take holidays with their pets1
would rather a staycation with their pets than a holiday abroad without them2
worldwide are dogs3
Pet owners, particularly those with medium to large-sized dogs, face significant challenges while planning domestic and international trips due to the excessive time spent on researching journey and accommodation logistics. Transporting and finding accommodation for small dogs is relatively easy, but larger dogs often encounter stricter rules, leading to increased expenses and stress for their owners. Additionally, Brexit's unclear and costly pet policies and regulations have created an additional obstacle for dog owners who wish to travel between the UK and the EU.
Existing navigation apps like Google Maps and Citymapper assist in journey planning, but they lack comprehensive information about traveling with pets. Accommodation apps such Airbnb and Booking offer a pet filter, but travellers often have to reach out to the listing owner to confirm the size and breed of their dog companion. Currently, there are no apps available in the market that facilitate the planning process or provide specific guidance on travelling with dogs.
1 Condor Ferries Pet Travel Statistics 2020-2021 - https://www.condorferries.co.uk/pet-travel-statistics
2 Away Resorts data available upon request - https://www.awayresorts.co.uk/ways-to-stay/dog-friendly-holidays/
3 PBS Pet Travel - https://www.pbspettravel.co.uk/blog/the-surprising-statistics-of-pet-travel/
Travel Buddy cuts down the amount of time dog owners who want to travel with their dogs spend researching and planning by connecting them with dog-friendly journeys and places to stay. Route overviews, advisories, and dog-specific filters help dog owners make informed travel decisions.
Competitive analysis
Project goals
Interviews
Personas
POV statements
HMW statements
User flows
Task flows
Sketches
Wireframes
Visual design
Prototype
Usability tests
Iterations
Next steps
On a recent holiday in the countryside, I got caught in the rain with my dog and spent too long looking for indoor, dog-friendly activities to do.
The more I spoke with other dog owners afterwards about that experience, the more I realised many others have been in similar situations, leaving them feeling unsure and frustrated.
Thus, Travel Buddy began as an exploration of this issue with the hope that design would alleviate some of that stress. Excited to get started, I put my biases aside and dove into research.
Can you spot my unhappy dog hiding from the rain?
From the start, I knew that the project was feasible considering similar travel-related products on the market, but that there were some constraints that needed to be taken into account.
The app’s core features are not wholly unique. Throughout the project I continually asked myself: How do I distinguish Travel Buddy from its competitors?
While this was a concept project, I had to consider which APIs the app would need to draw from in the real world. This greatly impacted the transportation feature.
I was in charge of managing 80 hours of my time, asking for specific feedback during group critiques, and reaching out to developers to discuss technical constraints.
Given that dog owners are most likely to use their phones while traveling with their pets, I opted to design the project for mobile iOS, taking advantage of this behaviour.
I wanted to understand how current market competitors connected dog owners with pet friendly activities and places to stay. I discovered that most of the apps rely heavily on community input, but don't provide enough incentive for users to leave reviews or update activity listings.
User interviews were the core of my research and the turning point for this project. My initial assumption that dog owners were concerned about finding activities to do with their dogs while travelling was challenged, and the project took on a new direction. I quickly learned that participants spent more time and experienced the most frustration in the planning stages of the trip. Below are 4 key insights that shaped the app's key features.
Only until after dog owners booked their transportation and accommodation would they begin to look for activities to do with their dogs. They voiced frustration over prices and availability changing based on the size and breed of their dog.
They also wanted more detailed pet filters, like proximity to green spaces, on accommodation sites.
Participants noted that they spent extra time visiting official websites to seek clarification during the planning process.
UK-based participants also mentioned feeling confused by changing Brexit pet policies, particularly around what documentation was needed to travel to Europe with their dog.
Along with government websites, dog owners said they also used numerous resources like Reddit, WhatsApp groups, pet apps, and social media to plan dog-friendly trips. They noted that there is currently no app that they know of that helps them plan all of their transport, accommodation and activities.
Rain, transportation changes, and emergencies are some of the disruptions that fluster and stress dog owners while travelling. When this happens, they want to be connected with dog-friendly travel options quickly and efficiently to ensure their dog is safe and comfortable.
Alex, the primary persona, emerged from the culmination of my research. I would often come back to Alex to check if the design decisions I made aligned with user needs.
Initially I thought pet owners who travel with their dogs to new places struggle to find dog-friendly activities, but after speaking to them I learned they experience more frustration prior to the trip when planning for transportation and accommodation logistics; therefore efficiency and visibility should be considerations for potential solutions.
How might we help pet owners who travel with their dogs plan transportation and accommodation logistics efficiently?
From my research it was apparent that dog owners wanted an easier way to plan transportation and accommodation. Therefore, I prioritised the route and accommodation planners knowing that they would immediately help users.
Below is a feature exploration and roadmap, including specific features addressed in this project under Priority 1. The remaining Priority 2 and 3 features are needed for the minimum viable product (MVP), but will be prioritised in future iterations due to time constraints.
User flows were made to visually show how users would move through the app to complete their goals. It was important to consider which steps were necessary when designing the flows to ease some of the stress dog owners felt when making potentially expensive decisions about travelling with their dog.
By sketching out both key flows, I quickly faced issues around displaying important information and booking tickets route tickets. Below are the challenges and the sketch iterations they inspired.
Route overview, timing, and pricing were all essential information that the user needed to see in order to make an educated decision. Sketching helped explore the ways the route card could be better understood at a glance.
Keeping in mind that users wouldn't want to be continually asked for the number and size of the dogs they're travelling with, I added a pop-up window that asked the user if they would like to save their dog's information for future searches.
At the time of this project, I was not aware of any third parties or APIs that the app could utilise to help users purchase tickets for their entire journey in one tap (given that tickets would have to be purchased from different companies). This constraint meant that multiple booking links had to be displayed on the booking page rather than a single CTA.
As this was a concept product and there weren't any pre-existing brand assets to work with, I began by brainstorming core brand values. It was important that the brand and app felt trustworthy, dependable, helpful, and organised to help eliminate some the stress dog owners felt when planning their travels and to ensure they return to use the app.
Ultimately I chose to name the app Travel Buddy as it evokes the image of travelling with your best (furry) friend and having a trusted personal guide in your back pocket. Travel Buddy is also a play of words on the common dog name, Buddy.
I then returned to sketching to explore logo options, keeping in mind that the logo needed to visually tell the story of travelling with a dog. After receiving feedback from other designers in a group critique, I chose the paw print inside the postage stamp, as it combined the ideas of dogs and travel.
Being mindful that users will be processing important travel logistics, I designed a clean and minimal interface with trustworthy pops of blue and advisory elements in red. For a modern, legible feel, Helvetica was used for heading and body texts.
Google Maps API was selected as the provider of map and location services. All of the users I spoke with mentioned using Google Maps when they travelled with their dog, which meant they already had mental models for moving through Google Maps, and the familiarity would assist them in searching for routes on Travel Buddy.
Once the branding was added to the wireframes, Travel Buddy was ready to be tested to ensure usability.
5 dog owners who had either traveled with their dog or wanted to travel with their dog tested out the prototype via Zoom. It was important to moderate the tests to witness participant's facial expressions and to ask follow-up questions.
The purpose of this test was to ensure participants could:
I also wanted to see how long it took participants to complete each flow to see if the app did in fact cut down on planning time.
To measure success I established the following metrics in my research plan and used them against the test results:
Overall, participants liked Travel Buddy and its current features. All 5 participants said that they would use the app to help them plan a trip with their dog. In particular, they enjoyed:
Using the impact vs. effort matrix below, I was able to decide on priority iterations that would further improve Travel Buddy's usability.
Participants voiced a desire for more clarity when interacting with the search feature and input fields.
To ensure the functioning of the MVP, the following iterations were made:
Participants reported feeling overwhelmed when viewing the route cards. They felt a lot of stress to begin with when planning a trip with their pets, and the amount of icons on the route cards intensified this feeling.
To decrease user stress and aid user retention, I improved the design of the route card by:
A participant with visual difficulties found it challenging to know where to tap on the route and accommodation cards. They also had trouble reading the smaller text.
To improve visibility, the following changes were made to both the route and accommodation cards:
Explore Travel Buddy for yourself (and your furry friend!)
Expand the prototype to full screen using the arrows in the top righthand corner.
Working on Travel Buddy helped me better understand some of the technical constraints, particularly those around the use of APIs, that designers and developers face when building a new product. As Travel Buddy was a MVP, I improved my ability to prioritise features and solutions that not only helped users but also helped get the product up and running.
© 2023 Rachel Brenner
