CASE STUDY
The Farmer’s Dog
Adding a Feature to an Existing Platform
Project Overview
Highlights
Tools
Figma, FigJam
ChatGPT
Context
Designlab Project
The Problem (in 50 words or less)
Many dog owners struggle to manage their pets' health and wellness effectively, particularly those with specific health conditions or high-maintenance breeds. User research revealed that there was a clear gap in holistic health management for dog owners, regardless of their dog’s breed and stage of life.
The Solution (in 50 words or less)
I integrated comprehensive health and care tracking for The Farmer’s Dog platform, enabling users to log and monitor their dogs’ vaccinations, medications, vet appointments, and more. Reinforcing the brand’s mission of uncomplicated dog care, these added features are my vision for the company’s next steps in growth.
Introduction
The Farmer’s Dog is a web platform known for its customizable fresh dog food subscription service. They pride themselves on their high quality and safety standards resulting in fresh dog food that’s nutritionally balanced and even safe enough for humans to eat. As shown in their mission statement, “We’re turning our unconditional love for dogs into uncomplicated care. And that starts with what you put in their bowl.”
But what happens outside of their bowl? Through user interviews and secondary research, I found that many pet owners aim to provide the best care for their dogs, but sometimes struggle with managing their pets’ complex health and wellness needs effectively. This challenge is only exacerbated for owners of dogs with specific health conditions or high-maintenance breeds.
With this case study, I aimed to introduce comprehensive health and care tracking to The Farmer’s Dog platform, giving their mission statement purpose beyond the bowl.
BACKGROUND
Context
As of 2022, 44.6% of American households own dogs (American Veterinary Medical Association), indicating a sure demand for holistic canine health management solutions. The integration of health tracking into The Farmer’s Dog’s online platform can provide users with a central hub to track and manage a dog’s vaccinations, medications, vet appointments, and more. This directly aligns with the driving force of The Farmer’s Dog: “Making it easy to keep dogs healthy.” By allowing users to log and track their dogs’ health-related data in their online portals, The Farmer’s Dog can:
Offer actionable health insights and tailored resources based on each dog’s unique data
Impact: Potentially reduce long-term healthcare costs, strengthen customer loyalty, generally simplify the management of a dog’s health and wellness routines, and increase value of, and traffic to, The Farmer’s Dog Digest articles
Provide an exportable and comprehensive care guide compilation that includes all aspects of a dog’s routine, diet, medication, and special instructions - ideal for sharing with dog sitters or veterinarians
Impact: Simplify the process of asking others to care for your dog when needed and offer peace of mind in knowing their care-taker has all the information they need
Outlining Broad Goals & Objectives
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Goal: Expand on The Farmer’s Dog mission statement to provide uncomplicated dog care
Objective: Integrate health & care tracking features within the existing platform, providing a convenient tool for the user while simultaneously increasing the business’s likelihood of user acquisition/retention
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Goal: Simplify overall dog care and health management
Objective: Provide notifications/reminders for medications, appointments, etc., and allow users to export a comprehensive care guide to easily share with dog sitters or veterinarians
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Goal: Equip users to improve the overall health and wellbeing of their household dogs
Objective: Provide personalized health insights and tips based on the pet’s data
Project Constraints
The primary constraint I had with this case study was to work within the bounds of The Farmer’s Dog brand and style guidelines. I aimed to integrate new features into the user portal by adhering to existing platform structure and brand style as closely as possible. By doing so, I could make sure to avoid jarring or overwhelming users who are already familiar with a particular look and feel surrounding the brand.
RESEARCH & DISCOVERY
Interviews
What better way to find good user research candidates than a fun little trip to the dog park? Opting for an unconventional work day out in the sun rather than at my computer, I set out to find dog owners who were willing to give me their insights for my project. I was mindful to try and speak with owners of both young, energetic dogs as well as wiser, senior dogs to make sure my insights weren’t skewed.
My main goal with these interviews was to gain real and in-depth insights into how dog owners currently manage their pets’ health and care routines. I aimed to understanding their habits, challenges, and expectations when it comes to the health and well-being of their furry friends. It is also important to note that I was not looking for participants who were users of, or familiar with, The Farmer’s Dog.
After gathering a diverse range of perspectives from the dog park, I synthesized my findings into several categories. Pondering my discovered patterns, I came away with the following key insights:
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Dog owners expressed difficulties in maintaining consistent health and care routines. This was especially true for owners with unpredictable schedules or those managing care for younger, more energetic dogs versus older, calmer ones.
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Dog owners showed an interest in features that could offer proactive health management tools and resources. This includes automated reminders for appointments, medication schedules, and personalized dietary plans (already covered by The Farmer’s Dog), all based on the dog’s specific health needs and life stage.
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There was a common trend among participants wanting simpler ways to track their pets’ health metrics, such as vaccinations, symptoms, and behaviors. This need spanned across different dog ages and lifestyles, indicating a universal appeal for tools that could assist with daily routines.
These insights indicated a clear necessity for a design solution that could accommodate the varied lifestyles of dog owners while providing them with intuitive tools to effectively manage their pets’ health, leading me to prioritize features that could automate tasks and provide peace of mind for dog owners.
Competitive Analysis
I also conducted a competitive analysis in order to gain insights and identify any possible market opportunities. In analyzing three indirect competitors, one thing I came to find was that, while some competitors may already have both pet health tracking features and educational pet health resources, there is a missed opportunity in effectively connecting users with personalized health recommendations based on their pet’s profile. This disconnect is a clear obstacle in helping pet owners to take actionable steps to improve their pets’ health.
SYNTHESIZING INFORMATION
Personas
I developed two personas to embody the spectrum of user needs and preferences within my target audience. These personas reflect the diverse requirements of dog owners that I found from my interviews, from managing the complex health needs of a senior dog to maximizing the wellbeing of an energetic young pup.
These personas demonstrate that, while different types of users might prioritize certain needs over others based on their immediate pain points, a well-designed platform can cater to a broad spectrum of requirements.
For example, Krissy might lean more heavily on health tracking functionalities to closely monitor Coco’s aging process, whereas Marshall might frequently consult articles and resources to keep Milo engaged and healthy. However, both users can find value in both of these things. By addressing the specific pain points and aspirations of each persona, The Farmer’s Dog can improve user satisfaction and engagement by ensuring that all dogs, regardless of their life stage or energy level, receive the best care possible.
Getting Specific on Project Goals
I brainstormed my project goals to make sure that the coming ideation process would be set on an intentional and purposeful trajectory. Here were some of the main ones:
User Goal: Maintain or improve a pet’s health, happiness, and quality of life through proactive care
Business Goal: Find more ways to achieve the company’s mission statement of providing uncomplicated dog care, thus strengthening brand loyalty
Shared User/Business Goal: Collect and analyze pet health data to help users make informed decisions about their pets’ care, enabling The Farmer’s Dog to tailor their business offerings and have a better understanding of customer needs
Defining Pet Care & Wellness
Getting closer now to fully understanding user needs/pain points and how they can begin to shape my designs, I made a mind map to thoroughly define pet care and wellness. I cross-examined this mind map with the existing platform’s IA, and highlighted things in blue to visually indicate which aspects are already implemented in the user portal.
IDEATION & DEVELOPMENT
Facilitating Aligned, Convergent Ideation
To narrow the scope and converge my research-based personas into a greater overarching vision, I used a metaphorical framework of two foundations, supporting two pillars, which together, support a single roof. With this metaphor, I could visually illustrate how different user needs and expectations converge towards a unified objective.
Starting from the bottom and working my way up, this metaphor helped me to systematically synthesize my insights from user research (personas, at the foundation level) into a more cohesive big picture (the overarching vision, at the roof level). The resulting vision is to bridge the gap between pet health management and lifestyle enrichment, empowering users to ensure that all aspects of their pet’s wellbeing are catered to with efficiency and effectiveness.
Information Architecture
Now with a strong direction and overarching vision thanks to my aligned ideation exercise, I laid out the framework of how I was going to incorporate health features to the existing website, with blue indicating the platform’s existing IA, and red indicating added content.
One issue with their current IA is that they have an entire other platform called The Farmer’s Dog Digest, a comprehensive library for all things dog (nutrition, health, training & behavior). The problem is that users have no obvious way to access it from the main website’s user portal. This disconnect is further complicated as content visibility from the Digest hinges on subscription to their newsletter, potentially excluding customers who are non-subscribers from these resources. This was a primary problem I aimed to tackle with my “Targeted Resources” goal & objective.
I knew there could be a way to give the Digest context to existing users by offering the already-existing information to them in a minimally intrusive way, without the need for opting in to a newsletter.
I ended up incorporating the Digest content in two places: as an ever-updating module (depending on user-input data) that is accessible in the Health Tracking section, and as a pop-up to the user after they add an issue for their dog in the existing My Dog > Profile section.
Establishing User Flows
With a well-defined IA, I set out to outline how exactly users would interact with the added health features.
Referring back to my personas, I imagined someone like Krissy might prioritize setting up reminders for her elderly dog, Coco - she might need to add reminders for recurring medications or checkups, so it was crucial for me to identify the reminder-setup user flow.
Alternatively, someone like Marshall may not need to set up reminders for a young healthy dog like Milo. Instead, he might find himself logging an out-of-the-blue symptom that arises, with the hopes of being able to refer back to it if the symptom continues. Concerned with any out-of-the-ordinary issues with young Milo, he might appreciate being offered suggestive resources related to Milo’s symptoms.
The user flow for someone like Marshall who would appreciate discovering relevant resources based on their dog’s specific obstacles and life stage is demonstrated in the GIF below.
DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION
Replicating the Brand Style
In aiming to adhere to the existing brand style and ensure design consistency across the platform, I was inclined to utilize the brand’s primary orange color within the UI, despite its non-compliance with AA accessibility standards. Recognizing the importance of accessibility in design, I wish to highlight an inherent challenge: balancing brand identity with inclusive design practices.
If this were a real-world project with The Farmer’s Dog, I would take a proactive role in advocating for accessibility improvements. My approach would include:
Collaborating with brand designers to adjust color schemes that meet WCAG standards
Engaging with marketing to ensure promotional materials reflect these changes
Working with engineering teams to implement these updates on both digital platforms and physical products
With this project, I learned that while adhering to style guidelines is crucial, accessibility doesn’t have to be compromised. In this case, I believe that implementing small color updates could result in enhanced accessibility without any significant loss in brand identity. In practice, I’d be eager and ready to guide a team towards more accessible and inclusive practices. However, by refraining from changing the brand’s color palette for this hypothetical case study, I hope to have demonstrated my ability to work within established guidelines while also identifying critical areas for improvement.
Wireframes to High-Fidelity Designs
Utilizing an iPad as my wireframing tool of choice and with the platform’s existing screens open in front of me, I hand sketched some key screens. I referred back to my user flows to identify what screens were most crucial to design, and I then created an extremely rough prototype with these wireframes.
I had a friend test the wireframed prototype to verify that the general flow between screens was coherent and logical before transforming them into high-fidelity designs. By doing doing some rough user testing with my wireframes before moving on to my high-fidelity designs, I could design with low stakes and avoid any re-work.
Cycle through the “before & after’s” below to see how I brought rough ideas to fruition in my first high-fidelity iteration:
Health Dashboard - Wireframe
Health Dashboard - High Fidelity
Reminders - Wireframe
Reminders - High Fidelity
Add a Reminder - Wireframe
Add a Reminder - High Fidelity
Health Log - Wireframe
Health Log - High Fidelity
Add a Health Log Item - Wireframe
Add a Health Log Item - High Fidelity
Manage Care Guide - Wireframe
Manage Care Guide - High Fidelity
TEST & ITERATE
Usability Tests
With my first-iteration prototype, I conducted in-person usability tests with participants who were currently dog owners and gave each of them a brief explanation of the platform before asking them to interact with the platform and complete a series of tasks without assistance. Participants were encouraged to verbalize their thoughts throughout the process, providing grounds for me to better understand their experience.
The feedback was generally positive, with users particularly appreciating the ease of use and the practical value of the features. Tasks involving adding a health reminder, logging symptoms, and downloading their dog’s care guide achieved a 100% success rate. However, some participants experienced difficulties with editing health reminders, which offered insight into areas in need of improvement.
Gathering Insights & Iterating
Next, I focused on translating the gathered feedback into actionable insights and design enhancements. Cycle through the gallery below to see my design solutions to specific pieces of user testing feedback:
FINAL DESIGN
Welcome to Holistic Pet Care
With the UI screens iterated and finalized, I built a second-iteration high fidelity prototype to showcase the platform with its newly added pet health features.
Interactive Prototype
Feel free to test out the prototype here!or if you prefer…IN CONCLUSION…
While catering to users is at the forefront of UI/UX design, I understand that a successful business model operating at its best is what allows a company to continue serving its users. With that, here are some key benefits to the business from the added health tracking features that I’ve developed in this case study that I would highlight if I were proposing them to the business in the real world:
Improve user interaction and engagement with the platform by offering value-added features beyond just food subscriptions
Expand service offerings by integrating health and care tracking, potentially introducing new revenue streams such as wellness products or partnerships with vets or pet insurers
Strengthen brand loyalty by providing comprehensive pet care solutions that differentiate The Farmer’s Dog from competitors
These are the business-minded outcomes of my case study that I believe can be the next step in growth and expansion of the already successful brand.
To Be Continued…
There were a few other pieces of qualitative feedback that I received from my high-fidelity user testing, but in the interest of prioritization and working within my time constraints for this case study, I opted to take note of them for future iterations if I ever find myself returning to this project. These are the things that I hope to work on in the future:
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One user expected to see the care guide feature in the “My Dog” section. I personally disagreed with this, although I would be interested to conduct more user testing to see what others think. A way I can test this in the future is to conduct card sorting, to see how users expect the website’s information architecture to be organized.
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One test participant suggested that it would be convenient to simply input their pet sitter’s email to send them a copy of their dog’s care guide, instead of having to download the care guide and send it to them themselves. I think this is a great idea, but I struggled to come up with a simplistic way to implement this in a short amount of time for my iterated prototype. I opted to move on without adding this feature in the interest of time, but I think I could come up with a nice and seamless way to implement this if I had more time available to me.
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One user was curious how their care guide document would appear if they were to click "download" before ever adding any content in the Care Guide editing page to begin with. This comment begs the question: what does the flow look like in a use case where the user is trying to use the care guide feature for the first time?
In the future, I would want to explore the “empty states” of all of my added health tracking features to understand how the new features would look to brand new users - would users simply be shown the empty states? Would they be given a brief interactive walkthrough to help them explore the new features? These are things that I think would be critical to clarify before officially implementing the added health tracking features on The Farmer’s Dog website.
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Lastly, I would like to add more variations of notification banners. This was not a piece of feedback I received, but it was something that I noticed could improve the user experience if I had more time on the project. I currently have only designed a notification banner to appear notifying the user when they’ve successfully added or edited a health reminder or health log. Ideally, the user would also see a banner confirming when an item has been deleted, or they might see a warning banner/pop-up if they back out of an action before saving changes.
My Takeaways
This case study was a very rewarding challenge that combined my interest in design with my deep love for dogs. This project not only honed my skills in integrating new functionalities into an established brand, but also reinforced my attention to detail and the importance of visual clarity in user interfaces.
I found myself referring back to my user research often. The process of synthesizing my personas further into intentional business tactics, then feature solutions, then key focus areas, and finally an overarching vision, helped tremendously in giving me momentum and direction when kicking off my wireframes and designs.
One significant challenge I faced as a relatively junior designer was in visual communication, particularly in finding ways to present pet health information in a more visually engaging manner. Through user testing and feedback, I came to understand that while my first design iterations were sufficient, improving the way information is presented can greatly impact the user’s experience for the better. With that, I adapted and iterated, implementing a more graphic ‘card’ format in a few places, that effectively organized information and maintained a clear hierarchy to emphasize key details.
Although not every piece of user feedback could be implemented due to time constraints and the need for more in-depth research, such as adding a direct email feature for sharing pet care guides, these trade-offs were essential learning moments in prioritizing selective functionality within the current realistic boundaries of the project.
Overall, this was a great learning experience for me that really gave me confidence in designing intuitive and visually appealing user experiences for existing brands and platforms.