Mobile app for seamless access to vet professionals and thriving pet communities
PetEcho is a solo project created to address the challenges posed by the increasing fragmentation of information in the pet care sector by providing real-time veterinary support. I worked on the whole project independently and found great excitement in the chance to craft something with deeper significance.
Timeline
Role
Mar-May 2023
UX/UI designer
UX Researcher
Context
Solo Project
Mobile Design
Final Deliverable
Interactive prototype
Problem Statement
Pet owners nowadays struggle with fragmented information and costly pet care
In modern society, having a pet has become very common. There are a multitude of pet-related apps available in the market that assist pet owners in various aspects of their lives. Pet owners are faced with an overwhelming array of pet-related apps, leading to high search costs, numerous downloads, and a fragmented user experience. Vet appointments can be costly and hard to schedule. Sometimes, pet owners may not be able to schedule an immediate quick appointment. We want to create a design solution that can offer a 24/7, efficient and cheap way to know what’s going on with the pets. Users do not have to run to a local vet if it’s not an emergency case. We aim to create an all-in-one app with both veterinary functions that provide efficient help and community functions for users to find the information they need and connect with other pet owners.
Challenges
Three key challenges in the current pet care landscape:
Expensive
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Fragmentation in Pet Care Information
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Long Waiting Time
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Solution - Final Design
log in / Sign up page
The Sign-up page allows users to create an account with their email address. Users can also choose to sign up with their social media accounts. Users can fill in their pet information for vets, so vets can access the basic information of pets during the consulting session. If users do not want to enter the information when signing in, they can choose to skip this part and fill in the information later.
Discovery page
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The discovery page allows users to view posts and Q&A contributions from other users, it also serves as a platform for users to connect with the community. Through the Discover tab, users can also discover posts published by users who live near them and posts published by users they follow.
Vet Consultation page
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The Vet Consultation page provides real-time vet support, ensuring a personalized and convenient experience for pet owners. It also offers a platform for users to get information about pet basic care, pet health, and training.
User Insights
Many pet owners require a one-stop solution consolidating all their pet care needs
I interviewed 10 pet owners to reveal their pain points of raising pets and got inspirations for what they wanted on a real-time veterinary consulting app. Using Miro as a tool, I collected information and started to explore various design opportunities.
Some primary themes emerged from our interviews:
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Concerns about whether the information is credible or authoritative.
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Cares about the Privacy of their personal information, such as phone number, location, etc.,
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Worried that there will be any errors or missing information during the process of communicating online.
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All the interviewees mentioned their desire for a pet community platform that can share pet stories and pet care information. The interviewee specifically mentioned that there is a platform that can group people with the same breed of animal.
Persona
We found Mia, PetEcho’s primary user.
Reasons why chose Mia:
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Limited Time Availability
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Passionate about Cat Care
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Budgetary Constraints and Financial Concerns
What Mia wants from this app:
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Timely and Convenient Health Assessment
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Cost-Effective Pet Healthcare
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Peace of Mind and Reduced Stress
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Enhanced Pet Parenting Experience
Mia's Users Flow
Based on Mia's demands, I split my app’s functions into two categories: community and vet, and made a user flow diagram.
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Initial Sketches and Wireframes
Visualizing ideas to a user-centric experience
I started sketching some ideas in our minds based on the storyboarding and user flow. My focus at this stage is to diverge first, converge later.
Armed with rough sketches and a clear user flow diagram, I quickly experimented with wireframes and UI layouts.
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Impacts
Unique Pet Community Experience
A platform for pet owners to meet new friends, build connections, learn from each other, and form a community
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Pet owners can share their own experiences and knowledge to help others. They will have a resources to meet people who have the same breed of pet as theirs.
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Allowing pet owners to ask questions to each other when their pet is sick or encountering some medical problems, PetEcho encourages pet owners to publish pet-related posts and share their stories with their furry friends.
Reform the Traditional Approach of Vet Appointment
Online, 24/7, Cost-Effective, and Time-Efficiency vet consultation
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Online Vet Service offers an efficient and cost-effective way to know well-beings of the pets. Users do not have to run to a local vet if it’s not an emergency case. It is open 24/7 to all users of PetEcho.
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Pet owners no longer need to wait for a vet appointment. With our platform, they can receive quick and professional responses from veterinarians, gaining valuable insights into caring for their pets without delay.
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Refelction
Solution Overview
My designed solution targets pet owners who want a one-stop solution to consolidate all their pet care needs in one app. My target users range from the young to the old, from tech-savvy individuals to less tech-oriented pet owners. The commonality among them is the need for convenient, cost-effective, and comprehensive pet care. PetEcho provides real-time vet consulting and pet community to those who face challenges in accessing veterinary services due to time, cost, or geographical constraints, and to those seeking a community of fellow pet enthusiasts.
What can be improved & Future Plan
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More Iterative Testing
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Get benefit from regular feedback loops and make quicker adjustments and improve the app’s usability and functionality.
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Implement a more rigorous and iterative testing process.
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Modify our design based on feedback and feasibility studies.
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