“When you’re out grocery shopping for your family, maybe you can put a can of cat or dog food in your cart and bring it to an animal relief center.” – Rachael Ray
Pets represent an extension of the human experience on planet earth; these life forms have distinguished certain aspects of human existence for thousands of years. Modern pets include various species of animals such as cats, dogs, birds, fishes, tortoises, certain varieties of plants, and more. Consequently, it would seem that pet care represents a significant part of the experience of nurturing and caring for these living beings. Digital technologies can assist in this venture, and hence it seems sensible to consider the use of a pet diet app to ensure proper nutrition for such animals. This version of technology resides in the ubiquitous smartphone, and can assist pet owners to design and regulate diets and eating habits of pet animals. However, these applications must be designed to ensure proper functionality – essentially a project that can be articulated and undertaken within the spaces of flowcharts.
- The Utility of Information
A pet diet app must include a basic framework premised on the use of information. The design of such application must require pet owners to input data on the physical dimensions of pets, a variety of foods and treats offered to the pet, the body weight of the creature, its daily calorific requirements, an assessment of healthy eating habits, and other factors. The different segments of flowchart can serve as repositories of information, as also the building blocks of app design. Meanwhile, designers may devise/create data mechanisms – and harness such information to impart multiple lines of functionality to the pet diet app. The flowchart serves as a blueprint for the app; it must also include recording features that stack periodic information and multiple lines of data on pet health for the benefit of pet owners and pet health specialists.
- In-App Prompts
Contextual prompts – and their underlying mechanisms – must feature prominently in the design of a pet diet app. Prompts represent audio-visual signals that encourage pet owners to undertake certain actions at pre-designated/appropriate times. For instance, owners may program the app to signal feeding times for pet creatures; this ensures pet health and regularity in the intake of nutrients. Similarly, certain automated prompts may encourage pet owners to initiate a visual assessment of pet health, or visit a veterinarian specialist. Other prompts may encourage pet owners to expand/contract the diets of pets in tune with factors such as the age of pet, seasons, quanta of activity on specific days, and other criteria. Therefore, prompts may find expression within flowcharts that outline the structure and blueprint of a pet diet app.
- Ideating on Feeding Habits of Pets
Dog owners may utilize pet diet app to fashion healthy feeding habits for their four-legged pets. In this venture, human designers may etch a connected blueprint that features descriptions of feeding habits; the benefit of this stance stems from the flexibility wherein owners may add to the content of healthy feeding habits. Owners may also customize habits in tune with the breed of dogs, their routines of the everyday, modes of behavior, and other factors. The structured spaces of flowchart could assist this venture, and encourage an intelligent diagram to take shape. In addition, the mechanisms of flowchart could impart specific thrusts to pet diet app, elevate the capabilities of customization – thus allowing owners to harness the power of digital in shaping/regulating the feeding habits and diets of the domesticated.
- The Force Multiplier
Connectivity with online forums can help creators of pet diet app to source information on pet origins, breed, weight, preferences, lifespan, health issues, and other factors. This form of communication must represent a constant process, one that can elevate the utility and the functionality of pet diet app. This form of connectivity must be fundamentally engineered into a mobile application, allowing app users to interface with a wide range of relevant, contextual information and updates. Options of digital connectivity could empower pet owners to share information with other stakeholders on the journey of their pet’s health. In addition, connectivity also enables interactive forms of information on “vet visits, allergies, laboratory bills and prescriptions” – thereby allowing owners to manage the various aspects of pet ownership through a single application.
- Effective In-App Navigation
“Navigation should be simple, yet discoverable” – this emerges as a prime directive when creators embark on building pet diet app. Further, creators may invest effort to streamline the flows of navigating information within flowcharts. For instance, structures related to the specifics of pet diet could be categorized inside centralized set of flows. This promotes usability of the virtual device, and enables smooth interactions between users and mobile applications. Creators may construct different variants of information flows inside separate editions of flow-based diagrams. This stance promotes interesting choices – these can be subjected to user-testing prior to arriving at final configuration of the pet diet app. In addition, creators may embed certain best practices in navigation to promote seamless usability at all times.
- Boosting the Value Proposition
An evolving range of functionality can boost the value proposition of a modern pet diet app. It is important to understand this position in the light of the fact that various apps contest for the attention of pet owners at any given time. Hence, designers of apps may design functionality that helps them interact with multiple veterinary professionals, enables a seamless tracking of pet vaccinations, communicate with service providers and volunteers, locate their pets in local areas, and other such methods. The agency of flowcharts can assist in developing the contours and stances of such functionality, and upgrade the scope/range of functions in response to user preferences. Flow-based diagrams also remain instrumental in ideating/developing new forms of app-based utility – such as seeking expert opinion from specialists of pet diets and pet hygiene.
- Leveraging Information Silos
Apps could be designed to interact with external silos of information stored in remote servers, for instance. These silos may include data pertaining to the vaccination records, identity, medication records, insurance details, weight history, or miscellaneous data of pets. The value of interacting with external silos resides in bringing texture and rich context to users of pet diet app. Digital interactions can be expanded to include conversations with fellow owners of pets, communities of animal health specialists, pet trainers, among others. Designers and creators, on their part, could collaborate with end-users to build and define new domains of the functional (and the purely aesthetic). The idea of such interaction can expand the concept of mobile apps, and build greater value into digital services and devices.
- To Conclude
A reading of these lines can inform and illuminate our ideas on designing pet diet app. It would help to develop new lines of thought on insights that emerge from these readings and subsequently, invest our energies in expanding the concepts and mechanisms underlying digital interactions. Every line of thought could find expression within flow-based illustrations, empowering designers to leverage the visual medium in creating effective mobile applications focused on diets of pets. Additionally, creators may devise interactions and intersections between sub-domains as part of developing the app. Creators of apps could utilize a range of technologies to boost apps and their native ecosystems. Technique, functionality, aesthetics, user experience, and visual design may represent the parameters that spur the creation and subsequent upgrades imparted to modern apps.
