Year
2023-2024
Scope of work
Web design
Branding
Product design
UX design
Industry
Marketplace
Psychology
Dogs
Overview
This case study details the year-long journey of developing a marketplace website - Zoomies - where dog behaviourists can offer their services and dog owners can find the help they need. The project was a group coursework at SWPS University in Warsaw, carried out by a team of five students under the guidance of a UX mentor - Sabina Białek.
The challenge
The goal we set for ourselves, was to create a platform that connects dog owners with behaviourists. There is a growing market for this kind of service in Poland, yet the current options for finding a behaviourists are troublesome, and there are many pain-points which makes people reluctant to finding a scpecialist in this regard.
Goals
Streamline the journey of locating a dog behaviour specialist
Create a multi-tool service that fits the needs of dog behaviourists
Challenges
Working with a team of varied characters and diverse work histories
Defining the issues and pain-points in the existing process
Chances
No direct competitors
Common usability pattern
Growing market needs
Research
With the rise of popularity in dog behavioral / training services, the process of finding such specialist is still troublesome in Poland. We ran interviews with people who have already used this kind of service in the past, and found common pain points for every dog owner. Those pains were regarding lack of portfolio or any form of work showcase of the specialist but also lack of any place, where one could even look for the specialist. The most common way of doing so, was to just post a message on a dog-related Facebook group, and then choose a behaviourist from the hundreds of commenters offering this kind of service.
11
Interviews with dog owners who used dog behaviourists services before
4
Interviews with dog behaviourists
Insights
Problem #1
Lack a unified platform to showcase dog behaviourists services and their previous success stories.
Solution #1
Establishing a trade-like platform where dog behaviourists can advertise, giving pet owners an opportunity to sift through and evaluate profiles.
Problem #2
Existing platforms either focus solely on listing broad amount of various services or lack essential tools for service providers.
Solution #2
Give dog therapists a set of management tools in one, dedicated platform, integrated with their client's list and communication system.
Ideation
To identify pain points and design solutions, we used the Value Proposition Canvas to map out the needs, desires, and frustrations of both dog owners and behaviourists. By examining the "Gains" and "Pains" of each user group, we identified specific challenges, such as dog owners struggling to find trustworthy behaviourists and behaviourists needing better workflow management tools.
Additionally, we created User Journey Maps to visualize each step users take when searching for a behaviourist or managing appointments. This helped us pinpoint pain points like complex booking processes and manual scheduling. By understanding these challenges, we were able to design features such as advanced search filters, a seamless booking process, and integrated calendar tools to ease these frustrations.
Flowcharts
& wireframes
We crafted eight usage scenarios to ascertain user priorities. These scenarios underwent external validation to ensure we weren't designing in isolation, continually seeking outside feedback. After finalizing our usage contexts, we progressed to drafting initial sketches, pouring our wireframe ideas onto paper. We distilled the sketches to the very best before bringing them to Figma at mid-fidelity.
Logo
To bring the final design at mid-fidelity, we needed an initial color scheme and brand identity. I was tasked with creating a logo that will bring a playful spirit to our project. The created wordmark, works perfectly when in need of useing a simple icon for example for a future mobile app.
Final results
Using our selected sketches, we started to bring those designs to life at mid-fidelity levels, to present our vision for the website. We created various, sometimes complex screens and clickable prototypes, for our test user to go trough.
After pinpointing the flaws in out design, found by users, we fixed noticed issues. Most of those however, were found at the level of naming, so many issues were fixed, by correcting the UX writing. Below is presented the final design.
