use Google Map's new "pet-friendly" feature to take your furry friends with you
Google Maps (concept)
Research
UI/UX design
Prototyping
Testing
Iterations
4 weeks
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Google Maps is one of the most popular navigation apps worldwide, helping users find and navigate to places they want to visit.
With the rise in families with pets over the past few years, more users now seek pet-friendly places like restaurants, coffee shops, grocery stores, parks, and more.
This led to the question: how can users find pet-friendly businesses more conveniently on Google Maps?
Google Maps, a global favorite, seamlessly integrates businesses and locations registered on Google, allowing users to simply type names or generic terms like "French restaurants" or "grocery store" to find nearby spots based on ratings, price ranges, hours, and other service offerings. But what about pet-friendly places? Can users easily find locations that accommodate their furry friends? This question is worth exploring as it affects countless Google Maps users seeking pet-friendly options.
It's difficult to know which places accommodate pets on Google Maps without making a call or thoroughly checking the business’s website or reviews. While Google Maps offers filters like wheelchair accessibility, kid-friendliness, and service options, it lacks information on pet-friendliness. How can we enhance the experience for users searching for pet-friendly businesses?
We can add a "pet-friendly" filter within the app, enabling users to easily find businesses that allow pets. The new filter option should be consistent with the existing design and architecture of the app.
The process was not linear but cyclical, with each stage looping back to previous stages. This approach helped to empathize with users and make necessary revisions in the plans and design.
Understand the current pain points, motivations, and goals of Google Maps users, especially those with pets. I want to discover efficient ways to enhance the search experience for these specific users.
- Understand how the users with pets interact with Google Maps while searching.
- Understand how users currently interact with the search filters on Google Maps.
- Find out user pain points.
- Learn user goals and motivations.
- Learn what users do when they cannot get information needed from Google Maps.
- Learn what users do when they cannot bring their pets with them.
- User survey
- User interviews
- Secondary research
- Competitive nalysis
I began my research by identifying and reviewing Google Maps' close competitors. While Google Maps has the competitive advantage of offering various filters and detailed business information, it lacks pet-friendly information and does not offer a pet-friendly filter.
I wanted to gain a better understanding of current statistics on pet ownership and shifts in perspectives that may contribute to the increasing user needs. Based on my research, I have found some insights.
Recent studies indicate a growing number of pet ownership, particularly dogs, in US households. Many individuals, especially younger demographics, view their pets as integral family members. As a result, there's been an increase in pet owners wanting to bring their pets to various places such as grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, vacations, and workplaces. Implementing a "dog-friendly" search feature and listing it among the amenities/services for each business on Google Maps would enhance user satisfaction accordingly.
To acquire deeper insights into user needs, I conducted interviews with three participants aged mid 20s to 30s who own dogs. Here's an overview of their feedback:
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Based on the research, I developed two user personas, each reflecting the motivations, pain points, and desires of the target users.
I meticulously integrated new pet-friendly features into the existing Google Maps sitemap, ensuring that these additions remained consistent with the current information architecture. My primary focus was to enhance functionality while preserving a seamless user experience.
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There are two potential user flows for the new pet-friendly feature. Users can either apply the pet-friendly filter to sort results from the outset, or they can search for specific businesses and then check the business details within the page to see if they are pet-friendly.
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I kicked off the process by sketching low-fidelity user flows on my iPad - my sketches are never pretty, but it is always a good start! :)
After completing the initial sketches, I would typically move on to creating mid-fidelity wireframes. However, given the established Google Maps design system, I decided to jump straight into crafting high-fidelity mockups.
This allowed me to seamlessly integrate pet-friendly features while maintaining consistency with the existing design.
As previously mentioned, I aimed to ensure that the new features align with the Google Maps UI system. To achieve this, I utilized icons and fonts from Material Symbols, ensuring that the added pet-friendly features blend seamlessly with the existing elements.
Now that I've built the prototype, it's time to conduct usability testing—a crucial step in the design process to empathize with users. The main focus of this testing was to determine if users can easily search for pet-friendly businesses, specifically focusing on finding pet-friendly restaurants. The test was conducted virtually with 4 participants, each session lasting about 15 minutes.
During each session, users were given tasks centered around searching for pet-friendly restaurants. After completing the tasks, users provided feedback by answering a set of questions. I conducted the first round of testing with two participants, analyzed the results, and made initial revisions. Then, I tested with two additional participants to measure the success of the iterations and identify further possible revisions.
1. Search “pet-friendly” restaurants using the filter options
2. Find a restaurant and look for information that indicates the restaurant’s pet-friendliness.
1. Quick and efficient task completion
2. Error forgiveness and successful user retries.
3. Appropriate amount of time spent on each task.
4. Positive impact on user confidence and decision-making regarding bringing their dogs.
5. Overall accessibility and high user satisfaction.
I organized the feedback using the grids below:
1. I sorted feedback into four categories: what worked, questions, ideas, and changes.
2. I used a severity-frequency grid to prioritize the feedback based on the seriousness and frequency of the issues identified during user testing.
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Overall, participants indicated that this new feature would greatly assist with their search, boosting their confidence and decision-making when bringing their dogs.
However, both participants encountered difficulties navigating the app to utilize the pet-friendly filter. They needed cues to effectively use the filter button or tap on the icon to display the filter overlay.
Another notable issue was that the pet-friendly details within the business page were hard to find.
Given these feedback, I decided to work on a few iterations prior to the second round of user testing.
1. Enhance the prominence of pet-friendly filter buttons.
2. Relocate pet-friendly information and details for improved visibility.
*See details below
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After conducting further testing on the initial iterations, I received the following feedback emphasizing the need to:
- Maintain consistent design choices throughout.
- Double-check all interactions, including animations, transitions, buttons and their variants, and scrolling.
- Address minor design details such as sizing, padding, and other refinements."
See iterations in the prototype below.
This project enhanced my ability to empathize with users of an existing app and identify problems that could be addressed with new features. I also developed my skills in creating assets that seamlessly fit within the existing branding style and design system. Maintaining consistency with the app's current system was a top priority for me, ensuring that users wouldn't need to relearn how to navigate the app, thereby making the experience as smooth as possible.
Areas to consider for the future:
1. Ability to save favorite features
2. AI-generated recommendations for dog owners based on the favorites, saves, and their profile.
