Pet Techs
Website and Service Platform
CHALLENGE
Pet Techs is looking to create a platform for vet techs and pet owners to connect for pet services and care needs. They seek design and feature definition and ideations for this initial platform.
Additionally they are looking for help to lay the foundations around a design guide for their brand and establish a blueprint of their platform to aid in future development/build out efforts with software developers.
SOLUTION
I worked alongside my team to design a website solution for this greenfield project. Because no site or prototype currently exists, I designed and created a website platform from the ground up which connects vet techs and pet owners for out-of-clinic pet services.
My focus on this project was on leading the design build and aesthetic, focusing on the wireframe creations of screens, and building the fully interactive prototype entirely on my own.
Methodology
• Competitive Audit
• Directed Storytelling
• Interviews
• Prototyping
• Remote Moderated Research
• Surveys
• Secondary and Evaluative Research
• Think-Aloud Protocol
• Wireframing
Tools
• Figma
• Miro
• Notion
• Slack
• Sketch
• Survey Monkey
• Trello
• Zoom
Client Deliverables
• Ecosystem Map
• Information Architecture Diagram
• Style and Design Guide
• Interactive Prototype
• Annotated Wireframes
Pet Techs
Pet Techs is a pre-revenue local startup aiming to create a platform that connects skilled and experienced veterinary technicians with pet owners seeking quality care for their animals.
With the ability to perform out-of-the-clinic care, vet techs providing services for these animals allows the owners to have more confidence and assurance in their pet care providers. This need and service is especially relevant in cases with pets who have special medical needs or care requirements.
Our client and stakeholder Vicky Moffat is the force behind the mission. She’s a certified vet technician and was inspired to create Pet Techs from past experiences and pet services provided for various pet owners she knows from working with their animals at her clinic and full time work. She understood that the need for a platform existed that connected these vet technicians who often are asked for pet care and services by many pet owners.
Pet Techs logo I designed
User
Primary User
Trained veterinary technicians who are interested in supplementing their income and caring for pets outside of their clinic practice who want to connect to clients with pets and services to offer
Pet owners looking for someone technically qualified to care for their pet
Secondary User
Doctors of Veterinary Medicine/clinic staff who send patient documentation
Veterinary clinic managers who may recommend Pet Techs to their clients (pet owners) who are looking for pet sitting services or non-clinical in-home pet care
Pet owners needing specialized hospice services
Research and Context
Understanding the pet care industry and vet tech needs when providing services
In order to better understand the problem space, we conducted a series of initial research activities, focused on identifying key user needs and pain points and investigating the competitive landscape. We analyzed services like Rover, Wag, and other care platforms that provide animal care services.
After this evaluation on existing competition and similar space, we set out to understand what our solution would look like for Pet Techs as well as starting to define our focus areas or possible features to include.
First, we created an online survey and questionnaire intended for vet technicians and related professionals to get a sense of what their experience was in providing services to pets outside of their day to day jobs in a clinic. This survey emphasized the clear demand for a service like Pet Techs, as one question asked if the respondent had been hired outside of their clinic for services, with over 85% of the responses indicating yes, they have been hired for outside services.
85% of Vet technicians respondents to our survey indicated they had been hired by pet owners for care outside of their clinic, providing pet sitting and similar care services.
Over 70% of respondents said they had not used any pet service website or platform to provide these services.
Discussing care needs and past experiences with pet owners
Additionally we conducted an interview with the head of veterinary care at the Golden Valley Animal Humane Society, to understand what needs exist when veterinary professionals give services or care outside of a clinic. This helped clarify what types of tasks, routines, and tools were part of their care to ensure that we include in our solution.
Finally, we spoke with pet owners in directed storytelling sessions. What we found in doing this was a clearer story and idea of what their past experiences were like, especially with dogs that needed pet sitting or routine medical care that was hard to come by for owners.
Creating the Solution
Brainstorming, sketching ideas and organizing the site information and architecture
With findings from research to help guide primary values and general overview of features and content, we continued to build out our platform features through creating hand sketches of screens or logos, and low fidelity wireframes of some screens we knew would be a necessity.
We created an information architecture diagram in Miro to understand what key flows and screens would be in the site.
Beyond this we started digitizing our sketches in Figma as a group to get the basic foundation built for the website.
Additionally, our group discussed and came to the consensus of focusing on four main services for Pet Techs. These include pet sitting (in the pet owner’s home), pet boarding (in the service providers home), routine medical drop in care and services like injections, diabetic care and regulation, etc, and hospice care services. I designed the service offerings for Pet Techs shown here. Additionally I designed the icons for the website as well as focusing on the overall design and aesthetic.
I created the icons and designed the general aesthetic with brief information about each service that Pet Techs provides, displayed on the home page and shown below in more detail. These serve as a quick, effortless summary and indicator of offerings and services Pet Techs provides to pet owners.
Establishing a design system for Pet Techs
After exploring some initial color palettes and general design styles we agreed upon a fun and inspiring site for Pet Techs.
With this in mind, we were sure to not aspire for extreme color choices that might contrast the purpose and tone intended for the site or send a mixed message from Pet Techs to a user. Acknowledging this, we wanted to give a clear indication this is a professional and high quality site through our design choices.
We made sure that our site met WCAG 2.1 Level AA and AAA guidelines for accessibility design on user interfaces with our colors, contrast ratio, page headings and so on.
Eventually my teammate April and I who were the ‘design team’ of the project agreed and landed on a finalized first logo for Pet Techs. From here April and I furthered the fidelity of our solution and developed a solidified style guide for Pet Techs.
Our style guide that we created is shown here and outlines for Pet Techs our design, buttons, colors, fonts and much more.
Style guide and design deliverable I collaborated on for Pet Techs
Evaluation and Testing
Assessing how vet technicians and pet owners would interact with the Pet Techs site
As the main features and screens were built out, a design template and color palette solidified, and furthered the fidelity of the pages and wireframes, I continued to make an interactive prototype from these wireframes.
Our team tested this initial prototype of the solution with vet techs and pet owners. Conducting evaluation and testing sessions with this high fidelity interactive prototype allowed us to see how users interact with and respond to the design, features and overall concept.
Addressing vet tech work stress and fatigue via resources and encouragement reminders
We analyzed the feedback from participants and understood from these sessions that the vet tech participants felt they had a sufficient and useful amount of features to show their expertise and present themselves in a clear and professional way.
They were also excited and appreciative of the encouragement reminder and self care resources that we designed. Created as either pop up windows providing vet tech users with continued encouragement and self care tips, or as a learning and resources page link we ensured to provide this on Pet Techs.
The focus on addressing this fatigue and exhaustion which is common throughout the vet tech profession was something we ensured was focal as our client and stakeholder Vicky emphasized the need for a way to address this growing issue in this space.
I created and designed the encouragement reminder pop up window shown here, intended for vet techs providing services on Pet Techs.
Solving pet owner needs with live updated service checklists
Ensuring that we had the intended features and screens that vet techs discussed as helpful and supportive, we focused next on what pet owners would want to see changed or updated from their evaluation sessions with the prototype.
The biggest takeaway of this was a need for the owners to have some sort of an in service checklist that updates in real time with the care vet tech service providers have given to animals as the owners are away. This checklist was a way to provide the vet techs with a means to show the pet owner updated care, and how the service was going.
Because some animals would possibly have very complex medical needs during care, this checklist was solidified as a key feature in order to assure owners if they want to know continued updates about their pets specialized care. This also allows a distinguished difference from other common sites like Rover or Wag to establish Pet Techs as a dynamic solution in this space.
Provided here is a snapshot of the in-service checklist as a pet owner on Pet Techs views the updated checklist that the vet techs fill out during the care they give. I created and designed the service checklist to provide ease of mind and security for the pet owners that their pets are receiving high quality expert care.
Individual work and focus areas
While half of my group members took the lead on the research and testing with users, I moderated sessions and supported the research efforts.
I led and managed the creation and design of the wireframes and building the prototype. Additionally I provided our group with tools and software to work on our project in collaborative and effective ways, ensuring that we were moving the project forward in a cohesive manner.
I also designed and created the entire interactive prototype with the functionality and features that Pet Techs could utilize for their next steps.
Walkthrough example demonstrating features designed for vet techs
Follow along with Emerson, a Vet Technician providing services, and how she would navigate Pet Techs key features.
She can update Fluffy’s in service checklist to send off to his owner when completed for the day, including timestamps from her care provided.
Encouragement pop up reminder messages as well as motivating messages are featured through the site as an additional layer that speaks to the care and understanding around vet techs often demanding job requirements.
Interactive Prototype
The prototype I was in charge of creating and building from the ground up throughout this group project had a variety of features and screens built out as a fully functional prototype.
My goal with this prototype was to provide our client with the most clear understanding of the Pet Techs web site, design and user interface components and features look like as well as how interactions and functionality of the future website would exist with provided representations.
Explore the prototype through the lens of two users navigating the site:
Janis - a pet owner of special needs animals seeking care services
Emerson - a vet technician providing care services on Pet Techs
Explore the interactive Pet Techs prototype provided below:
Presenting the Project
Next Steps and Recommendations
Our hope is that Pet Techs is able to utilize our findings and plans to move this project into the next phase of creation.
Integrating a payment platform, background check, and calendar technologies will be helpful in streamlining the experience.
We also see Pet Techs as a multi-touchpoint experience - users can interact with Pet Techs through flyers they see at clinics, text messages reminders from the app or site, and a facebook support group for vet techs among others.
Mobile application potential for Pet Techs
Additionally, as the company grows and enrolls more users, we would love to see the platform designed as a mobile app. We believe this is the natural next phase and most relevant for Pet Techs once the site is built and created from software developers.
A mobile app can help our client offer the chance for a new branding experience, provide users more convenience, and create a new stream of conversions.
I designed a responsive mobile app home page that could be utilized as Pet Techs grows and expands into other platforms and touchpoints.
Check out how a mobile app version of Pet Techs home page might look - scroll around!
Summary
With this solution from our group, Pet Techs is equipped with an expansive and comprehensive first step in making this a reality.
The deliverables we provided as this first step in the process includes a variety of documents, research findings and data to support the choices and features we focused on, design guide and styling tools with recommendations, as well as high fidelity wireframes and a high fidelity interactive prototype.
With a clear market demand, as well as incentives for vet techs and pet owners to join alike, we anticipate great success with this platform and we wish all the best for Pet Techs.
