2014-2015

Marketing, Design Research, User Experience, Package Design, Visual Design, iOS, Android

Assumptions & Challenges

Pet industry hasn’t seen such a device. Petcube is driving it forward and pet owners haven’t considered such entertainment as the main one before. It was a challenge for Petcube App users to connect to the device and reimagine the concept of presence in their pets life. Most importantly, since it was the initial release, we had to consider all the actions with the brand as uncompromisable. The reputation meant a lot and this had to trigger a domino effect.

My role

Customer insights discovery

To find the ideas of how to implement things, I had to familiarize the Petcube story before Kickstarter. It was crucial for me to know what they planned to implement and promised to their backers. To make the right decision, I had to understand user expectations.

I worked closely with a design manager and technical team to get as much information as possible about device capabilities and restrictions. To deliver the best design solution, which was inseparable from the technical part, I had to consult with the technical team.

Research, Ideation, Validation 

Permanently extending the functionality and improving video streaming possibilities, I generated ideas and assumptions researching existing CCTV solutions and shooter games. In addition to the highly developed technical part, Petcube App included social networking. This means that I also had to understand the social part of the platform.

I performed a series of internal user testing and validated the results by choosing between different options, mostly appreciated by users.

User Interface & Interaction Design

After the research, I proceeded to develop the UX flow to contextualize the UI additions. Petcube Apps for both platforms had a complex structure. Complementing it with a context, entry and exit points for every flow was extremely important.

Marketing & Visual Design

I’ve also been involved in developing the Petcube website and various marketing activities, which intended to have a strong visual design.

Laser pointer interprets
as “Danger”

Many people thought that laser pointer can damage the eyes of their pets. We decided to push an explanation to every onboarding process to keep users informed that our laser cannot have any negative impact.

AR in combination with reality

Every laser had to be calibrated properly to clone any action on the screen to the movement of a laser pointer. I had to include the calibration mode with a simple onboarding flow to make all devices working correctly.

People care about their privacy

The most common answer to the privacy questions at Petcube was “We should care about this.” We added the Petcube timer to the iPhone app.

People want to play
with Petcubes

As the sales team sold the first batch of devices, we found that Petcube cannot be used by 2 people simultaneously. We added a queue function in the next update.

Social networking is a must

Due to the lack of technical details about the functionality of Petcube Camera, the best possible way to iteratively ideate was creating sketches.

I had to focus on developing the general map of the application because of its complex architecture with permanent additions and corrections from the technical team.

Among the problems I solved during the entire design process at Petcube, there was an iterative development of each flow of the app simultaneously.

The initial idea concentrated on playing with your pet with laser pointer via the virtual joystick. It required a two-handed game. However, it had to be easier.

We borrowed the ideas from shooter games with the same approach when you need only a single tap to play.

The complexity of the new approach was in keeping a cursor pointer work consistently with the laser pointer in real life. Moreover, it had to be calibrated and synchronized. In this case, we applied the calibration module.

To keep the Petcube Camera work consistently with the application interface, we ideated the game with a calibration module.

To develop seamless user experience and interactions, I had to divide each semantic block into a clickable flow. It was important to have an explanation for every design solution.

The intention was to experiment more on potential business ideas and provide better communication between application flows. For example, we added brand new Petcube for shelters.

I worked on user onboarding with plenty of walkthrough horizontal scroll views to ensure that users know what to do in the app.

After the initial release, the application required privacy features. We discovered this need during the field research.

Any changes were set on the mind map. I designed the UX flow and only then I created high-fidelity mockups.

I used flows as a to-do list. I took the UX flow and applied it for designing high-fidelity mockups.

Design stage was almost the last in my process. Every decision was proved by all the activities before.

As I worked closely with the software team and was involved in product development, I spent a lot of time consulting iOS developers in the pixel-perfect implementation.

I fluently worked on Android design due to the limited delivery time.

In this case, I rebuilt the flow according to Android guidelines and did not change the structure.

As Christmas holidays were coming, I helped to change the homepage and complemented it with updates.

I designed and developed marketing emails and SMM concepts for numerous campaigns.

I cooperated with the marketing team to develop a survey for our early adopters like Kickstarter. Their answers guide us to their needs.

It was helpful to produce the most valuable impact and develop the right features for the users.

76% opted in the updates from the Kickstarter campaign 

61% people opened Petcube app every day

79% concluded that the app is easy-to-use

jakedavies

The app is a total essential for any pet lover.

Slava Baranskiy

It’s so great that I could talk with my pet remotely and play while not home. Great for people living their pets.

Alex Pazhyn

March 17, 2015