UX Case Study

Howlr Application

Project Overview

Dogs are social creatures that occasionally have bouts of zoomies. Pet owners need to set up opportunities for socializing and burning off energy. Walks and dog parks are great but do have the potential for terrible interactions or injury. Playdates offer a safer and less overwhelming opportunity for both pet and pet owners but can be exhausting or annoying to set up. There needs to be an easy way to set up playdates in specific locations, times, and with dogs/pet owners that are compatible.

Time Frame

80 – 100 hrs over 3 months

See Prototype

Check out the finished Howlr app prototype created with Figma.

01

Define

Problem

Create an app that makes finding compatible dogs and setting up dog playdates simple and enjoyable for all parties involved.

02

Research

Research Goals

G1: Identify the main ways people set up puppy playdates
G2: Determine general processes and tools used to set up puppy playdates
G3: Discern the overall expectations and needs of the pet owners for a puppy playdate

Research Objectives

Obj 1: When and why did pet owners start setting up playdates?
Obj 2: Find the main pain points of friction setting up playdates.
Obj 3: Determine main tools, artifacts, and processes used to set up playdates.
Obj 4: Discuss needs that need to be met to have a good playdate

Research Methods and Persona

Secondary Research

Market Research/Competitive Analysis: This is to see what current offerings are out there for dog playdate apps. It is important to figure out if these are used, the frequency of their use, and the main features offered on these sites.

1:1 Interviews

Discuss the dog playdate experiences they have had in the past. Interviews will uncover shared processes/tools for how playdates get setup. And, if pet owners are setting up dog playdates, how frequently do they, where do they find dogs to set up playdates, and why are pet owners setting them up?

Competitive Analysis

I completed a competitive analysis that allowed for a direct comparison of available dog playdate applications. There was a limited selection since this appears to be a niche market, with most applications launched in the last few years. There were limited reviews on these applications and various ways that the apps function however, there was a front runner when comparing these apps, BarkHappy. The app stayed most faithful to the main goals of setting up playdates and had the most effortless onboarding.

Many of these apps placed a lot of importance on places to meet up and how close the pet owners were to each other, but consideration of whether dogs and pet owners might be a good fit for a playdate is limited or missing.

The shared positive attributes to keep in mind:

Fun and straightforward onboarding for pet and dog owner info
Friendly and upbeat styling
Clearly thought-out features and flows

Analysis of current dog playdate offerings – rankings and reviews based on Google and Apple Stores.

1:1 Initial Interviews

When examining a successful puppy playdate it was important to note how much time and energy was spent working to help both parties feel comfortable on the puppy playdate. Often successful playdates include a combination of good communication of needs, preferences, and dog hangups.

According to interview participants if they experienced too many bad puppy playdates they would just not have them- making both the dog and pet owner feel isolated.

“I had so many bad experiences with dog parks. That I just didn’t want to go that route. And so, yeah, [playdates were] fabulous really, just to socialize and to exercise my dog.”

-Participant 4

Defined Persona

Due to the timeframe and scope of the project a single persona and empathy map were created from the primary research: Looking for Friends in All the Right Places Archetype.

Design Moving Forward

The user interviews and comparative analysis helped figure out the configuration of user needs, motivations, processes, and pain points in setting up playdates. The valuable information gathered from initial interviews and comparative analysis will help build an easy-to-use application to establish matches for potential new dog friends and schedule playdates.

03

Ideate

The initial research from both primary and secondary resources helped guide the process of formatting a persona, which will redefine the application’s function and flow. The main focus is making onboarding preferences for dogs and pet owners intuitive and fun, finding potential matches, and setting up playdates.

Feature Roadmap & Goals

I got to work on my minimal viable product’s feature roadmap for the site after defining potential overlap between the user, business, and technical goals.

Get Roadmap

Sitemap

I created a sitemap with different iterative phases in mind. The initial application was made for 1:1 playdates only. The application will be built on and grow to allow for more experiences. The site map presented is only made for Phase 1.

User & Task Flows

The primary persona is using the application for socializing and exercising her dog. The task and user flows follow how she might find and schedule new dog playdates for her dog Rufus.

Task Flow: See dog/dog owner matches available for puppy playdates.

User Flow: See dog/dog owner matches available for puppy playdates, look through matches, and setup a puppy playdate.

Branding

Creating a cohesive brand for Howlr was an important part of setting the tone for the application. In order to strike the right balance of playful and efficient a mood board was created. I avoided going with a primary color scheme instead opting for a jeweled toned double complementary color scheme which is still playful but felt a little more adult.

I choose “Fredoka One” a rounded, sans serif as a more readable, playful option for this app. This type really helped create a clear and playful logo mark and logo. The logo mark was a combo of the irregular/oblong shape used in the main logo; the shape goes from a speech bubble for the main Howlr logo morphs to a dog nose positioned behind the Howlr text in the logo mark. Again this is to keep the visuals simple and playful.

See UI Kit

Go to Style Tile

Wireframes and High Fidelity Mockups

After getting all of the essential pages laid out, I went to work doing preliminary sketches for the sign-in screens, onboarding, and basic pages/modules required for the application.

Special attention was paid to the onboarding process, touring for the site features, and matching dog results interactions and modules. Onboarding need to be thorough per user needs but not long or burdensome.

See Sketches

Howlr Wireframes for Onboarding (Ordered from left to right, oldest to newest iterations)

Howlr HiFi Mockups for Onboarding (Ordered from left to right, oldest to newest iterations)

04

Test & Iterate

After setting up interviews, finishing the mobile prototype, and running through the chosen interview questions- it was time for the actual UX test.

Info gathered would be critical to check out the app’s interactions and user flows.

UX Testing

Participants were asked to complete tasks remotely while their responses and screens were recorded. The hope is to determine which parts of the application worked and which parts needed further iteration.

Test Goals

Checking on the ease of using the app to find dogs for playdates
Does onboarding work and make sense to pet owners?
Can pet owners find matches for their dogs and schedule a playdate?
Can the pet owner reach out to previous matches to schedule new playdates?

Participants

Age range 25 – 42
Participants: 4-6
Psychographics (age/income): Varying
Preferred qualities: set up, wanting to set up, or attempted to set up a playdate

Tasks

Testing if users can easily onboard to the app (Goal 1)
Testing if the user can easily navigate to dog matches (Goal 2)
Testing to see how a user approaches setting up future playdates (Goal 3)
Seeing how users move through the app (Goal 4)
How does the user feel while using this app? (Goal 5)
Would this user recommend or use this app? (Goal 5)

Task Completion

Participants had no issues with the onboarding process for their dog or themselves, which was my biggest concern since it is central to making the best compatibility matches for dogs and dog owners.

Testing if users can easily onboard to the app (Goal 1)- 100% Completion- no hints or help, but did have excellent feedback on how to be more inclusive and use more traditional UI patterns. UX test participants liked that it did not feel like a chore.
Testing if the user can easily navigate to dog matches (Goal 2)- 100% Completion- no hints or help.
Testing to see how a user approaches setting up future playdates (Goal 3)- 100% Completion- no hints or help.
Seeing how users move through the app (Goal 4)- 100% Completion- participants were given some hints on the upload photo/video portion since this just had the initial load page in the prototype and had no subsequent pages.
How does the user feel while using this app? (Goal 5) overall impression was very positive- they liked the styling and depth of the onboarding.
Would this user recommend or use this app? (Goal 5) all stated yes, but since this was not an option (yet) I advised them about the top-rated existing app, BarkHappy.

Takeaways for Iteration

Allow for users to input their pronouns if not part of the main selections
Allow for more inclusive choices in onboarding for both pets and pet owners
Make selections more clear and easy to navigate in onboarding

Overall, the application was well accepted and did not require much direction or help. Users were able to match with other dogs and set up playdates. Users’ overall impressions of the application were very positive.