Ndigi Gichingiri Presents
Connect the Pet
A north star project illustrating how an ecosystem of pet products could provide pet parents with richer insights on health & wellness.
Background
In June of 2021, with PetSafe Brand's digital transformation journey well under way, my team saw an opportunity to demonstrate the value of an ecosystem and drive data as a product as much as hardware.
My Role
As the project lead, I led design exploration, held jam sessions with Taylor & Jocelyn, and presented our vision to the head of our department.
The Problem
Many pets hide their pain and illness until their lives are at risk, leading to missed opportunities for early diagnosis and treatment.
The Solution
Utilizing products such as feeders, fountains, litter boxes, and wearables to provide pet parents with insights on their pets activity levels, food and water intake, and bathroom habits so that they can address potential health concerns sooner.
The Process
How Our Vision Came to Be
With some help from Jocelyn and Taylor, I spent the better part of a month iterating on a variety of solutions.
I created wireframes to keep myself focused on structure.
While the ideas I explored at this point ultimately weren't utilized entirely, this brief exercise helped me push past my initial bout of Blank Canvas Syndrome.
Once I had some ideas for potential layouts I started to work on high fidelity visuals.
At first my output wasn't quite up to snuff but over time my execution started to improve thanks to feedback and jam sessions and from Taylor and Jocelyn.
Recognizing that trends would likely be needed to contextualize pet health over a broader timespan, I created the Week in Review
This idea was also the brainchild of thinking through ways to make data more meaningful in a manner similar to Spotify Wrapped.
Final Designs
The Future of Pet Care
Everything you need to monitor your pet's health in one place.
Unleashing Insights
and wellness alerts make it easier to catch health problems before they intensify.
Dynamic Intake Goals
Using the weight of each pet, daily recommendations are set for their food and water intake, providing pet parents with targets to measure against.
Pause for Pawsitivity
A friendly nudge to celebrate your pet's birthday.
Week in Review
Reports generated every week to contextualize their pets health on a larger scale.
Impact
Our work shaped a new initiative, to enhance pet care by Connecting the Pet.
Although we haven't shipped any products capitalizing on this vision, presenting it to our Chief Digital Officer ultimately resulted in buy-in from our board of directors and cemented it as a pillar in our growth strategy.