After the third prototype, I got some feedbacks and done some researches including the survey. I try to show the user profile in the front and add some ideas to satisfy my main focus. My main focus of this project is safety and a meaningful relationship based on conversation, empathy and trust. The pet diary idea was added to build a connection between users so they can feel empathy. The users can also use the pet diary as an icebreaker. The check-in idea was also added to make the meeting more safe and interactive. The pendant device part was developed so user can represent their status about the meeting other users.

Therefore my project, ‘Love Me and Her,’ is a dating application that works with a small pendant that is designed to provide single pet owners with a safe and friendly dating experience that allows them to use their pet connect with people in their local area. This application has multiple advantages. Users can post a short message to check in to certain places, such as a dog park or a pet shop. This will encourage users to directly interact with each another. All the checkpoints will be public places, thereby safeguarding the safety of people who decide to meet on a face-to-face basis. Users can also use the application to check other users’ profiles, pet profiles, and pet diaries; however, the users’ name will only be revealed after a match is made. This entails that the users’ pet diary will fulfill the role of icebreaker. The objective of this approach is to allow users to know each other through their pets and, therefore, develop a familiarity and bond before meeting for a date.

For the user test, I provided the test users with a prototype application that I made using ‘Marvel.’ Every elements was clickable so the users can click any icons from the app and explore everything as they want. I also provided a fake dating requesting page because the users couldn’t really experience when other users requested a meeting from the check-in location. This allowed the user to experience how it works when they receive the requesting message from the check-in point. I also provided a sample pendant for users; however, this didn’t work with the prototype application so I had to explain the function of the pendent. After the user test, I interviewed the participants. The first user test was conducted with five pet owners and the same user test was conducted from the thesis popup show.

All test users felt really excited about meeting other pet owners. Cat owners, in particular, stated that it is difficult to connect with other cat owners; as such, they thought the application would be useful. Most users were also about the quality of information provided. They felt that the personal information that was provided gave them some background about the user that helped them feel more secure and confident in the other user’s credibility. They particularly liked the personality information part because they felt that personality is significant when forming a relationship. Many users also mentioned that they liked the slide bar interface because it was easy to control and understand. Many users agreed with the check-in idea because many pet owners meet at parks, pet cafes, and vet offices, so they thought it would offer a safe and friendly experience. Some users doubted that the user can build meaningful relationships because they felt the meeting locations were too informal. For the pet diary part, all test users really enjoyed reading the pet diary and felt positive feelings like empathy, care and love. Many users mentioned that they liked the design of the pendant but some users couldn’t understand how it worked in relation to application.

The results of the survey, user tests, and prototyping, indicate that many users would feel safe using this type of dating app and felt empathy and positive feelings toward other users; however, I realized that dog ownership and cat ownership are very different stories although the owners are animal lovers. Many people show positive interest in my concept, but the application platform I chose was not very effective for my concept idea and hard to create  a unique user experience.

Concept statement
My project Love me and her is a dating application works with the small device.
The goal of my project is to provide pet owners, who is a single, with a safe, friendly and fun dating experience in their local area, by using their pet as a medium for connecting people.
The advantage of this application are multiple: it will add fun by getting daily quizzes about other users’ pets, and collecting points and using these points for more advanced features like a game experience; it will allow users to become familiar with the pet of the date; and having a sense of closeness with the date, and by putting their pet profile ahead of their owns’ profile, the users do not have to disclose their profile right away and feel more secure as they interact with strangers.

my third prototype is an application prototype.
I focus on making easy registration interface. I did some design research. I inspired from Stichfix, Robinhood and Slack.

– My thoughts on the feedback you received, and my initial thoughts on how you might move forward
I agree on feedbacks that I should bring up owners’ profile on the surface because the purpose of this application is building human relationships. I need to carefully think about the point system and the game elements in this application because it might disturb the users to find a longterm relationship.

for the future steps,
I’m focusing on studying IOS platform programming right now.
from the user test, Many test users said that they need more information about pet owners.
so I think I need more research about the relationship between human to human and human to pet.
I’ll watch TED Talks that recommended by the critic (The mathematics of love | Hannah Fry,
How I hacked online dating | Amy Webb)
I still need to find an effective way to communicate throw the pet language.
+ need more Design research about application interface.

For this week, I made a storyboard.

Amy is 25, a single, owns one cat, lives in New York city. She broke up with her boyfriend few month ago. Her cat was not the reason why they broke up but her boyfriend didn’t like her cat so Amy felt some emotional distance between them and couldn’t think about the future together. This time, Amy wants to meet someone who likes pets or owns a pet. Her cat likes her friend’s dog. One day, Amy seat on dog park and look at cute dogs and their owners. she wants to talk to them but she is too shy. After back to home, she discover a dating application for pet owners. first she has to choice between looking for relationship or friendship. she picks relationship. after that she has to write down her preferences (looking for men or women/ cat owner, dog owner or animal lover(who doesn’t have a pet)  / looking for special breed? / age range /distance). next she has to put her cat’s profile ( pictures up to 10 but must be at least 3 pictures / female or male/ characteristic / interests / cat or dog / okay with other cat or dog / short diary / breed / color / size / name / age) lastly, she write her own profile too ( 3 owner’s pictures with their pet / name / age / occupation / interest / personality / short introducing message). When she finished with writing all the profiles, she has to proof that she really has a pet. so she take a picture of her cat’s paw and nose for proof. She gets 10 matches everyday based on her preference and cat’s profile.Amy finds a cute male dog and owner’s picture from her matches so she sends cat emojis to him. after short emoji conversation they agree to open owner’s detailed profile to each other. After the agreement they can send massages with texts. after the conversation, they set up the date and meet each other.

• sometimes people just download animal pictures from the internet and pretend they own a pet. since i try to give more benefit to pet owners. how user can proof that they are really pet owner. I found videos that unlock i-phone with cat’s paw and nose. based on my research they have some pattern on their paw and nose. that’s why i-phone recognize it as a figure print so if application camera recognize pet’s paw and nose, it would be really fun activity for owners.
• device idea and cat avatar idea still remains the same but I need to find right order to put these futures

1. CAT BREEDS AND DOG BREEDS

As of 2016, the International Progressive Cat Breeders Alliance (IPCBA) recognizes73 cat breeds while The International Cat Association (TICA) recognizes 58, the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) recognizes 44, and Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe) recognizes 43.

(https://www.quora.com/How-many-types-of-cat-breeds-are-there-around-the-world)

Now, there are about 340 breeds recognized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI), the world governing body of dog breeds, sometimes known as the World Canine Organization. But the standards for breed recognition vary from country to country – the American Kennel Club currently recognizes only 167 breeds.cited from (https://www.livescience.com/8420-incredible-explosion-dog-breeds.html)

I researched cat breeds and dog breeds for designing custom avatars. I found that cat breeds are 73 and FIFe only recognizes 43. When I looked at there shape of face and body, many cat breeds look similar I could separate these breeds in 3 categories (round face, pointy face, regular shape face) what makes them different is their colors, patterns and fur length so it’s not going to be hard to narrow down the characters. problem is dog breeds. dog breeds are 167 so I think I have to pick popular breeds and categories similar shape dog breeds to narrow down.I think i need more research on that

 According to researches, cat language and dog language are very different from each other and sometimes difficult to understand. They have so limited expressions such as relaxed, friendly, excited, afraid, curious and angry. If I have to use only dog and cat’s languages to communicate with other users, it’s going to be really limited conversation and hard to express my feelings. if user is not a pet owner, they will totally lost. instead of using only pet language,  I need more expression emojis, prize, maybe ice break quiz.

3.Dating applications

I researched and tried some current famous dating applications. Coffee meets bagel has some interesting futures that user can collect coffee beans as a points and they use it for more advanced futures so I think it really encourage users. other interesting thing I found in this application is user cannot see other user’s name until they like each other back but other than that user can see their age, location, hight, ethnicity, religion, occupation, education and interests. my first thought was I like their detailed profile but my second was feeling guilty about judging people with their education level and occupation so I felt this application is inhuman.

Tinder was not very interesting experience for me. I felt like i just watched a big album of strangers. profile was too limited and they introduce people based on my facebook friends connection. people usually use dating app because they don’t find any attractive person around them. if dating app introduce you people you already know, it is not worth the effort.

questions

• Do pets make human relationship more stable and smooth?
• As a pet owner, what do they expect from their boyfriend or girlfriend?
• What makes stable long term relationship?
• When people feel good impression from pet owners?

1. What was the biggest lesson you learned this past week?

-After the presentation, I learned that many of animal lovers don’t have a pet for various reasons and they want to play and meet with other persons’s pet. Some pet owners have multiple pets and they don’t want to meet another pet. these owners just want to someone to love and take care of their pets. Therefore, I want to open this application to animal lovers who don’t have pet yet but I want to give more control or benefit to pet owners. I found out that it’s good idea to make a custom avatar because it allows show their identity without their pet.( for animal lovers who don’t have a pet).

-About the device, this device need more interactions or activities. If users can only meet each other by using this device, It would be too limited so I need more time to think about the device.

-I think collecting other users avatar idea is not right for this project but I want to add some activities that encourage users to use application.

2. What are your next steps for:

– research

cat breeds and dog breeds for custom avatar design.

Owner’s information level on dating applications.

precedent dating applications.

cat’s language and dog’s language

– making (prototyping)

scenarios ( how it works)

In modern society, It’s a big challenge to make right companion in one’s life. Instead of making human friends, some people choice to adopt a pet. Many people that I know from New York, want to adopt a pet because they feel lonely. As a pet owner, I agree that having a pet is a great experience in one’s life but the real problem is when after they adopt a pet. They start thinking about adopting another pet because pet owners think their pet might be lonely while pet left alone at home. If there is a family looking after your pet while you are away, Owner might not worry about their pet but I want to more focus on singles. As the pet family grows larger, the owner need to spend more time with their pets so they have less human interaction. Even if the pet owner find someone to have a relationship there is still a chance that he or she might not like your pet.  I was inspired from a dog park. Dog owners talk to each other about their pet and their life. It’s really nature to share the same interest. Especially for pet owners because their pet is a big part of their life. In Disney animation One Hundred and one Dalmatians, Two Dalmatian dog owners meet and marry with each other because of their dogs. If we can find way to connect with others through their pet, it would not be just a movie or an animation.

Therefore I’m approaching this project from the lens of a pet owner. I’m interested in exploring dating application and wearable accessary for pet owners in order to identify pet owners, communicate and build a relationship in there local area through their pets.

First I want to limit this application to only dog lovers and cat lovers because they are most common pets in most of country. I read survey results that most of people who likes dogs also like cats too. This pet owners dating application works with a small accessary device which looks like a keychain or a button that shows shape of your pet so even if other people didn’t see you in the application, they will notice that you like dogs or cats. With this device, if other user is in near distance, device will exchange your pets information automatically and then later user can explore other user’s pet information and request to open owner’s profile too.

also can send direct message to other users after other user agree to open owner’s information. before user open owner’s information users can only exchange special cat or dog emojis to communicate each other .

User has to create a pet avatar as owner’s identity and preference that user is ‘interest in relationship or friendship’, ‘prefer cat lover, dog lover or both’. User can express their feeling with their avatar and write their pet diary to communicate with other users. 

Since there are so many dating applications out there what is so special about this pet owner’s dating application?

First of all, It is so obvious this application is specialized for pet lovers and animal lovers who is interested in relationship or friendship so users share at least one big interest together. Users don’t have to worry about your date like your pet or not. User can have more intimate relationship because a pet is not just a pet to them. it’s like introducing their family to each other. It’s going to be a meaningful experience to users and their pets.

Second, user doesn’t have to worry about privacy. In many present dating application, users need to open too much information for anonymous people. Sometimes application match you to your friends or coworkers who you already know and user experience awkward moments but in this application it only shows your pets information and limited information of pet owner. even if your coworkers or friends find you in the application, they just think you as an animal lover.

• What were three significant achievements for the past week?

– I decide main audience for my project. I did some personal researches about pet owners. In America, There are more dog owners than cat owners. Most of dog owners like cats and most of cat owners like dogs too. plus + some cats get alone with dogs. Therefore I don’t want limit my audience to just cat owners.

– I researched some dating website for pet owners and all of those websites didn’t really reflect their pets well enough and all of owner’s profiles are not attractive so I’m thinking how can I use their pet’s identity can be benefits to their owners. so I want research more about why many people feel attractive to cute animals.

-I narrow down the main purpose of this project. my first idea was more focused on pet itself but I change my mind to focus on pet owners. My reason is that many animal behavior studies are done by humans but I’m not sure it’s based on human thoughts or animals really feel that way. Many pet owners assume their pet’s feeling based on their human behavior and feelings so I assumed that pet owners feel loneliness more then pet and want to sympathize with others.

• Did you spend time on the right things? If not, how will you improve next week?

– I think I spend time on the right things so I could narrow down many ideas.

• What was the biggest lesson you learned this past week?

– the biggest lesson I learned this past week is that it is very important to focus on specific audience because if idea is too broad, it is very hard to pick research topics and purpose could be not clear enough so next week I try to narrow down more and be more detailed about my idea.

In my sticky note exercise,I try to write down everything in my mind. After I list up everything on the wall,I find that some ideas conflict with other ideas so I take off few ideas. For second step, I get rid of ideas that are too obvious so I cannot think of any design questions. This exercise really help me narrow down some ideas and think about more specific ideas.

By domain study

I would like to research about effective way to cat owners interact with each other in their local area to  communicate, build relationship and share information with other cat owners.

Cat owners and cats are often considered to be unsociable nature.

in fact, many of owners want to interact with other cat owners. Sometimes they try to make friends for their cat but not like a dogs most of cats stay in their home so it’s really hard to meet other cat owner from outside.

Therefore, I like to make a small accessory for cat owners. when the owners come close to each other with this device, This device will  notify that other owner is in near distance and exchange their cats information. later on owner can check other cats information, blog and also send a messages through the app.

On the app owners should use their cat’s identity as their identity and less human information as possible.