WePet

WePet is a community that connects busy dog owners with local caretakers who, for various reasons, can’t have a dog at the moment. WePet allows them to safely and occasionally share the care and companionship of dogs.

WePet provides a comprehensive and mutually beneficial experience for both people and dogs, with the dogs being an active part of the experience and prioritizing their well-being.

Duration
4 weeks
Tools
  • Figma
Role
Product designer
Year

2022

Team

2 UX designers

Summary

Hypothesis, problem & methodologies

To design this experience, we followed a lean methodology to maximize efficiency and minimize waste. We started with an initial hypothesis, a problem to solve, which we will test and validate through various research techniques. This approach allows us to understand who our user is and what their needs, goals, and motivations are.

Over the course of 4 weeks, we will use the necessary resources to deliver the best possible product.

How could we solve the problem of…

dogs spending too much time alone because their owners are too busy? And what about people who can’t have a dog but would love to spend time with one?

DISCOVER

Desk Research

Heuristic analysis

42 surveys

6 interviews

DEFINE

Insights

3 User Persona

3 User Journey

3 Empathy maps

Affinity diagram

IDEATE

MoSCoW
User Flow
Crazy 8

PROTOTYPE

Low-Fi
Mid-Fi
Hi-Fi

Discovery

Validating our hypothesis

They prefer to leave their pet with a family member or friend.

They would share the care of their pet without hesitation.

Adopted their pet.

Silvia, 36. Ethologist

"There is a need to prevent the suffering of leaving animals alone, and I usually recommend apps to owners so that animals don’t spend many hours alone."

Candela, 26. Vet and pet owner.

"In the dog hotel, I had a horrible experience as my dog returned with injuries from stress... I prefer to leave him with a nearby caregiver, friend, or family member."

Elena, 32. User of a similar app in London

"I receive the love and companionship of the dog, the joy of having a dog without it being mine. The owners get someone who will be with her for a while, take care of her, and be there."contenta”

David, 28. Owner of two pets

"I have something that you might want but can't have, and I share it with you."

Definition

Empathising with users

We developed three User Personas, three Empathy Maps, and three User Journeys, which helped us focus on addressing the problems and frustrations. This provided us with an initial idea of what the product would be like, allowed us to identify key friction points in product development, and helped us determine the majority of the necessary functionalities based on the proposed ideas to resolve these friction points.

Ideation

Key discoveries. We began to converge.

There comes a moment when we need to start converging, organizing all the research material I have and prioritizing ideas and functionalities. To do this, we create an Affinity Diagram, which we later summarize in a Research Poster. This will help me share and explain these research discoveries in a clear and organized manner.

We prioritized six key discoveries:

1

Very little time to take care of my pet

A lot of work, little time at home. Fear of emotional deprivation, rejection of plans or vacations.
2

Animals spend a lot of time alone.

They spend a lot of time at home, have little socialization, and lack walks and stimulation.
3

Many people would share the care of their animals.

To form a community, you contribute what you can; there is no economic profitability, both parties benefit from the exchange.
4

They cannot have a pet due to a lack of time.

Many people want the companionship of an animal but cannot have one due to a lack of time, space, or other issues.
5

They need guarantees that they can trust the caregivers.

Someone close and trustworthy. It is necessary to build trust with users and create a trusting environment.
6

A lot of animal abandonment and little adoption.

Overwhelmed shelters, low visibility, scarce resources, insufficient information, and lack of awareness.

Propuesta de valor

A community that connects dog owners and local caregivers who cannot have a pet at this time, sharing care and companionship on an occasional basis.

MVP

In the research phase, we discovered that a high percentage of people would share the care of their pets, and that in Spain there is a problem of animal abandonment and low adoption rates compared to the abandonment rate.

We decided to focus less on abandonment and prioritize using our product to ensure the well-being of both dogs and the people involved in the process.

How do we ensure this well-being through a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? First of all, it’s about prioritization. We want our MVP to guarantee the trust and safety of users and pets. From here, we chose to design a native app where caregivers can advertise their services and pet owners can announce their pets.

Why a mobile app?

Immediacy of the mobile.

An app allows the user to connect immediately at any time and from anywhere.

Chat

An app that allows the user to connect instantly at any time and from anywhere.

Geolocation

It is important for locating nearby users on the map. It provides security to the user.

Prioritization of features.

Feature creep

To determine whether a feature should be included in the first phase of the product, we have taken into account:

  • Usefulness for the user.
  • Business value.
  • Development cost, considering the time/money we have available.

We created a list of features in Notion and classified them based on these criteria.

One of the biggest difficulties we found in the research is the feeling of insecurity and lack of trust in a product like ours, which is why our features are very much aimed at addressing these issues. We want our MVP to ensure the trust and safety of users and pets.

Pantalla del Featurible creep en Notion

Information architecture

Before starting to design screens, it is first necessary to organize, prioritize, and classify the information of our product.

We worked on a Sitemap and three User flows, which outlined the path that our user would take within our product to achieve their goals. Here, we identified several friction points that we hadn’t considered and were able to correct them easily.

Wireframes lo-fi

User testing

We transitioned the wireframes to digital and conducted 5 user tests to check the usability of our product. We identified several errors, allowing us to iterate and validate a first prototype. Here are some of the conclusions from these tests.

Design & prototype

Designung a good experience

Does anyone know the color range that dogs see? It resembles this one quite a bit. We wanted our product to have a connection, perhaps not obvious, but well-founded, with the assumptions we started from; we want our product to be beneficial from an animal welfare perspective.

As you can see, we chose a sans-serif and rounded typeface to make the app approachable, friendly, and understandable for the user. We tested several options but ultimately selected San Francisco Rounded.

We believe that connecting with users is very important; our identity is conveyed through a casual and fun tone, which is why we designed illustrations to help communicate our identity. Minimal and simple lines.

Prototype

FLOW 1

Onboarding + Complete Profile + Verify Profile

Amanda loves dogs; she has always had one at home, but currently, she is unable to have her own. She wants to register in the app and set up her profile, and when she tries to access a dog’s profile, the app reminds her to verify her profile to access all functionalities, so she decides to verify it.

  1. She goes through onboarding.
  2. She registers.
  3. She completes her profile.
  4. She verifies her profile.
FLOW 2

Premium profile

Amanda starts using the app.
She activates her Premium profile because it gives her security when spending time with someone else’s dog. With a minimum monthly subscription, she gains access to insurance, can send messages to dog owners, and has access to a 24-hour vetline in case any complications or questions arise.

  1. She goes to the Profile tab
  2. She begins her subscription process.
  3. She enters her card information.
  4. She subscribes.
FLOW 3

Fing a dog and contact to the owner

She wants to find a dog to take walks with and spend time with occasionally. She goes into the list and looks for a dog that matches her; she finally decides to contact the owner to get to know each other and see if she can start a new furry friendship.

  1. She enters the list of dog profiles.
  2. She reorders the cards.
  3. She switches to map view.
  4. She filters her search.
  5. She finds a profile that catches her attention.
  6. She enters the profile and explores it.
  7. She contacts the owner through the app’s chat.

Next steps

  • Improve the flows and usability of the app by conducting user tests with the visuals.
  • Iterate the visual design of the page.
  • Monetization:
    • Sell pet products within the app.
    • Advertisements.
    • Meetups to generate community among app members.

Conclusions and learnings

This was the first project of the bootcamp at Northcamp. It was a challenge since it was my first time facing the design process of a digital product from scratch. Although it initially seemed impossible to steer the product toward something feasible and realistic, both the interviews and the empathy-building with users allowed us to understand the true problems and find solutions.

I have learned the importance of iterating when necessary, not getting too attached to the product, and focusing on the problem rather than the solution.

Working in a team has also been a challenge that I have thoroughly enjoyed; communicating with my teammate at all times is crucial to staying updated on how the project is progressing on both sides. It’s important to organize well to ensure good coordination and collaborative progress.

Thank you for reading this far; if you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact me!