Pet Stores
Challenge:
For one of the design projects for a course on human centered designed we were assigned the task of helping pet store owners imagine the future of pet needs. We were given several weeks to research the users involved out in the field and test prototypes to come to a final solution.
Takeaways:
how to split up work in a team of busy people
digging deeper into a need is difficult when asking questions during the user’s work hours
how to get people to be interested in the project and want to get involved with the research process
Insights:
owners do not know enough about their own pets for sales associates to help them make the most informed choices
sales associates and managers are very knowledgeable but their expertise is not something that most patrons take advantage of
Process:
Our first prototype iterations focused on the lack of trust in knowledgeable sales associates at pet stores. They included a mentorship program for new pet owners, open office hours for new pet owners hosted by the store, a pet pop up shop at the park, and an app to connect pet owners to sources of information about their pets. I made a mockup of the app screen flow (shown below) and began prototyping in Xcode.
After receiving feedback we found that we were going in the right direction but needed to find some way for the pet owners to find more motivation to actually go to the store to receive advice. We are currently in the process of further developing this insight into a solution.
