Meow Time

Three questions to the project team

What was the particular challenge of the project from a UX point of view?
The key UX challenge was that one of the main users, the cat, cannot directly report comfort, stress or preference. Unlike human-centered testing, the experience had to be inferred through behavior, routine and owner interpretation. To avoid designing from assumption, I had in-depth conversations with cat owners about daily care, separation anxiety, wearable tolerance and moments of emotional connection. These discussions helped me balance two needs: giving owners meaningful insight, while keeping the product gentle, unobtrusive and respectful of the cat's natural behavior.

What was your personal highlight in the development process? Was there an aha!-moment, was there a low point?
The aha moment came when I realized the cat should not just be tracked by the app, it could become the one who creates the content. That changed the project from a smart collar into a cat-generated social feed. The low point was an early version that felt too technical and cold. Redesigning it around emotional moments made the experience much more human and easier to understand.

Where do you see yourself and the project in the next five years?
In the next five years, I hope to keep developing human-centered and emotionally sensitive interaction design. For Meow Time, the next step would be testing real prototypes with cat owners, veterinarians and animal behavior experts, especially around comfort, privacy and sensing accuracy. I see it growing into a gentler companion-technology system that helps families understand pets as active members of daily life.