The client, Deutsche Telekom AG, sought to innovate in the pet care industry by developing a GPS tracker for dogs. This device, attached to the dog’s collar and connected to a phone via Bluetooth, provides a crucial security measure for dog owners, allowing them to track their pets in case they get lost. As the UX lead, I was responsible for overseeing the entire UX design process, ensuring the product met user needs effectively. This involved not only extensive user research but also tackling complex UX challenges. The app's main features include a map to locate the dog, playful data visualizations about the dog's activity, geofence functionalities, as well as intuitive onboarding and pairing features. Starting from scratch, our goal was to create a seamless, user-friendly experience that integrated these features cohesively.

We began the project with thorough benchmarking to understand the competitive landscape and existing solutions in the market. By analyzing similar products, we identified gaps and opportunities for innovation. This step provided valuable insights into features, usability, and design patterns that informed our initial concepts and set the stage for a user-centric design approach.

Conducting user interviews was a critical part of our initial discovery phase to gather in-depth insights into the needs, behaviors, and pain points of dog owners. We spoke with a diverse group of users to understand their experiences with pet tracking, their concerns about their dog's safety, and their expectations from a tracking device and connected app. These interviews helped us empathize with our users and shape the product’s features and design to better align with their needs. The result, after analyzing these interviews, was a precise role profile of our target group of dog owners, including their pains, goals and needs.

The user journey workshop allowed us to map out the complete experience of our target group of dog owners, using the dog tracker app from initial setup to locating a lost dog. Collaborating with stakeholders and team members, we identified key touchpoints and potential pain points in the user journey. This workshop was instrumental in ideating first concepts and ideas for potential optimization along the user journey..

Based on the findings from benchmarking, user interviews, and the user journey workshop, we compiled a comprehensive requirement list. This list included both functional and non-functional requirements that the app needed to fulfill. Prioritizing these requirements helped us focus on delivering the most impactful features and addressing critical user needs effectively.

In the conception phase, we translated our research and requirements into initial design concepts. This iterative process involved sketching, prototyping, and constant feedback loops with stakeholders and users. Our goal was to create a design that was not only functional and aesthetically pleasing but also intuitive and user-friendly. The main features of the app include a map to locate the dog, playful data visualizations about the dog's activity, geofence features, as well as intuitive onboarding and pairing features. By integrating these features cohesively, we aimed to provide a comprehensive and engaging user experience that addressed the core needs of dog owners.

User testing was conducted to validate our design assumptions and ensure the app’s usability. We organized sessions where real users interacted with the prototype, providing feedback on their experience. This iterative testing phase allowed us to identify and rectify usability issues, refine the design, and enhance overall user satisfaction.

The insights gathered from the user testing sessions were analyzed using Dovetail, a powerful tool for qualitative data analysis. Dovetail allowed us to efficiently tag, categorize, and synthesize user feedback, revealing key patterns and themes. This analysis highlighted areas for improvement and confirmed the effectiveness of certain features, guiding our iterative design process to better meet user needs.