Back
Obesity is a severe problem for dogs in the United States, with almost 50% of them being overweight. Additionally, a lack of exercise can lead to poor dog mental health due to limited opportunities for outdoor socialization and exploration.
I designed a challenge system to address these issues that turn dog walks into fun and engaging experiences. This system also facilitates social connections, which can improve your dog's socialization skills. Furthermore, I streamlined the interface for setting daily exercise goals, which helps to promote ideal canine weight.
Although DogGo started as a student project, it has already shown great promise with a 95% user satisfaction rate.
DogGo improves dog health by making dog walking a more delightful and fun experience for dog owners, increasing walking distance and route variety, and encouraging dog socialization.
Onboarding
DogGo generates a scientific daily exercise goal based on dogs' information such as weight and health condition. Users connect to pet tracker and set up visibility to ensure privacy.
A Dog Walking Session
Location information will only be shared during the walk session. Users can complete challenges, achieve exercise goals, and meet with friends to earn points.
On The Go
DogGo will vibrate to notify users that a treasure chest is nearby, encouraging users to take a new route.
Dog Badges Collection
Doggy badges are collected on the go, and the newer the route is, the rarer the badges users will find. Users can redeem badges for points.
Friends System
The longer you spend time with your friend, the higher the intimacy level. The exact amount of points will be rewarded for intimacy. Users can compete for the number of badges and challenges completed with friends.
Points for Coupons
Points earning means are all designed for better dog health. Users can redeem points for various coupons and gift cards. The point system is the revenue stream where we can cooperate with pet-related companies.
Dog walking has become an integral part of dog owners’ lives.
We value the time we spend with our dogs in the same way that we value our family members, and we want to make it memorable and delightful. Dogs have brought us so much joy, and in return, we want to give them a happy and healthy life.
of American households own at least 1 dog (Cooper, 2021)
of the dog owners consider their dogs to be a family member (Hrubenja, 2021)
per week on average, dog owners take their dogs for a walk (Corner, 2019)
is the average duration of a dog walk session (Corner, 2019)
Obesity affects about 30% of dogs in the U. S.
Not getting enough exercise every day also harm their mental health because they don't have enough outdoor time to socialize and explore new things.
The fact is, obese dogs do not live as long as lean dogs.
Ideal weight dogs
of the dogs in the U.S. are overweight
of the dogs in the U.S. are obese
improve dog health by creating a more delightful dog walking experience for dog owners?
User Needs
Pet owners want to track their dog’s health condition and exercise information, like having a pet version of Fitbit.
Pet owners love to explore new routes and sites to refresh themselves and have their dogs experience new things.
Owners often walk with familiar people or dog friends' owners, satisfy dogs’ social needs, and find new friends.
User Pain Points
Owners want to locate their dogs in real-time, feeling anxious when they run around unleashed. They want to avoid doggy fights so that no one gets hurt.
Pet owners had a hard time accessing pet facilities such as dog parks, trash bins, poop bags, etc, especially when they need one.
Most pet owners take it as a routine and view it as a chance to refresh themselves, but sometimes they feel stressed and lazy to go out on a rainy day.
I started to ideate solutions with a focus on solving user pain points.
Each of us brainstormed 10 ideas based on the research insights, then grouped them into different categories to find similar themes that we want to address, such as route planning, gamification, recording daily life, etc.
From the total of 50 ideas, we down-selected and reconstructed them to 10 ideas with a dot voting session.
A pain killer solution that motivates lazy owners to walk their dogs and helps them avoid dog fights.
The initial design centered on addressing pain points in daily dog walking activities. It aimed to motivate owners to walk their dogs and ensure safety by preventing dog fights and locating their dogs on the map.
Meeting user needs, it displays information about pet facilities such as dog parks, trash bins, and available bags. The design encouraged users to cherish and capture the quality time spent with their dogs.
After presenting wireframes, a lack of user resonance, particularly regarding motivation for dog walks, prompted 20 additional interviews to gather feedback and reassess our approach.
"Ummm, dog-walking is not painful to me at all."
When presenting DogGo to participants, we observed minimal resonance with the addressed pain points. User needs call for a shift to a delight-oriented product positioning over a painkiller approach. And incorrect positioning risks a lack of user empathy and acceptance.
Balancing privacy and user adoption is critical, as the app uses dogs' location data. Participants demand a visible display of active users on the map for product engagement.
Most users indicated that they don't use a phone but a smartwatch to record their own exercise data during the walk.
Users don't like that the treasure chest appears randomly but would prefer it to guide them to a better view.
DogGo should be a vitamin, instead of a pain killer.
Recognizing the need for a shift to a vitamin product, offering appealing upside rather than a painkiller, I pivoted the project focus to enhance dog health and bring joy to their walking experiences. This includes recommending personalized exercise goals based on weight, fostering social connections, and incorporating gamification for a more rewarding experience.
01
Privacy Settings
Enable users to set their own privacy settings including their location and profile information
02
DogGo on Watch
Allow pet owners to use the app on smartwatches for convenience and common workout use cases.
Improve accessibility by adding vibration notification for treasure chest notification.
Make socialization easier with the NFC Add-Friend feature.
03
Point System
Connect all of the features to our point system to encourage pet owners to take their dogs for daily exercise.
Consistency and delight, woven into the design system's foundation.
For the design system, I curated a lively green and yellow theme, infusing delight into every interaction. I also crafted the logo, opting for a paw-like shape to seamlessly align with our playful dog theme, resulting in a vibrant and cohesive user experience.
Angie Li © 2024. All Rights Reserved.
Hope for World Peace 💛
