The Brief
Let’s Dog Out- An AR Pet-caring App
This mobile app aims to simulate the real-life situation of taking care of pet dogs, containing an AR feature that projects the animated virtual dogs to the real environment, especially in outdoor circumstances. The goal is to help families with children learn the value of responsibility through joy and interaction.
My Role
UX Research
UI Design
Animating
AR Developing
Prototyping
Project Type
Personal Project
Deliverables
Fully functioning Figma prototype
Scannable AR experience
Tools Used
Figma
Blender
8th Wall
Background
Drastically Increasing Number of Dogs in Shelters
In the post-pandemic period, there has been a 63% increase in the number of pets ending up in shelters compared to the same period in 2021. This surge is largely due to people underestimating their ability to care for dogs as part of their families. These abandoned dogs have come to be known as 'Covid Dogs.'
If I Were To Help, I'd Investigate...
What is missing before adopting a pet
To foster responsibility and ownership, we must teach the physical duties of pet care and inform prospective owners about the life changes a dog may bring. However, replicating pet care responsibilities in real life can be challenging. A virtual simulator might provide a solution by offering realistic, interactive scenarios that allow prospective owners to experience and practice the duties.
Who are the target users
- Children aged 8-14 years old?
- Canadian househoulds who want a dog?
What might be the research methods
- Market assessment?
- Semi-structured interviews?
- Field study?
Research Process
1. Market Research
Increasing AR technology adoption
- The increasing use of technology in education(edtech)
- Comparing to VR, AR requires simpler device access and has a bigger user fundation
Remarkable TAM SAM SOM
- Total Addressable Market: Globalmobile pet care market of $641.4 million in 2023. ( PR Newswire, 2024)
- Serviceable Available Market: 6million demographic scale of Canadian families with children under the age of15,(Zimonjic,P., 2022)
- Serviceable Obtainable Market:Be roughly narrowed down to $64 million.
The rise in young pet owners
- Rise in pet ownership,particularly among millennials and Gen Z
- Millennials are having less kids but more pets
2. User Research
Real-life situation doesn't always match the expectation
I conducted interviews with two pet owner friends and three dog owners (two of them have kids) in Toronto to understand the discrepancies between their expectations and real-life experiences.
- Two owners confessed that they didn’t have enough knowledge about the breeds they were adopting.
- It was reported that the hassles are than expected. The reality of dog ownership often involves greater financial and time commitments than many anticipate.
- One mom joked, ‘I regret getting the dog. Now that my kid’s off the hook, I’m stuck taking care of the dog on my own!
What my intuition didn't know...
- I worked outdoors to observe the speed of walking dogs when being with their human.Most of the time, dogs are trotting not walking beside their owners.
Problem Statement
" There is no digital solution for families who want a pet but cannot decide if they are responsible enough to adopt one."
User Flow
Features That Match User Needs
Needs
- An educational session before adopting
- A painless real-life practice
- Performance analysis and the criteria of getting ready
Features
- Training Session for Taking Care of Dogs
- AR Dog-Walking Simulator and Virutal Budget Simulator
- Dog Condition Tracking Dashboard
User Flows
Key Features
1. Educational Onboarding Sessions for Choosing the Right Breed
‘Once chosen, never abandoned’ is the core of our concept. Therefore, the design goal of the onboarding section is to educate users on making thoughtful and informed decisions when selecting their pet companion.
2. Dog Walking Simulator - As If You Had A Dog But Risk-Free
The AR feature provides an immersive walking experience by using your phone camera to create a virtual environment. Unlike a real leash, the app uses a joystick to control the dog's direction. It incorporates practical elements of dog ownership by offering a checklist for items needed before heading out and simulating the task of picking up after the dog. Additionally, the app includes a safety feature that pauses the experience when crossing a street, integrating both behavioral training and outdoor safety considerations into the virtual experience.
3. Dashboard - A Dog Status Tracker
The app’s dashboard keeps users informed about their pet's condition by tracking various metrics, such as the food supplies and shedding patterns. The shedding tracker, for example, helps users understand their breed's shedding behavior, promoting better awareness and care.
4. Inventory Shopping Simulator - Understand If Your Wallet Is Ready For Having A Dog
The app includes a virtual budget tracker to monitor dog-related expenses using virtual currency and visual diagrams. It also offers virtual shopping to familiarize users with dog products, aiding in preparation for dog ownership. Additionally, the app may partner with dog product brands as a potential revenue model.
UI Design
Style Guide
Diagram Design
AR Development
1. Animating the virtual dog
A credit to RedDeer3d for providing the border collie armature and a basic animation set. I customized the materials in Blender to create 3 stripes of animation for three scenes: Begging to walk, Trotting when going out, and Defecating.
2. Integrating the A-frame animation framework on 8th Wall
Building the AR experience via the webAR platform 8th Wall, I worked with HTML and JavaScript to enable the animated 3D model to perform the corresponding actions upon interacting with it.
3. Aligning the AR UI to style guide
To keep the visual consistency of the all project, I worked on tweaking the CSS code to align the button UI in the AR platform to the designed style guide.
Product Testing
Conduct User Testing and Technical Troubleshooting Simultaneously
I conducted testing sessions with pet owners in Toronto and fellow product designers to gather feedback on the app's usability, functionality, and overall experience.
To ensure the dog's walking speed matched the average human walking speed in the AR experience, I experimented with various animation styles while walking with the phone camera on.
Accessibility Testing
I conducted an accessibility test via the Figma plugin - Include-Accessibility Annotations. My product met most of the criteria in the initial test and after fixing the minor issues, it passed the full exam.
Here is a sample report of the dashboard test:
Insights From Testing Process
- I got a lot of valuable feedback from my faculty every week which helped me especially in fixing the UI and making it safe for children to use.
- Misscommunication happens on labels and writings. For example, users felt vague about the meaning behind the digits on the top of both Dashboard page and Inventory page.
Post-testing Optimization
1. Effort-Reward Representation
Test participants showed a 75% correlation between their dog’s health and their satisfaction. To clarify this link, satisfaction was split into two metrics: dog well-being and owner effort. Introducing a dynamic ring infographic for tracking virtual currency led to a 30% increase in satisfaction and a 40% reduction in budget-related confusion among new users.
2. Optimizing Profile Hierarchy
Reorganizing the breed card to prioritize breed over the dog's name resulted in a 25% faster identification and a 65% user preference for the new layout.
3. Enhancing Responsiveness to Notifications
A redesigned interface for pet cues improved perceived responsiveness by 40%, allowing users to better understand their pet's needs, mirroring real-life interactions.
Reflection
If I Had More Time...
1. In-Depth Usability Test Among Children Users
Given more time, I would conduct thorough usability tests with children to uncover subtle user experience issues. Observing their interactions would help identify pain points and areas for improvement, making the product more intuitive and engaging for young users.
2. Combining Two Separate AR Experiences into One
I would merge the two separate AR experiences into a seamless journey. This would involve redesigning the user flow to ensure smooth transitions and a cohesive narrative, enhancing immersion and overall user satisfaction.
3. Proposing the Idea to Pet Care Institutions, Pet NGOs, and Vet Schools
Lastly, I would seek feedback from pet care institutions, pet NGOs, and vet schools on features aimed at reducing pet abandonment. Their insights would guide refinements, making the product more effective in promoting responsible pet ownership.
