The Invisible Fence Brand is the foundation of Radio Systems Corporation. The founder initially worked in the back of a semi-truck, programming systems by hand, and the technology has always been relatively primitive. However, the company has made significant strides in focusing on pets' health and wellbeing.

The Challenge

The development of Boundary Plus 2.0, which allows pets to receive a correction when running out of a containment area but not when returning within the boundary, inspired the Invisible Fence Brand to apply past learnings to a new connected initiative. However, with an older, loyal customer base, our team knew that we had our work cut out for us. We collaborated with the IFB team to test numerous design concepts with all types of users and their pets.

As we were working on new hardware concepts, we needed to maintain constant communication with our engineering teams to provide the best experience for our users. As the project progressed, the hardware and functionalities began to change, necessitating modifications to our requirements.

Styles & System

With an idea of how the hardware would function and an existing web style guide, we created a new app for the project. IFB generally uses blue and orange-yellow hues for their marketing and printed materials, so we started there and gradually expanded. The type styles we created were based on dog breed names.

Design Changes

Similar to our PetSafe apps, we discovered that people wanted to see their pets on the app, providing them with the security of knowing they were protecting and caring for their pets. Consequently, we shifted our focus from a device-centric app to one that prioritized pets on the system. We separated the pets to show battery status and provided statistics on how their day, week, month, and year have gone.

Furthermore, we received a redesigned system hub, with LED states that shifted from a significant element to a feature in the middle of the device. We also revamped the device tabs in the app to reflect each device's status.

Final Thoughts

Overall, our efforts to create a user-friendly app that prioritized pets on the system proved successful. By adapting to changing hardware and requirements and communicating effectively with our teams, we were able to develop a reliable, innovative, and user-centric product.