Case Study: Dog Park Cumbayá

Seamless booking for your furry friend's fun-filled adventures.

User Research

Summary

To develop a comprehensive platform for a local dog park, I initiated the project by establishing clear interview objectives to understand user needs and preferences in pet care services.

Recruiting participants who had visited Dog Park Cumbayá at least once was a prerequisite. Through targeted outreach on social media, I recruited suitable participants and facilitated the interview process with structured scripts and consent procedures.

By immersing myself in recorded interviews, I cultivated empathy, built rapport, and gleaned valuable insights to inform subsequent design decisions. I meticulously analyzed the data post-interview, creating empathy maps and distilling key pain points to craft two distinct personas representing diverse user demographics.

These personas were the cornerstone for shaping the user experience and guiding the iterative design process towards a user-centric solution.

User Interview: Participants

Pain Points

With a clear understanding of the participants’ backgrounds, we are now prepared to explore the pain points and challenges they faced in their interactions with other booking services and their initial experiences with pet-related services.

Personas & Problem Statements

Let’s meet David, a family man with a wife and two kids, and Jessica, a single individual, both dog owners. We’ll explore the unique challenges in pet care services through their distinct backgrounds.

User Journey Map

I crafted user journey maps for Jessica and David, emphasizing Jessica’s alignment with current offerings and potential improvements while noting David’s focus on dog training as a future service expansion opportunity not currently provided by the dog park.

Competitive Audit

In conducting a competitive analysis for the dog park, I thoroughly examined the websites, services, and pricing models of various pet care establishments. Each competitor offered services, including grooming, boarding, training, veterinary care, product sales, and pet transportation options.

However, the Dog Park was a unique offering of a private space where dog owners could freely interact with their pets and engage with like-minded dog owners in a social setting, a feature notably absent from competitors’ offerings.

Sitemap

The sitemap provides a visual representation of the website’s structure, showcasing the hierarchy of pages and navigation flow.

Paper Wireframes

Exploring versatility, I created five layout options for each sitemap section, drawing inspiration from various website layouts, such as single-column, multi-column, box layout, featured image layout, F-layout, Z-layout, and grid cards. I extracted the most effective elements from these and combined them to form Version 1, optimizing the design for enhanced user engagement and clarity.

Experimenting with Layouts

Desktop Version

Responsive: Mobile Version 1

Digital Wireframes

Using Figma, I transformed the paper wireframes into digital versions for desktop screens. Each element was recreated to match the paper layout, ensuring frame consistency. The desktop home screen was also redesigned and resized for the responsive mobile version.

Responsive: Mobile

Desktop Version compared to Mobile Version

Low-Fidelity Prototype

The low-fidelity prototype for the dog park website showcases early design concepts and functionality. Users can easily browse services, book appointments, and confirm their bookings. It provides a foundation for future development, allowing stakeholders to visualize the site’s structure and suggest improvements.

Usability Study

Summary

I conducted a guerrilla usability study with three friends who were familiar with dogs. One couple owned dogs, while the other individual was passionate about dogs.

Each participant was given two tasks: first, to explore the various pages of the website, and second, to return to the homepage and book a service.

Parameters

Insights

The following insights were obtained from the study:

Mockups

Sticker Sheet

Before designing the high-fidelity prototypes with refinement from the participant insights, I developed a sticker sheet from the brand logo to aid in establishing the design’s visual identity. This process helped ensure consistency and coherence across all screens in the high-fidelity prototype.

Mockups

Mockups: Original Screen Size

Mockups: Screen Size Variation

I integrated adjustments for various screen sizes into my mockups, building upon the wireframes created earlier. Recognizing that users access the platform from diverse devices, I prioritized optimizing the browsing experience across different screen sizes, including mobile and tablet, to ensure seamless customer usability.

High-Fidelity Prototype

My high-fidelity prototype maintained the user flow established in the low-fidelity version, integrating design modifications derived from the usability study findings

Accessibility

In my second case study for the Google UX Professional Certificate, I focused on designing a responsive website for a private dog park. Unlike my previous project, I didn’t conduct a screener survey this time. Instead, I recruited participants who had visited the dog park through the dog park’s social media.

Takeaways

Through this project, I gained valuable insights into the specific needs of dog owners and the challenges they face when booking services for their pets. It also highlighted the importance of prioritizing user-centric design principles, as even minor adjustments can profoundly impact the overall user experience.

Next Steps

In the next steps for the Dog Park project, I aim to explore features like real-time booking updates and personalized recommendations to enhance the user experience further. As I progress, I’ll continue to refine my design skills through collaboration with interdisciplinary teams, prioritizing user-centric solutions to address the specific needs of dog owners.