Application Overview
Tail Waggin’ is a smartphone application designed for your pet to improve their socialization skills. Features include a matching system to meet your dog’s best friend, training units, the ability to message owners, and the ability to locate nearby dog parks and trainers.
Project Duration
February - May 2022 ( 12 weeks)
Tools
Figma / Adobe XD
Role
UI/UX Designer
Problem Statement
Most dog owners aren’t aware of the impacts poor socialization skills can bring to their dogs. This can cause problems with their behavior, mood, and their lifespan. Socialization is the well-being of a dog’s life, without this they can suffer.
Solution
To design a mobile application that will bring awareness to the importance of a dog's social being. This application helps you match your dogs based on age, size, location, and personal traits with which you can schedule dog play dates or just chat about your dogs. You have the ability to complete various training units as well as locate nearby dog parks and dog trainers if you’re interested in having someone help train your dog
Socializing your dog through puppyhood and adolescence is one of the best ways to ensure that they become a friendly and confident adult. Animal Humane Society
Secondary Research
Socializing your dog is very crucial to your animals life and could choose if they are friendly or aggressive to others
Qualitative Research
In total there were 22 individuals that took part in the survey for my Capstone 1 screener. The ideal target audience were people aged between 19 - 50 + years, who owned a pet and was interested in socialization for their dog. This survey was created on google forums and shared with my classmates on Slack.
Conclusion
Ages 19-30 are the common age for owning a pet
People who own dog is a large population
Most people have a busy schedule and can’t only play a few times a day
Some are interested in training but are concerned about the price
User Interviews
Research Questions:
Tell me a little about you and your furry friend.
What made you choose to get a dog?
Have you ever been interested in getting training for your dog?
If you’ve had training before how long was the process and would you say it was successful?
Do you prioritize socialization when you are with your dog?
Has your dog ever had trouble around other pets? If so, what do you do to get their attention and correct that behavior?
How often would you say that you walk or play with your dog?
Does your dog have times when they lash out being alone? Do they like to be around other dogs frequently?
What kind of relationship would you say that you have with your dog?
Tell me about a time you have a negative experience with socialization with other dogs or with just you and your dog?
How often do you go to the dog park with other dogs? Is this successful and fun for your dog?
The main goal for conducting these interviews is to find out the issues that dog parents face when it comes to daily life with dog parks, dog friends, and socialization & training. I interviewed a total of 6 people about what all frustrates these owners.
Insights from the Interview
By conducting these interviews I learned more about the problems they were going through with their dog. Most of the dog owners were interested in training or had given their dogs some sort of training. Those who had not shown interest was due to financial stress. Dog parks were a struggle because of owners giving proper attention to their dogs, and lack of space and organization.
“ We are close but wish I could give him more time”
“I’m irritated with dogs that don’t stop on-demand”
“Age doesn’t matter when it comes to socialization”
Persona
After interviewing my candidates I designed a persona that best represented them as one
Empathy Mapping
TAIL WAGGIN’
Sitemap
User Flow
Sketches
Below are a few sketches to show my vision for Tail Waggin’
Wireframes
Below are a few of the many wireframes I created on Figma
Hi Fidelity Mockups
Evolution of Screens
Visuals
For the usability testings I had 2 rounds of five people. Below are the combined list of Pros and Cons to my designs.
Usability Testing
The goal of each of my testing sessions was to see how people viewed my application, how it flowed and how accessible all of the features were for users.
Tasks:
Match with Lucie/ Home Screen
Message Lucie
Training- Crate and Potty Training
Find Nearby Dog Parks
The Good
Loved the app concept, very original
Believed it would be beneficial for dog owners all over the country
Liked how interactive all of the elements were
Loved the feature of making reservations at dog parks
The Bad
Icons looked dreary
Checkmark boxes weren’t obvious
Wanted to see more about the dog in the dogs profile (size, age, personalization questions)
Prototype
Next Steps
Add more training units
Add the QR function which will allow users to message dogs they meet at the dog park or have someone message them for a dog play date
Show distance away from the dog
Have the ability to have users views the dog profile that are in the dog park reserved spots
Vaccinated status
Show more icons for energy level, dog’s age
Partner with Dog Restaurant for a sponsor
Separate dogs profiles when setting up training, reserving at the dog park, or finding matches for your dog
Reflections
As a new dog owner, this app made an impact on me. I currently have a 10-month Australian Shepherd named Lacie. She is the craziest girl ever but loves everyone. Growing up in a somewhat pandemic life I wanted to find a way for her to have more friends that she can play around with and increase her socialization skills. When starting the research I found that there was no app such like Tail Waggin’. I'm so happy I stuck with my idea and created an app that all dog owners can use to help better socialize their dogs' lives. Before researching, I had no idea how important socializing your puppy can be, it is crucial for their lasting life.
What was hard
Something that I found hard was just starting this project. This is something I've never done before and I didn't know quite how to start but after researching I knew exactly where to go and what to do next. Designing for a client was sometimes difficult because I wanted to put my opinion in it but I had to remember that this was for a client and that my opinion didn't matter as long as the user was able to use the app it's designed for.
What I learned
When designing new projects in the future, something that I'm going to do differently is make a schedule and stick with it no matter how much I think I need to change something. I need to go with it and keep on schedule. There were many times where I would start over designing and this pushed back my tentative deadline.
Something I learned is that you don't know everything and that everyone wants to help you whether that's answering the question or giving you their opinions, they want to see you be successful. I also learned to follow my eye for design when creating these interfaces for the potential user. There were times in the past that I would just stare at the screen not knowing where to start with the designs. This project was not the case, as a new UI/ UX designer I was so eager to start learning new techniques to create an amazing app for people to use. I can definitely say that after designing this application I am so much more confident in my designing abilities and am excited to start creating more projects in the future!