Dog show participants were using competitors’ sites to search for dog shows even though American Kennel Club is the dog show authority because they found the AKC site too difficult to use.
Role
User Research | Information Architecture | User Flows | User Testing | Visual Design | Interaction Design
Audience
Owners, breeders, and professional handlers interested in events where their dogs are most likely to win
Participants looking for information about past show results
Clubs and superintendents holding events who want to be sure their event info is correct
I read anything I could find about dog shows and spoke with several subject matter experts. I compared the site my interviewees told me about and the site I discovered from reading online dog show forums to the AKC event search. I reviewed Google Analytics data and Hotjar heatmaps, and watched site recordings to see how people were using the existing site.
I still had questions about how participants thought about their searches so I created surveys to ask questions of current users.
I sketched concepts for layout and flow and collaborated with developers to understand the technical feasibility. I recruited testers from survey participants and validated my wireframes with interested survey participants.
Results
Search for multiple competition types at the same time
Breed-specific search for all events instead of just conformation (the classic dog show)
Mobile-friendly design
Capable of more targeted searches
User-friendly even to non-technical users