Overview
Going on trips with dogs often involves researching pet-friendly accommodations and locating dog-friendly places. This process can be time-consuming, frustrating and stressful for the owners and their furry companions. Road Dog is an app designed to make road trips with dogs more easier. The app provides a solution to challenges dog owners face when planning trips, including:
• finding pet-friendly accommodations
• identifying dog-friendly attractions
• planning a smoother travel experience.
Responsibilities
• UX Research
• Visual Design
• Wireframes
• Prototypes
Process
I started by creating a user interview plan to understand what dog owners go through when organizing a trip with their dogs. I wanted to learn how owners research dog-friendly hotels, how owners prepare their dogs for long trips, and how owners design and plan their trips.I also compared dog-traveling apps. To find, their common features, and what made them different from each other.
User Interviews
• 8/10 participants preferred to take road trips with their dogs over fly.
• 7/10 participants expressed that their dogs needed to take breaks to play while driving.
• 7/10 participants said they needed to pull over to look up nearby dog parks.
• 6/10 participants said when they go on road trips with their dogs, they spend the night at multiple locations, making finding pet-friendly hotels more difficult.
Findings from existing apps
• 2/3 of the apps had maps to search for dog parks near a user’s location.
• 1/3 of the apps allowed users to book dog-friendly hotels.
• 1/3 of the apps had recommendations on pet-friendly locations and amenities.
Exploration
With my findings I created user flows that helped me identify key decisions points in a user’s journey. I focused on answering the following questions:Can a person book multiple dog-friendly hotels for their upcoming road trip?Can someone have the ability to create a route with built-in GPS to multiple destinations? Can someone set notifications of dog-friendly restaurants, dog parks and pet stores to their route?
Final Design
For my final design I focused on:
1.Simplifying the research and booking of multiple dog-friendly hotel stay.
2. Provide a way for someone to create their route with multiple locations and set notifications of nearby dog-friendly amenities.
