Korean Government-Funded Startup
Shipped in Web Beta
Designed for Mobile App
Timeline
May 2020 - July 2021
My Role
Co-founder
Lead Product Designer
Team
1 Product Designer (Me)
1 Pharmacist
1 Physician
2 Front-end Developers
1 Server Developer
Skills
Product Strategy
User Research
UI/UX Design
Beta Launch
Overview
I co-founded QALYPET with a pharmacist and a medical doctor to help pet owners choose supplements with confidence.
As the lead designer, I designed the health profile survey, personalized report, supplement recommendation flow, product detail experience, and supplement management system from concept to launch.
Background
In 2020, more than 25% of Korean households had pets, and the pet supplement market was growing fast.
Owners wanted to choose supplements based on their pet’s age, breed, symptoms, and health concerns. Most product pages, however, listed ingredients and marketing claims without explaining why they mattered for a specific pet or how to use the product consistently.
61.4%
of pet-owning households were already giving supplements to their pets.
53.7%
of pet-owning households purchased pet supplements online.
Supplement use was already common, but choosing the right product still required owners to interpret ingredients, product claims, and dosage information on their own.
*Source: Opensurvey Pet Trend Report, Pet Health Supplement Survey 2020
User Research
I interviewed 9 pet owners* who had experience purchasing or administering pet supplements.
What I heard repeatedly was that pet owners were doing too much work across the supplement journey.
They had to understand what their pet needed, browse through generic product options, and manage the routine after purchase.
*Pet owners who are primary decision-makers in purchasing pet-related products and have experience buying and administering pet supplements online.
01 · Before Purchase
Darong
8 years · Coton de Tulear
"I search online before buying because I don’t know what kind of supplement my dog actually needs.”
02 · During Decision-Making
Jenny
11 years · Maltese
"Even after I know my dog needs joint support, I still have to compare so many similar supplements."
03 · After Purchase
Toy
5 years · Pomeranian
“Even after buying supplements, it is hard to remember when and how much to give.”
Key Friction Points
At every stage, owners were doing the work the product should have done for them.
01 · Before Purchase
Information hunting
Owners lacked clear guidance on what their pet needed and why certain nutrients or products were relevant.
02 · During Decision-Making
Generic product browsing
Even after identifying a relevant supplement category, owners still had to compare similar products by ingredients, dosage, and product claims.
03 · After Purchase
Broken routines
Owners had difficulty remembering dosage, schedules, and supplement routines after purchase.
UX Challenge
From Research Insights to Design Direction
These research findings shaped three design directions across the supplement journey: explaining what each pet needs, curating relevant products based on each pet’s profile, and supporting routine management after purchase.
Before Purchase
Information hunting
→
Solution 01
Personalized Health Report
Explain the pet’s health concerns, relevant nutrients, and product recommendations.
During Decision-Making
Generic product browsing
→
Solution 02
Personalized Supplement Discovery
Curate supplement products based on the pet’s health report, profile, and recommended nutrients.
After Purchase
Broken routines
→
Solution 03
Management and Reminders
Help owners manage dosage, schedules, and supplement routines after purchase.
Design Solution
Start with the pet, not the product
Pet owners begin by entering basic information about their pet, including age, breed, weight, symptoms, and health concerns.
This allows the experience to start from the pet’s condition instead of asking users to browse products first.
Turn pet information into clear health insights
Based on the checkup, QALYPET generates a personalized health report that summarizes the pet’s key health concerns and explains which nutrients may be relevant.
Instead of recommending products immediately, the report first helps owners understand what their pet may need and why.
I placed the health report before product recommendations to build trust. In a healthcare-adjacent product, users need to understand the reasoning before they feel comfortable acting on a recommendation.
Turn health insights into a curated discovery experience
Instead of browsing generic supplement listings, users see products organized around their pet’s profile, health concerns, and recommended nutrients.
Product details also explain key ingredients and intake ranges, helping users compare supplements with more confidence.
To reduce the burden of comparing similar products, I grouped recommendations around the pet’s specific needs and made ingredient information easier to judge through visual intake ranges.
Keep care routines on track after purchase
The Home page helps owners manage supplement schedules, dosage, and reminders, so daily care stays consistent.
I extended the experience beyond product discovery because interviews showed that owners also struggled with dosage, schedules, and remembering supplement routines after purchase.
Outcome
We launched a one-month web beta to validate demand, and 2,000+ pet owners signed up without paid advertising. Beta interviews confirmed that owners found it easier to choose supplements when they could see the reasoning behind each recommendation.
Building on this early validation, QALYPET signed an MOU with a nationwide pharmacy chain of 50 locations to promote the service through its stores, and was selected for the Pre-Startup Package, a competitive government startup grant by Korea's Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The team's assessment-to-recommendation flow was also filed as a business method patent.
50+
pharmacy locations promoting the service via MOU
1
government funding (Pre-Startup Package)
4
startup competition awards
Takeaway
Working with a physician and a pharmacist changed how I design. Their diagnostic logic was precise but full of clinical terms, and my job was deciding how much of that precision users actually needed to see. Cutting too much would hurt credibility, keeping too much would hurt comprehension. Every screen in the health report came out of negotiating that line.
I left the team when I returned to school after completing the beta validation and the app design. If I had stayed, I would have tested how well owners understand the health report at different levels of ingredient detail, and whether reminders actually help them keep up with supplements over time.
