Pet Tracker
Designing a best-selling pet tracker that created a community
/ Pawscout: Intro
Pawscout
Sprout partnered with pet lovers Daniel Putterman and Andrea Chavez to create and design Pawscout, a community based digital pet tracker. The Pawscout attaches to any pet’s collar and uses community-based pet finding (similar to the GPS navigation system Waze) via Bluetooth to enable a worldwide tracking network. It automatically notifies owners when a lost dog or cat comes within 200 feet of anyone who has the Pawscout app.
/ Pawscout: The Challenge
Technology to keep our best friends safe
How can technology and social media solve the problem of our beloved furry friends getting lost? Is there a way to make this solution affordable, yet smart and reliable? Sprout aimed to answer these questions with a comprehensive and cohesive visual brand language that stretched itself across all design disciplines, from product design and packaging to web and brand design.
/ Pawscout: The Approach
Defining the Identity
The Sprout team wanted to tackle the product holistically, starting with the brand identity. With a strong sense of brand values — trustworthiness and safety — we looked to the recognizable firehouse emblem to design an iconic brand logo that feels both familiar and fresh.
From a strongly identifiable brand, we integrated those values and aesthetics into the product form and design itself. Using soft-touch silicone rubber in the center and a durable ABS outer, the materials were sturdy.
Extending the brand throughout
When it came to packaging design, to highlight the iconic form as an important part of the brand, the package’s window and easy-open design make it accessible for the mass market. It also features the same topographical map pattern, transcending the product itself and merging across all aspects of design.
We also incorporated an opportunity for customization to create another product differentiator. This posed a unique challenge to design a cohesive experience for the website, where customers can personalize their Pawscout tag with various patterns and pet’s information, from the product to the packaging itself.
/ Pawscout: The Outcome
Different pets, one community
Last but not least, to foster a community of pet protectors, both the product and app feature a mesh network (akin to Waze) where owners are notified if a lost dog or cat comes within 200 feet of anyone with the Pawscout app.
/ Pawscout: The Outcome
Looking out for your furry friend
After the initial beta test launch of over 10,000 units with the SF SPCA, Pawscout was acquired by Worldwise Pet – the largest pet product company in the world. Pawscout is now available at over 20,000 mass retailers including Amazon, Target, Walmart and all national pet stores. Pawscout has proven its commercial viability by not only creating a worthwhile product to purchase but a conversation-worthy one that inspires customer loyalty.
Pawscout has been lauded by Wired, Popular Science, Reader’s Digest, Fortune, and more, mentioned as “a gift that will keep on giving.” Pawscout receives frequent customer testimonials praising the community-based solution to finding lost pets.
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Jordan and his team obsessed over every detail of Pawscout from the design, packaging, and production of the actual device to the website and application. They accepted no compromises, and forced our manufacturer into multiple redos until every aspect of the product was perfect.
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