Personal Project - AniCare

Overview.

This was a three-week-long course where I got the opportunity to dig deep into any topic of my choice. I had regular sync meetings with a mentor who gave me feedback as I went along.

My goal was to deepen my knowledge in UX and the entire design process while simultaneously working on something I have a passion for.

Role.

Project leader
User research
UX/UI Design
Pitching

Time duration.

Three weeks, Jan 31 2022 - Feb 17 2022

Mentor.

Emil Jonsson, Nordic Head of Design, EY Doberman

Background.

During my life as a pet and horse owner, I have noticed a lot of pain points in the communication between all involved instances in the animal health care system, but also that animal ownership is based on physical paperwork.

For example, currently when a pet owner needs to do an emergency visit to the veterinary clinic, a lot of stress and worry occurs, and at the same time they need to juggle logistics such as

Find a clinic nearby who have the ability to take care of the animal
Potentially bring previous medical records regarding the pet’s health history
At the clinic, explain crucial animal health history to the veterinary straight from the head
When finally done, remember to request the medical record from the visit (but probably they are too emotionally tired to do that)

From observing situations like this, I have discovered that there are a lot of communication risks involved and also that I see potential in using technology to make strong improvements in animal health care. This was the core inspiration for my idea.

My idea.

An easy-to-use mobile application that gathers animal data from several instances regarding pet ownership like veterinary clinics, insurance companies, laboratories, farriers, personal notes, etc. Basically, a digital platform that gathers the animal’s data - all in one place!

My hypothesis is that easy access to relevant health information results in better animal health care.

With this app, the pet owner from the scenario I just pictured can now rely on the data in the app which will support them to

Find the closest clinic in a quick & simple way
Feel calmer knowing there is no need to bring medical records
Easily communicate crucial key information to the veterinary
Feel relieved that there is no need to request the medical record after the visit

In pressured situations like this where pet owners only focus is the well-being of their pet - this app will allow them to keep that focus and make the pet owner feel in more control.

Great animal care comes with good communication.

Process.

Exploring User Needs.

To gauge if my concept would be of interest and to expose problems from pet owners as my target audience, I undertook several interviews and also put out a survey with relevant questions to make me understand the user’s needs better.

Insight #1:

My concept was easy to grasp and the audience confirmed most of my hypotheses regarding the void in communication my application fills, which was extremely inspiring and pleasing to find out!

Insight #2:

The core concept has the possibility to fill many other needs simultaneously. The audience got their own ideas for use cases where an app like this would be of great service to them.

Insight #3:

Animal health paperwork is a thing of the past. Many pet owners are unaware of the potential technology can bring to this field. Pet owners do not keep track of their paperwork and have a hard time finding it when they need it.

Challenges.

After collecting my insights I got a bit overwhelmed by the amount of engagement my idea triggered from the audience. So, I needed to compile all of the discovered needs from my research into one streamlined application with strong features to fit those needs. In addition, pet owners are a very broad target audience with many different perspectives.

HMW-question

How might I design a companion application for the general pet owner to help them collect their pet’s health data in order to support communication with every potential instance that would need the information?

Feature Ideation.

I started to do ideation of potential features to cover the many discovered needs. Then I created a feature priority list based on the impact it would make on the user, which resulted in:

Collecting medical records from veterinary clinics to help with two-way communication between pet owners and veterinary clinics
Personal notes to support the pet owner in observing health history over time & get a better overview of their pet’s health
Create “pet profiles” for each pet since many pet owners have more than one.
Search for nearby veterinarians to make the user feel safe & trust that the app provides all support regarding their pet’s health, making it the “go-to” platform for the topic.

Culminating in the goal of making my hypothesis - “easy access to relevant health information results in better animal health care” - a reality.

Sketches.
Some early sketches displayed exploring general navigation for collecting medical records and the base visual layout.
Wireframes.
I structured the content by doing wireframes with all prioritised features to connect the user flow and get a feel for how it all might be connected and presented. I got great reactions from both the target group and my mentor. So I decided to move to the next step making a proper prototype to start the testing process on actual users!

Prototyping and design.

With one week left on the project, I put together a prototype in Figma to start a more thorough test and iteration process. I opted for a minimalistic look to ensure the usability was prioritised, especially since the target audience is so broad. Below follows my final design.

Add Notes To Medical Records.

The user can easily add personal notes and pictures to any medical record. This will help users get a better understanding of their pet’s overall health over time, which will result in better communication between pet owners and veterinarians.

Add Appointments.

Users can by their own accord add upcoming routine-based appointments for their pets like vaccinations, farriers, deworming, etc. Being able to add these in an organised way helps users with proactive planning to mitigate stress, especially great for pet owners with many pets.

Customise Pet Profile.
The pet profile page’s list of features is entirely customisable to let users personalise and get quick access to their most used features. This is specifically designed with the broad target audience in mind since every pet owner has different needs at different times.
Find Nearby Clinic.
This is a customised map for finding veterinary clinics to provide users with quick access to them. Phone numbers and opening hours are presented, all without the need for users to search for this information by themselves.
Manage Settings.
This is where users can manage notifications and their pet profiles to fit their preferences.

Share Pet Profile.

With this feature, users can share any pet profile with any other user. Only possible by user consent. This is to support users with precautions since the pet owner might not be available at a time of need.

Users can choose to share the whole pet profile, all medical records, or a specific medical record.

What Potential Users Are Saying.

“I can’t believe this doesn’t already exist. Everybody with a pet would want this!’’
— Horse owner

“Remembering for how long my dog limped when he had similar problems 2 years ago is impossible. Sometimes I don’t even remember my dogs birth date…”

— Dog owner

Final Thoughts & Takeaways.

Keep the focus on user needs. Initially, I had a pretty clear picture of the app’s general design, mainly because I applied many of my own experiences to the design direction. I learned much about collecting, analyzing, and using the user’s input to guide my decision-making and keep the focus on the root problem.
Juggling many tasks. Working on my first solo project and being responsible for the entire process was challenging. I’m very happy with how I managed to do it, but it also made me face my weaknesses. I tend to overdo work, especially when working on a passion project in combination with the short time period. I got more experience in telling myself when work is ''good enough’’.
A critical unknown. To get my application to reach its full potential I would have to keep investigating the possibilities of transferring data from one system to another. The complexity lies in that many clinics use different medical record systems.