Pet Moving Service
Role
Sole Designer — Research, UX/UI design, Prototyping, User Testing, Branding
Timeline
3 Months
View Presentation
Homeward Paws
name
View Prototype
End-to-end Responsive Mobile Design
project
Research Methods & Findings
secondary research
Competitors have wide range of services that are not solely focused on one specific service
Their focus was mainly on easing the pet owner's stress
The brand identities and interfaces differed, but felt less personable and unique
User Interviews
AFFINITY MAPPING
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS findings
29%
Of pet owners have reported being distracted by their dogs while behind the wheel.
Of people in the USA are pet owners.
38%
Of pet owners prefer driving over flying with pets.
Stressors
4 out of 6 participants interviewed are pet owners and discussed how moving their pets is the most stressful part of moving for them.
Pet Owners
Ages 26-32
Remote & In-Person
Participants were interviewed over the course of one week about planning and budgeting for an upcoming move. They were asked to elaborate on the most difficult parts of moving.
1. Packing belongings
2. Packing up the home with pets
3. Transporting pets to new home
70%
6 Participants
How might we provide services to reduce stress for pet owners during the moving process, making it easier to manage their pets and streamline the process of moving?
Exploring the Problem
POV
HMW
Taylor needs a way to move her pets conveniently and safely because the thought of transporting her cats in her own car for 10 hours is nerve-racking and she'd like to spend her time and energy on the rest of her moving tasks.
The Solution
After conducting research, I found that pet owners were in need of a solution to the problem of transporting their pets safely to their new home.
Having to move your family, your belongings and yourself is stressful enough. Adding pets to the mix exacerbates the stress.
Physically packing up and driving your pet in your own car can be nerve-racking and dangerous.
The product I decided to design based on my research is a pet transportation solution solely for moving beloved pets by ground travel in the United States.
See Research Data
Sometimes professionals can handle situations better than we can. Our pets are so special to us that we get distracted and anxious when they are in distress. Professionals can offer a higher level of safety and expertise that we can't always provide ourselves.
People love convenience. Coordinating travel and logistics for pets is time-consuming and complex. Taking the big task of moving a pet off of the pet owner's hands can be extremely helpful and reduce stress.
Flying with your pet can be extremely traumatic and taxing on both pets and pet owners, especially if the pet has to go in cargo. Providing ground-transportation options even for longer distances solves a lot of stress for all parties.
Pet parents can get real-time updates from the professionals transporting their pet. It saves the pet owner the stress of having to be actively involved in the journey, while also ensuring that their pet is safe and as comfortable as they can be.
Business Value
A very valid question in response to this problem is why would pet parents choose to hire a professional to drive their pet instead of doing it themselves.
There are a couple reasons I learned from my research:
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Pet parents can get real-time updates from the professionals transporting their pet. It saves the pet owner the stress of having to be actively involved in the journey, while also ensuring that their pet is safe and as comfortable as they can be.
Sometimes professionals can handle situations better than we can. Our pets are so special to us that we get distracted and anxious when they are in distress. Professionals can offer a higher level of safety and expertise that we can't always provide ourselves.
People love convenience. Coordinating travel and logistics for pets is time-consuming and complex. Taking the big task of moving a pet off of the pet owner's hands can be extremely helpful and reduce stress.
Flying with your pet can be extremely traumatic and taxing on both pets and pet owners, especially if the pet has to go in cargo. Providing ground-transportation options even for longer distances solves a lot of stress for all parties.
REASSURANCE
SAFETY & EXPERTISE
CONVENIENCE
NO AIR TRAVEL NEEDED
User Persona
Safety and stress of her pet
Availability, reliability, and cost of pet transportation
Anxiety over coordinating pet transportation logistics
BACKGROUND
Taylor Smith
32 year old female
Married with one child
Two anxious cats
profession & income
Nurse
$95,000/year
Chewy
Rover
Figs
Hoka
Brands
Reduce pet’s anxiety as much as possible
Convenience of not having to transport pets herself
Feel confident in the method of travel
Trust any professionals she hires
A transportation method that allows pets to be together
To know about cost, services and any stress-reducing measures
needs
goals
challenges
Homepage — Request Quote — Create an Account — Pet Parent Info — Pet Info — Extra Details — Get a Quote — Submit Move Quote Request
Flows
My user flows helped me map out how the user could potentially get from the homepage to requesting a quote or creating a pet profile.
I created my low-fidelity wireframes based on these flows.
Even though I ended up changing the sequence of these flows during the wireframe process, these allowed me to have an idea of each step in the process and all the information that needs to be gathered from the user in order to complete these tasks.
task flows
USer flows
The task flows I created allowed me to understand how my user would complete one task.
The main task flow that was useful to my final prototype was requesting a move quote:
Prototype Evolution
Usability Testing
The goals of testing this prototype with real people was to:
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Pet Dashboard
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Ensure users can complete key tasks, such as creating a pet profile or submitting a quote request, within a reasonable amount of time and with minimal effort.
Identify any areas where users struggle, such as unclear language, confusing layouts, or missing functionality.
Determine how effectively users understand the booking process, including costs, timelines, and safety protocols.
Verify that all key interactive elements are intuitive and work as expected.
01.
Homepage
Quote Submitted
Results
Results
At least 5 specific, user insights for enhancing the design and functionality.
Gained at least 5 user insights from testing.
Less than 5% of users encounter critical errors that prevent task completion.
90% of participants find the service and instructions straightforward.
90% of users report feeling confident in the service after interacting with the prototype.
metric
Users complete the task of submitting a quote and completing their pet profile.
All participants made it through the flow from Homepage — Pet Profile.
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There was one issue with the Figma prototype not allowing participants to scroll past the log in page. I was able to remedy this quickly and continue with testing.
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Participants felt it was easy to navigate.
Participants enjoyed the interface and the concept.
User Insights & Recommendations
The status tracker for account creation can be simplified.
Some questions should have follow-up interactions if they are answered a certain way.
Add Back button on the “Get a Quote” page and “Pet Dashboard” page.
The Quote Status at the top of the “Pet Profile” is unusual because of the placement.
The term “Human” is not the right word to use.
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Design Iterations
I made edits to make it easier for the user to select if their pet is on medication, how many, and then the details of that medication.
I simplified the tracker at the top of the screen. It was pointed out that the wording was not consistent across these page names, and that the term human should be changed.
My participants were confused about the N/A option for potty breaks and why their pet would be left alone. I made edits to these questions by asking where the pet usually goes potty and how often as well as adding an "attention" scale for users to select how often their pet typically wants attention.
The move quote status at the top of the pet profile seemed to be confusing to the user because of the location of it. After gaining feedback during testing, I moved it underneath the pet's name card, since this conveys to the user that this page is the pet's profile.
STATUS TRACKER
ROUTINE
QUOTE STATUS
PET MEDICATIONS