
  • I switched some words to make their meaning more clear to users so they could understand them right away. I changed the 'message' to 'inbox' and 'cancel the event' to 'unjoin the event'.
  • I unified the share icon to one.
  • I made space for each form wider and added an upload button so users could upload medical information for their dogs easily, rather than typing it all in.
  • I added a “see more” indicator next to the owner’s picture so users know what to click next.
  • I made the color of the hashtag darker for them to be visible.
Next Step
  • I am going to add MVP 1.5 to the app, such as a second hand market for dog products and a local map view to find dogs and owners.
  • I will definitely be adding more creative events when more people start to use the app.
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