In China, long holidays bring a wave of people leaving and a corresponding influx of pets in need of care. For pet sitting, owners have two choices: either a third-party institution or a person to come feed the pets, but most discerning pet owners struggle to find a truly suitable temporary home that strikes the right balance between price and service. Wangwangda fills that gap.
The Wangwangda team approached me to build a pet home boarding platform that connects pet owners with pet lovers who are willing to care for pets as if they were part of their own family. Our platform allows pets to stay in a home environment, roaming freely and exploring instead of being confined in a kennel or pet hotel cage. This is my story of creating a platform to help people take care of your pets when you are not available, or earning extra income through your love for animals.
The client approached us with one primary goal in mind: to be the First Mover to launch this product from scratch and pitch at the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub.
To meet the submission deadline, our team had to move extremely fast. A high-fidelity prototype for iPhone and Android was required by our production partner within two months. The combination of a fixed deadline, app store submission time, security testing, and usability testing meant I needed to get the experience right in the first four weeks.
Upon analyzing the Chinese pet service market, we identified three categories: basic needs, satisfiers, and delighters. As of now, pet economy in China is mostly focused on meeting the basic needs of pets, but there is considerable growth potential in categories such as satisfiers and delighters. Here's where Wangwangda comes in. Our goal is to bridge the gap in this underdeveloped area of business and enhance user experience beyond its competitors.
Kano model competitive analysis results are shown below
The First Mover status meant we were without user research and business data, so we needed to understand the nature of the pet boarding service provision thoroughly and quickly.
The 2018 Chinese Pet Industry White Paper indicates that most pet owners, particularly in more economically developed cities, are women with higher levels of education and income. In order to gain a deeper understanding of our prospective users, I interviewed eight participants between the ages of 20 and 50.
The discovery phase was a quick, high-intensity effort that enabled us to review the competitor landscape, understand our client's vision, and research user needs, behaviors, and pain points. We also kicked off a technical discovery phase to understand feasibility and constraints.
The research revealed that while providing a place for pets to live was essential, it was only one aspect of providing effective care. A holistic approach to boarding pets would give us a greater chance of improving the pet boarding experience. This would include addressing the following needs:
After designating persona types and aligning this with our phasing strategy we were able to prioritise who we would be focusing on supporting in the early stages. The phase 1 app focused on supporting the goals of Wanying Lei, our primary persona.
We used persona constantly throughout the project to guide design decisions, priorities, and create empathy amongst the client and our team.
The following is the profile of Wangying Lei, an Art Collection Manager
Once our client approved the content and functionality to roll out in the app, I could start to structure that content. Having identified the main 'plots' in our scenarios, I defined the primary routes our persona would explore within the app. A key user journey for each of our personas was the best way to conceptualize and structure the content.
Prior to starting any design, I spent a good deal of time making sense of workflows and existing content. There was a lot of analysis and card sorting involved in this process.
Using my initial sketches, I created mid-fidelity wireframes. In this way, I was able to outline the basic structure of the app and consider details such as spacing between elements, reusable patterns, and typographic scale. The app's design was shaped by this process.
Wangwangda APP user task flow and Wangwangda APP mid-fidelity wireframes below
Wangwangda is a platform to get people to take care of your pet when you not available, or earn extra money with your love for animals.
A minimal, vibrant color palette and STHeiti font were carefully selected to enhance the app's friendly aesthetic. Color and typography have a significant influence on the character of a product.
I spent about 2 weeks designing and refining 70 visuals with the goal of enhancing the user experience and overall performance of the product by creating an aesthetic, intuitive interface.
The gallery below shows some of the app designs.
Wangwangda has received both positive and negative feedback since its first release. There has been positive feedback from users regarding the app's features and simplicity of design. It is unfortunate that negative feedback largely relates to reservations being processed too late and being inaccurate - both of which are outside our control and subject to ongoing improvement.
Despite no longer being part of the team after delivery, this project challenged me to use and improve my skills. I am proud to announce that my client is delighted with the final product.
