OVERVIEW
About Sloddy
Sloddy's goal
Sloddy is a brand that promotes better eating habits and a healthy life for dogs with products focused on improving their eating habits.
Sloddy slows down the eating speed and enhances eating habits.
Fast eating habits can cause health issues like choking, vomiting, and bloating, which can be serious health issues. Sloddy's pattern and structure slow down the eating speed and support healthy eating habits of dogs.
Design Overview
Three different patterned inserts provide different levels and prevent dogs from getting used to the patterns.
Sloddy's elevated bowl stand provides 15 degree angle, the best angle for healthy eating habits. Not only 15 degree angle, but by adjusting both height and angle, owners can provide the best eating environment to the dogs.
BACKGROUND
Problem
Fast eating can cause serious health problems.
Sloddy is a brand that promotes better eating habits and a healthy life for dogs with products focused on improving their eating habits.
Current market products have several issues.
The slow-feeder dog bowl is a large market that has many existing products. However, based on the customer reviews, there are four main problems.
Dog hacks the pattern easily.
Bowls can be flipped over easily.
Inserts do not stay in place.
Bowls are not fully cleaned.
Image credits: Amazon product reviews
To solve the problem, the dog owner needs…
RESEARCH
Competitive Analysis
Insights
Inserts need to be interchangeable.
Current market products are inseparable and cannot change the pattern of the inserts. Therefore, the interchangeable inserts can be the biggest difference.
Make it durable and easy to clean.
Based on the e-commerce customer reviews, the most crucial point that they consider is durability and cleaning. Therefore, the design and material need to satisfy the customer's needs.
Opportunity
The new product aims to be a slow-feeder bowl, durable and customizable with different inserts that target the dog owners who consider their dogs' healthy eating habits.
Moodboard
IDEATION
Sketch + Ideation
Insights
Inserts need to be interchangeable.
Current market products are inseparable and cannot change the pattern of the inserts. Therefore, the interchangeable inserts can be the biggest difference.
Make it durable and easy to clean.
Based on the e-commerce customer reviews, the most crucial point that they consider is durability and cleaning. Therefore, the design and material need to satisfy the customer's needs.
Initial prototypes
After several rounds of 3D modeling and printings, two main concepts were made:
Remove any groove from the main body for easy cleaning.
Make sure to design the pattern with different levels.
USER TESTING
Let's meet our buddies!
With the initial prototype, I met the real users, Joy and Bambi. The owner tested the product on both dry and wet food. Through the user testing, there were some takeaways for future improvements.
Eating time increased more than 10 times. (Originally took less than 1 minute, but it took 10 minutes to finish eating.)
A non-slip rubber bottom on the bowl is necessary.
Some food is stuck between the pattern and the bowl.
FINAL PRODUCT
TAKEAWAYS
Consider and research the user-friendly material for the niche user group.
This project differed from my previous ones because the primary users are dogs. Thus, I had to consider both dog owners and dogs when selecting materials and designing. Since the dog owners consider whether the material is dog-friendly or not, I learned that the material selection should be a priority when I do the project that has a niche user group.
Keep testing the products and hear the feedback.
During the project, I've done several rounds of user testing with different versions of prototypes. Through user testing, I could revise the design, add the components for a better experience, and finalize the design features. Thus, I learned that user testing is the most crucial stage for the designers so that they can create the design that the user actually "needs."