Wuf

Dog Wearable Activity Tracker
Mobile App Experience

User Research
Persona Development
Concept Models
IA
UI / Interaction Design
Visual Design
Prototyping
User Testing
Rapid Iterative Design
 

WUF is a company dedicated to developing the World's Smartest Dog Collar in order to drastically improve the average dog owner’s abilities to communicate with, care for, and cultivate an amazing relationship with their four-legged friend.

WUF reached out for help in designing their connected fitness experience. Most dog owners are unaware of their activity needs and how exercise, sleep, and mental stimulation are related to health. 

Our challenge was to provide dog owners with the tools and resources needed to better understand and optimize their dog's health.

The team consisted of two UX designers: I was the lead UX designer. We worked together to deliver an interactive prototype that empowered dog owners to better understand and optimize their pup's health through the use of personalized and automated fitness goals, insightful data analysis, and a community-driven content stream.

I was involved in all stages of the design process and was responsible for the the overall design direction, IA, UI, visual design, and rapid iterative design.

Understanding dog owners.

Would they consider their dog healthy? Active? Would they consider themselves a good dog owner? What challenges do they face most often? What is their experience with tracking apps or wearables? We conducted 10 interviews, 90 surveys, & over 100 card sorts in order to better understand the goals, needs, and pain points of dog owners and their pups.

We synthesized the research into 2 behavioral personas. We learned that even the most passionate dog owners underestimated/overestimated their dog's exercise needs. We found it interesting that most dog owners defined "health" as purely physical- without recognition mental health. And surprising, separation anxiety was one of the most common issues their dogs experienced.

Contextualizing the on-boarding experience.

Our vision was to design an on-boarding experience that provided dog owners with rich, accurate, and consistently updated activity goals for their dog.

Dog owners can better estimate their dog's activity needs as their pup grows. We designed a system that uses the dog's age, sex, breed(s), and any physical disabilities to generate hyper-customized activity goals that evolves as the dog ages.

Building a simple interface with robust capabilities.

Our vision was to present large amounts of complex data in a simple, scannable, and understandable way.

We used insight from users, gathered during testing, to fuel our design decisions. We categorized activity stats to make it easier and faster for users to navigate throughout the app. We designed a toggling system to effectively differentiate types of data (activity vs. sleep) and efficiently change the formats to view data (chart vs. wheel). We placed the prioritized data on the landing pages of the app in order for users to efficiently access key data.  We adopted a site structure based upon needs of users and made the highly prioritized data the most accessible.

Designing a system that converts data into meaning.

Our vision was to design an elevated system that goes beyond tracking and summarizing activity data; a smarter system capable of extracting meaningful insight, foresight, and trends relating to the dog's health.

Dog owners can stay informed of their dog's health- even when life gets busy. Excessive sleeping and inactivity can be an indicator of illness. We designed an alert system that detects usually abnormal trends relating to the dog's exercise and sleep and notifies the owner.

Crafting a community-driven content stream to maximize engagement.

Our vision was to craft a connected fitness experience that provided value beyond the product. We designed an community-driven exercise hub that allows dog owners to discovery fresh, creative ways to physically and mentally exercise their pup.

Validating our designs.

Throughout our design process, we tested low fidelity prototypes of the app in order to quickly iterate and validate our designs. Insight from users allowed us to better understand the behaviors and expectations of dog owners as well as improve the overall usability of the app.

Providing key deliverables.

All together, we’re confident that our designs will provide dog owners with the tools and resources needed to better understand and optimize their dog's health. Below are a list of key deliverables throughout the design process.