Problem
Busy pet owners need help managing their pets' health due to their tight schedules. They want quick and easy access to veterinary advice and reminders for medical treatments. But current options aren’t convenient—they often require in-person visits, or if it's a chat, the doctors aren't always available. Some solutions even ask for a phone call with the vet, which isn’t always practical. On the other hand, quick chat consultations allow pet owners to get help on the go, making it a much more flexible option.
Goals
Owner
24/7 veterinary support via chat.
Digital pet passport for storing medical records and issuing treatment reminders.
Seamless user experience.
Vet
Patient-chat interface
Patients record storage
Team size
Product Manager
Product Designer
A team of two software developers
Research insights
Owner vs Veterinarian
While users mostly use a mobile app which provides great flexibility,
veterinarian prefers a traditional web interface as their day-to-day routine includes interactions with various med-specific web desktop software.
Owners need
They value trusted help combined with simplicity and flexibility. That is why the veterinarian assignment should undergo certain criteria – empathic, open-minded, benevolent
Veterinarian workflow
The web interface has to aim for a single-responsibility page architecture, as it is expected to scale its functionalities or/and become a service of the other med-specific software
Brand creation
In collaboration with the product designer to create a simple, approachable, and trustworthy brand that resonates with pet owners.
Brand principles:
Simple and user-friendly.
Reliable and compassionate (e.g., trend colour palettes, friendly typography).
[EXAMPLES SOON]
Tech stack
Chose technologies familiar to the development team to expedite delivery:
- Frontend: React (for both web and mobile responsiveness), 3party Chat Integrations
- Backend: Node.js with a cost-effective database solution (PostgreSQL).
- DevOps: GitHub Actions and AWS for scalability and efficiency.
Continuous feedback
The approach of tackling feature design and development would be a frequent feedback technique focused on educating the team about the product, and the parties' awareness of their abilities, constraints and insights. Collaborative work on each design iteration would help to prompt engineers on the product and designer expectations, while engineers should evaluate the executability of the suggested design, consequently correcting the design trajectory. Soon enough the established design framework is expected to accelerate the product development speed.
Continuous testing and integration
In collaboration with the developers to come up with the integration flow ensuring frequent feature tests and deployment
[WIREFRAMES SOON]
Expected Outcomes
User Satisfaction:
Streamlined veterinary consultations, reducing time to access help.
Pet owners can stay on top of their pets’ health with reminders, reducing missed treatments.
Adoption Metrics:
Anticipated high mobile engagement due to the convenience of 24/7 chat access.
Vets benefit from an intuitive desktop admin panel, improving response times.
Scalability: Leveraging familiar technology reduces technical debt and ensures a smoother launch phase.
Takeaways
User-Centric Design:
Focusing on distinct user needs led to tailored solutions for pet owners and vets.
Efficient Team Collaboration:
Early alignment on brand, technology, and features helped deliver a robust MVP quickly.
Scalability Mindset: Leveraging existing developer expertise ensured cost-effective and timely implementation.