
PetFam

Overview
Petfam is an application that suggests optimal games for pets and owners through AI-based facial expression analysis. It was devised to improve the quality of communication between pets and owners.
My ​Role
UX Research
Interaction Design
Motion Graphic
Hi-Fi Design
Team
Personal Project
Date
Aug - Dec 2022




Problem
With the development of technology, opportunities for an emotional connection between pets and their owners have decreased.
Solution
PetFam is an AI-based application that proposes the optimal game suitable for the current state of pets and owners.
Design Challenge
How might we enhance the emotional communication between pets and owners?
White Paper Research
Starting with white paper research, I began to draw from research articles on the AI technology of detecting emotions based on facial features.
“The AI detects emotions based on facial features
associated with the five most common animal emotions.”

Insight: From the research, I verified the possibility of detecting the emotions of pets based on facial features.
Competitive Analysis
I analysed the 4 most popular pet services surrounding and checked the marketability verification.

Automatic pet feeder
“Milly”
LG U+ pet care service
“U+ Smart Home Pet Care”
Dog phone
“PetChatz”
Insight: I found out that many of the services were all remote-based. I hypothesised that this further cuts off emotional communication between pets and their owners.
User Interviews
To verify the hypothesis, I conducted in-depth interviews with 8 pet owners.

Georgia/24/Student
Andres/31/Engineer
Michael/28/Vocal Trainer
Amy/27/Freelancer
Questions:
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What do you usually do for your pet when you leave outside?
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Tell me about a time when you felt sorry for not being able to play with your dog.
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Do you usually use smart pet services?
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What do you like and dislike about this service?
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Have you ever wondered what your pet is thinking?
Insight: I discovered that many pet owners felt ‘wanted to play’ but ‘annoyed’ at the same time. And learned that the hypothesis was verified.
Empathy Map
To understand more about this irony, I drew an empathy map and visualised the trends of users’ attitudes and behaviour.

Insight: The irony of conflicting emotions was because of the conflicting mental and physical state of the pet and owner.
Key Insights
01
Advancement of the pet tech market takes away the opportunity to communicate deeply between pets and their owners.
02
Pet owners wanted to play with their pets but at the same time, they were annoyed.
03
Key is to detect both pet and owners’ emotional, physical state with AI.
User Persona
I created a user persona and developed the specific user case.

Service Blueprint
I utilised the core service process in 5 steps and organised the front and back tasks in detail.

Information Architecture
After dividing the main functions into three stages, I specified each detailed information structure.

Wireframes
Based on the site map, I drew design concepts and realised the need for usability testing to iterate features.

Usability Testing

I conducted usability testing with 5 classmates and found a few insights to iterate the current features.
Insights:
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Users were overwhelmed by too much data revealed on the home page.
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It was hard to understand the graph and charts on the home page.
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Users wanted to know the changes in feature after playing the game.
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Can't find the suggested games at a glance.
Key Features
01.
Game Suggestions
& Featured change
With a friendly copy, check the suggested games and features changed in a timeline.




02.
Data Of Pet And Owner
With different colours, compare data such as mood, activity, and sleeping patterns of both pet and owner easily.
03.
Explore The Game
On Playground, you can explore and search for the games you and your pet might like.


04.
Play The Game
When you play the game, the AI will detect your movement and changes in both physical and emotional states.
Final Prototype of PetFam

Next Steps
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I would install a home cam to observe the pet and owner's daily patterns and conduct additional field research.
-
I would draw a storyboard and write a user journey scenario to convey my design concept clearly.