Overview
For DECO1006 Design Process and Methods, our team of three UX/UI designers developed Luv Pets, an app addressing challenges of pet ownership. I contributed to research, user testing, wireframing, and prototyping, focusing on solutions for hygiene, health, housing, and transport, ensuring a seamless experience for pet owners.
Role
UX/UI Designer, User Researcher
Duration
Sep-Nov 2024, 9 weeks
Tools
luv pets.
luv pets. connects university students, allowing them to help each other with pet sitting while
balancing their studies, ensuring pets receive care when owners are busy.
Solution 💡
Luv Pets is a mobile app designed to support university students in balancing pet ownership with their academic commitments. It provides solutions for managing distractions, ensuring pet well-being, and integrating study-friendly strategies, making pet care more manageable alongside student life.
The problem 📌
Many university students struggle to balance pet ownership with their academic responsibilities, facing challenges such as time management, distractions, and ensuring pet well-being. The lack of structured support often leads to stress, reduced productivity, and compromised pet care, highlighting the need for a solution that helps students effectively manage both their studies and their pets.
Discover 🔭
Secondary research
🐱Pets as Support and Distraction
63%
of pet owners say pets frequently distract them, especially young adults (Lill, 2020).
⏱Time Commitment
Over
50%
of students find pet care overwhelming alongside studies (Staff, 2021). Pet ownership also limits social flexibility.
💥Emotional Impact
2 in 3
students face academic and social disruptions after losing a pet (Thelwell, 2019).
Opportunity 🔑
As more university students adopt pets for companionship and emotional support, many struggle to balance pet care with academic responsibilities. Existing solutions often overlook the unique challenges faced by student pet owners, such as managing distractions, scheduling routines, and ensuring pet well-being. Luv Pets presents an opportunity to fill this gap by offering practical tools that support both academic focus and responsible pet ownership.
Managing distractions caused by pets during study time
Balancing daily routines between academic tasks and pet care
Limited access to affordable pet support services for students
Discover
Define
Develop
Deliver
Desktop Research
Surveys & Interviews
Affinity Diagram
Insights
User personas & jouneys
Problem Statement
Ideation
Iterative design
User testing
Refine
Define style guide
Prototyping
Mid-fidelity
As this was an individual project in my first year, I was still learning the fundamentals of design tools and processes. I created mid-fidelity prototypes using Figma, exploring how the app could support student pet owners. To help structure the app’s flow, I used basic information architecture mapping to organise key features like booking a pet sitter and viewing pet profiles. I also conducted simple user testing, gathering feedback from peers and using it to refine my designs, focusing on improving clarity and usability as I built my confidence with UX tools and methods.
Usability testing📊
To evaluate the usability of the Luv Pets prototype, I conducted user testing with university students who own pets, focusing on how well the app supported their needs in managing pet care. The testing aimed to assess clarity, usability, and user flow while gathering feedback for further refinement.
Participants were guided through key tasks using a think-aloud protocol, where they shared their thoughts while navigating features like booking a pet sitter and viewing pet profiles. Their feedback offered valuable insights into both interface issues and feature expectations.
UI Design Style Guide
Before creating the high-fidelity prototype, we established a comprehensive style guide inspired by Material Design principles. Our goal was to craft a clean and intuitive visual design that ensured ease of use, focusing on readability and comfort for users navigating the app.
Typography | Poppins
Aa
Aa
Aa
Primary/Main
004643
Secondary/Main
ABD1C6
Accent/Main
F9BC60
Body/Default
2D2D2D
Background/Default
EFF0F3
Final design🎉
Reflections & Takeaways🔐
Working on Luv Pets as a first-year project was a valuable learning experience that helped me develop foundational UX/UI skills. I gained hands-on experience with wireframing, prototyping, and user testing, learning how to refine designs based on feedback. One key takeaway was the importance of user-centred design, especially in balancing user needs with simple, intuitive interactions. Looking back, I see opportunities to improve my approach, such as conducting more structured usability testing and exploring additional design iterations. This project reinforces the value of iteration and feedback, shaping my growth as a designer and preparing me for more advanced UX challenges.
Defining the MVP
As part of the ideation process for Luv Pets, I used the Crazy 8s technique to rapidly generate a variety of ideas, sketching out anything that could be useful for the app. Some concepts focused on managing pet care routines, while others explored ways to reduce distractions for student pet owners. After reviewing and evaluating my ideas, I initially narrowed my focus down to two key MVP features:
Pet Sitter Booking System: This system allows users to easily book a sitter when they're unavailable, supporting students with busy academic schedules.
Pet Information Profiles: Displays key details such as breed, medical needs, and special care instructions within the owner's account, ensuring sitters have access to important information for proper pet care.