Navigating Complexity:
A Multi-Faceted Solution

The Expansive Landscape: Managing a multi-franchise network across the United States, there was an extensive reach of our project.
Tailoring to Diverse Users: Addressing the challenge of catering to varied user groups within the dog training franchise ecosystem. This diversity added complexity to the design process and required precise customization.
App Ecosystem: Presenting the trio of apps we developed—the Franchisor, Franchisee, and Client Apps. Each app had a distinct role, serving different user categories while contributing to the overall ecosystem.

Crafting User-Centric Experiences

  1. Empathy Phase: Research, Interviews and Insights
    Engaging stakeholders and users through regular meetings, creating a deep understanding of their needs and pain points. Creating user personas from gathered insights to develop a clear picture of user behaviors, motivations, and goals.
  2. Define Phase: Mapping Pain Points and Needs
    Identifying challenges within the existing Mindbody-based infrastructure through thorough analysis, uncovering pain points and gaps. Conducting user journey mapping to visualize user interactions, pain points, and opportunities for optimization.
  3. Ideate Phase: Iterative Design and Prototyping
    Employing an iterative design approach, moving from high-level concepts to detailed prototypes. Developing wireframes and interactive prototypes to visualize user flow, interactions, and validate design concepts.
  4. Test Phase: Thorough Testing and Validation.
    Presenting prototypes to stakeholders and users for usability testing and validation. Gathering feedback, analyzing user interactions, and refining design elements for enhanced user experience.
  5. Iterate Phase: Continuous Improvement
    Embracing a cyclic process of design improvements, driven by insights from testing and user feedback. Applying refinements to prototypes and designs to address pain points and elevate the overall user experience.

1

EMPATHY PHASE

RESEARCH, INTERVIEWS & INSIGHTS

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT – USER INTERVIEWS – EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE EVALUATION – COMPETITOR ANALYSIS – USER JOURNEY MAPPING – CREATING PERSONAS

1. Market Research

  • We delved into understanding the diverse demographics of dog owners, franchise owners, and potential clients in the regions where our franchises operate.
  • We meticulously analyzed the demand for dog training services and digital tools in each franchise location, ensuring alignment with specific regional preferences and needs.
  • We thoroughly studied our competitors’ offerings within the dog training industry to identify areas where our app suite could stand out and introduce innovation.

2. Franchise Model Analysis

  • We embarked on a journey to research various franchise models within the dog training industry, aiming to uncover their unique requirements, benefits, and challenges.
  • We gained deep insights into the key pain points and challenges that franchisors and franchisees commonly face in their daily operations.
  • Our goal was to identify strategic opportunities for our app suite to seamlessly integrate into the franchise model, elevating communication, training delivery, and overall management.

3. User Persona Development

  • We diligently crafted detailed user personas for each pivotal stakeholder group: Franchisors, Franchisees, Staff and Clients. These personas encapsulated their distinct goals, pain points, behaviors, and preferences.
  • We created vivid persona-based scenarios that showcased precisely how our app suite would cater to the unique needs of each user group, ultimately enhancing their overall experience.

4. User Journey Mapping

  • Mapping out comprehensive end-to-end use case scenarios and user journeys for each persona, we highlighted essential touchpoints, identified pain points, and envisioned potential interactions with the app suite.
  • We pinpointed critical moments within these journeys where our app suite could seamlessly optimize processes, enhance communication, and provide invaluable support to every user group.

5. Feature Prioritization

  • We methodically determined the must-have features for each persona, prioritizing them based on the direct alignment of user needs and overarching business objectives.
  • By delving into extensive research, we unearthed emerging trends and cutting-edge technologies within both the dog training and app development realms, discovering innovative features that could distinctly set our app suite apart.

6.Technology Stack

  • Carefully evaluating our options, along with development team, we selected a technology stack that perfectly matched the scalability, security, and cross-platform compatibility requirements of our ambitious app suite.
  • Our chosen technology stack was designed to seamlessly facilitate the integration of all features, ensuring smooth data synchronization and making sure that any new requirements do not disturb the existing software infrastructure.

2

DEFINE PHASE

MAPPING PAIN POINTS & NEEDS

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE – USER JOURNEY MAPPING – GANTT CHART – USER STORIES

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Harmonizing Design and Development

  • Gantt Chart Collaboration: Collaboration through early sprint planning, ensuring sync between design and development.
  • User Stories Alignment: User stories to guide feature development, facilitating seamless collaboration.
  • Dependency and Planning: Highlighting the symbiotic relationship between design and development teams. We planned the features in such a way that development doesn’t get interrupted due to delay in design.

3

IDEATE PHASE

ITERATIVE DESIGN & PROTOTYPING

WIREFRAMES – LOW FIDELITY INTERFACES – PROTOTYPES – USER FLOWS

User Flows & Interaction Design

Defining Structure: Using flowcharts, wireframes and other methods to communicate design decisions before converting them into more polished interfaces.

User Flows & Interaction Design

Defining Structure: Using flowcharts, wireframes and other methods to communicate design decisions before converting them into more polished interfaces.

4

TEST PHASE

THOROUGH TESTING & VALIDATION

PRESENTING PROTOTYPES – USABILITY TESTING – ANALYZING USER INTERACTIONS

Bridging Functionality & Aesthetics

Visual Mockups: Upon approval of low fidelity interfaces, presenting key screens in mockups, revealing the synergy of form and function.

5

ITERATE PHASE

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

CYCLIC PROCESS – DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS – INSIGHTS FROM TESTING – ELEVATING USER EXPERIENCE

Bridging Functionality & Aesthetics

Design System Framework: To ensure consistency and brand alignment across all apps.
Design consistency across the apps, and user-friendly interfaces that align with WCAG Standards.

Handover to Developers

Continued support to development teams during implementation. This also meant facilitating them on any new feature requests by the client. For a smooth shipment.
Ensuring a smooth transition from design to implementation.

Venture Continues: Website Design

Upon handover, we were assigned another extension of the project: Designing the websites.

Our Process:

  • Competitor Analysis: Visualizing the competitive landscape, and identifying opportunities for differentiation.
  • Existing Design Audit: Diagram highlighting the identification of problems in the pre-existing website.
  • Wireframing Strategies: Depicting the creation of distinct wireframes for location-specific and corporate websites.

Strategic Storytelling: Website Content

Developed a content strategy map, aligning content with user needs and business goals.
Highlighting how strategic content enhances user engagement and conversion rates.

Crafting Digital Identity: Website UI Design

Design System Extension: Demonstrating the extension of the design system to website UI, ensuring a cohesive brand identity.
Mockups & Prototypes: Visuals of key website pages, emphasizing aesthetics, usability, and brand consistency.

Conclusion: A Comprehensive Solution

Above was the summary of the journey from app design to website design, showcasing the holistic impact.
Emphasizing the process and the transformative effect on the client’s multi-franchise dog training business.