Case Study / UX Design
jump to final design ↓
The PetPal System
A smart pet care system helping owners stay informed and provide remote care to reduce worries about their pets' well-being.
Designed for
SI 612 (Pervasive Interaction Design) at University of Michigan
my Role
UX Researcher
Product Designer
Team
Naz Dorandish
Diana 'Reza' Melikyan
Timeline
3 months
Fall 2024
process
Background & discovery
As graduate students who have/had experiences having pets, our team identified a common concern — pet owners worry about providing proper care when their schedules get busier. We conducted a Contextual Inquiry to validate our hypothesis and discover opportunities for how IoT systems can help care for pets more effectively.
Contextual Inquiry
We conducted the study in pet owners’ home environments, observing their interactions with their pets and following up with 15-minute interviews to understand their experiences and concerns. Our participants included a young professional with pets and a graduate student living with a cat.
Insights
There were various tracking needs for pet care, including health, behavior, and emotion. Owners often felt unsure how their pets are doing when they are away. It was difficult to detect health or behavioral concerns because pets tend to hide and downplay issues.
🤔
How might we help busy pet owners ensure they provide enough care for their pets?
user Research
Overarching Research Question
“How do pet owners currently interact with and monitor their pets' health and behavior in their daily lives, and what challenges or improvements are needed to enhance this process?”
Research Methods
Diary Study to gather detailed qualitative insights into pet owners' day-to-day experiences.
Survey to gather a larger amount of quantitative data with a diverse set of pet owners.
Diary Study Results
9 participants filled out diaries twice a day (middle / end of the day) for five days through Google Forms.
22 times
participants checked on their pets' health symptoms directly.
4 times
pets behavior/emotion has noticeably changed when owners were away longer.
📌
"Usually I get pretty anxious about my cat's health because of his kidney issues. In the past… I'd have to text my mom to see how he was doing."
📌
"Yes, I'm concerned about keeping up with my cats' asthma and making sure he gets his inhaler every day, especially when it gets busy at work and I have to stay at the workshop for longer."
📌
"Since I was out for most of the day she was anxious and was hiding till I got home."
Survey Results
Using Google Forms — received responses from 29 current pet owners who are main caregivers.
82%
of owners face challenges when tracking their pets' health or behavior.
61%
of owners can't constantly monitor pets behavior in their daily life.
58%
of owners feel anxiety when they can't monitor their pets directly.
58%
of owners check their pets' health-related data only when issues arise.
86%
of owners rely on mental notes to keep track on their pets status.
What aspects of your pets' health or behavior do you try to monitor daily?
Synthesized Research Findings
01
Anxiety When Away
Owners feel anxious when they can’t provide consistent care. As their schedules get busier or they stay away from home longer than expected, checking on their pets becomes a challenge, increasing their worry.
02
Preventive Care is Difficult
Owners often struggle to recognize subtle signs of illness or distress until issues become more noticeable, which makes preventive care challenging and leaves owners feel helpless.
03
Monitoring details is Overwhelming
Owners find it difficult to monitor pets' condition in detail by themselves since it is difficult, time-consuming, and hard to maintain as a daily habit.
💡
ideation & evaluation
Goal
After collecting research data and insights, we narrowed down our proposed solution to build a Smart Pet Tracker integrating IoT devices, targeting busy owners who needs help with taking care of their pets when they are busy and away from home. We built concrete Persona, Empathy Map, and a Journey Map to clearly set the project scope, and then rapidly evaluated the proposed solution through User Enactments, to guide the final concept.
Scope
Audience: Busy pet owners managing pets' daily health and behavior, particularly those with aging or sick ones.
Tasks: Owners need better ways to monitor pets' health, administer medication, and track behavior remotely.
Rapid Evaluation
We conducted User Enactment study to rapidly evaluate our proposed solutions' feasibility, effectiveness, usability, and user experience. We created 27 scenarios using a Speed Dating Matrix, varied by users' environment and proactiveness of the proposed solution: Pet Tracker, which eventually evolved into PetPal. We tested 6 most relevant and plausible scenarios with participants in controlled settings using low-fidelity prototype and props.
Speed Dating Matrix
PT refers to PetTracker, PetPals' early name
Low fidelity Prototype
Props
Findings
😍
User Control and Customization: Participants valued having control over PetTracker's interventions, such as setting custom alerts, sounds, and IoT device activation preferences.
Passive Monitoring and Health Tracking: Health updates with clear urgency levels and the ability to monitor pets’ conditions without frequent interruptions were appreciated.
🫤
Boundary Setting: Virtual boundary features were considered situational and less necessary.
☝️
Final Concept
Smart Collar
Tracks pets' health and behavior conditions, log data, and notify users when unusual patterns are detected.
IoT connected devices
IoT food/water dispenser, smart toys, voice commander, and pet camera to provide care to the pets automatically and remotely.
Integrated App
A mobile app that allows remote control of connected IoT devices and logs data collected from the smart collar.
✦ final design
A comprehensive pet care system
Smart Collar
(Made by 3D Printing and Photon 2 coding)
Mobile App
(Set-up screen)
IoT Devices prototype
(Food Dispenser with Pet Camera)
Key Interactions
📊
Stay informed with real-time updates and alerts
The smart collar continuously monitors your pet’s health, detecting unusual patterns like heart rate fluctuations and changes in energy levels. Get instant alerts and access a detailed health log with system-generated insights, ensuring your pet stays active and well.
😻
Remotely care for your pets anytime
Receive alerts for unusual behavior and respond instantly with voice commands or interactive distractions. The system tracks food intake, notifying you if your pet eats less than usual. Dispense food and water remotely and log meals to support their well-being.
🤖
Monitor behavior and customize automated care
Track behavioral patterns, such as excessive sleep or activity changes, and use insights to personalize automated care. Schedule IoT toy activation or snack dispensing conditionally or at set times to keep your pet engaged and healthy throughout the day.
takeaways & Reflection
Throughout this project, I had the opportunity to practice a variety of research methodologies—some familiar, like contextual inquiry and surveys, and others entirely new, such as diary studies, user enactments, and the Wizard of Oz technique. I enjoyed seeing how our initial rough concept became more concrete and refined through research findings, which guided us toward developing PetPal.
Transitioning into the design phase, creating the demo was both challenging and exciting. We designed the app, made props, and built a smart collar prototype using 3D printing and programming the Photon 2 to display key health data. This process taught me the importance of considering technical limitations and feasibility when ideating solutions. It also reinforced how showcasing ideas with prototypes can effectively communicate ambitious ideas and convince others of their potential.
Thanks to my teammates for the incredible teamwork along the journey.
We presented the demo and won 2 awards — for the most convincing demo 🏆 and for the most feasible opportunity 🏆
Don't be a stranger!
@2025 Justin Jain Lee
you may enjoy the full view on desktop or laptop