PAW
HOUSE

A mobile application that offers professional services of pet boarding, sitting, and dog walking for pet owners.

My Role

Sole Designer, UX Research, UI Design, Usability Test, Prototype

Timeline

09/2021 – 12/2021

Why Pick This Idea
OVERVIEW

Paw House aims to provide trustworthy and convenient pet boarding, sitting, and dog walking services while the pet owners are away for business or vacation.

Identify Key Problems
IDENTIFY
PROBLEM

Users have difficulty when the booking process is inaccessible or does not show reliable pet sitter background information.

Users are concerned about not being able to see real-time updates of their pets with the sitter.

Users satisfaction are low due to the complicated and tedious changing and canceling of services.

Final Design
User Research Goal
RESEARCH

To learn people's opinions, preferences, and requirements about pet boarding services.

Methodology

1 : 1 User Interview

Interview Questions
  • When you go traveling, how do you arrange for your pet?
  • What tools do you use to make reservations for pet care?
  • What strategies or criteria do you use to evaluate the credibility of pet cares?
  • Which pet service do you prefer? Why?
  • What requirements do you have for these services?
  • What are your biggest concerns do you have about using these services?
Interview Quotes
Interview Takeaways
  • More than 90% of the interviewers would choose to ask for someone’s help instead of going to a pet hotel while they are away.
  • Pet boarding and sitting are the most requested services, followed by dog walking and drop-ins.
  • Older pet owners prefer more straightforward and user-friendly apps that allow them to communicate with sitters before completing a booking.
  • The biggest concerns of these owners are house safety issues and emergency handlings.
Personas
Task Flow
IDEATION

Task 1:

The user needs to book a pet boarding service for her dog during her business trip.

Task 2:

The user wants to track the updates of the dog walk and view the overall summary.

Task 3:

Due to a schedule change, the user wants to cancel a booked pet boarding service.

Style Guide
Primary Color
Secondary Color
Neutral Color
Typeface
Iconography
Wireframes

The user needs to book a pet boarding service for her dog during her business trip.

The user wants to track the updates of the dog walk and view the overall summary.

Due to a schedule change, the user wants to cancel a booked pet boarding service.

User Testing

Task:

Samantha was satisfied with the app’s provision of sitters’ background information and her ability to connect with  sitters before bookings.

Task:

She thought it was very considerate to have direct access to the track walk page through a notification. Also, it was helpful that the infographic showed a detailed summary of the dog’s activities.

Task:

Samantha felt this feature effortlessly corresponds with the  first task, while still displaying all the details of the booking. She thought that the cancellation service was quite user-friendly.

Task:

Boxin believed the pet boarding feature was intuitive and easy to follow throughout his user testing. In the sitters' list, he suggested adding a filter to increase the precision of the search, such as price, sitters' home conditions, etc.

Task:

He preferred to have the option to track the dog walk from both the main page and the chat bar. He also suggested that it might be more helpful to display an indication to better guide users into action.

Task:

As he completed the app testing, Boxin stated that the cancellation process was easy to follow. However, he proposed the use of a larger checkbox for easier tapping. He also suggested putting the "write a message" box on the same page with the drop-down menu would make more sense for the step.

Task:

Zhengen said that the booking process is comprehensive and user-friendly, especially for new users. The order of the pet profile is logical and makes sense. This helps motivate them to complete the pet profile.

Task:

He appreciated the tips from the tracking feature, as well as the walking summary. He suggested that the ability to rate sitters will adds comprehensiveness to the app.

Task:

He also stated that having a refund summary page before their final cancellation of the service is quite a responsible act on the app.

What's Changed

The previous sitter listing page did not offer users a filter to show more detailed choices in selecting a sitter.

During the user testing, Boxin offered great advice to build a filter to increase the precision of the search for a sitter.

Before user testing, the walking summary page only provided the “Back to home” choice.

Based on Zhengen’s feedback, I created a rating page to rate and write a review for sitters.

The earlier cancel booking page had a checkbox selection to choose a cancellation reason.

Instead of a checkbox, I used a drop-down menu because the square selection would be easier than a circle, and I moved the “write a message” section to the same page.

Project Takeaways

Through this project, I learned how to investigate users' pain points in the research and optimize usage process to improve user experience.

In the early research stage, I invited pet owners of different ages, genders, and pets to do user interviews. For example, I analyzed their preferred pet services, requirements for pet sitters, and their biggest concerns about using pet services. The app's main features were designed to address the user's pain points to help fulfill their needs.

In user testing, I carefully observed how users reacted to these features, especially areas of their confusion and hesitation. By summarizing these user testing, I updated the iteration by redesigning some buttons, colors, and icons to avoid confusion and increase user convenience to enhance the app's integrated user experience. 

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