Dungeness Ranch
Pet Resort
Website Redesign Concept
Disclaimer: This project is an independent, self-initiated concept redesign created for learning and portfolio development. It is not associated with, sponsored by, or commissioned by Dungeness Ranch Pet Resort. All analysis and user feedback collected for this project were based solely on public available information and conducted for practice purposes only.
ROLE
UI/UX Designer
Project Lead
TIMELINE
Oct 25 to Dec 25
TEAM
Jane Carley
(Solo)
01. Overview
The Dungeness Ranch Pet Resort is a full-service boarding facility in Sequim, Washington, offering comfortable and secure accommodations for dogs, cats, and birds. The ranch provides a range of environments-from standard boarding to private suites-designed to keep pets calm, safe, and engaged. Their focus on attentive care, structured play, and a home-like atmosphere has made them a trusted choice for local pet owners.
Pictured Above: a quick glance of the home & luxury boarding page for Dungeness Ranch Pet Resorts website redesign.
02. Problem
Before the redesign, the Dungeness Ranch Pet Resort website presented several usability and communication challenges that limited its ability to support customers and reflect the quality of the business. The site's outdated layout, dense content, and lack of clear hierarchy made it difficult for users to quickly find essential information such as services, rates, and requirements. The absence of customer reviews, modern videos, and an intuitive booking flow also reduced user confidence and created friction during decision making. These issues contributed to confusion, increased cognitive load, and ultimately discouraged potential customers from completing bookings.
A quick glance of the Dungeness Ranch Pet Resort homepage before it was redesigned.
03. Research
The Dungeness Ranch Pet Resort is a full-service boarding facility located in Sequim, Washington, offering comfortable and secure accommodations for dogs, cats, and birds. The ranch provides a range of environments-from standard boarding to private suites-designed to keep pets calm, safe, and engaged. Their focus on attentive care, structured play, and a home-like atmosphere has made them a trusted choice for local pet owners.
Pain Points
"No Customer Testimonials"
The site does not provide customer reviews or testimonials, which limits users' ability to assess credibility, trustworthiness, and overall quality of care.
"Do they Board Birds?"
Birds are only mentioned once on their entire website.
"Overwhelming Text Density"
The website contains a large amount of repetitive text, making it difficult for users to quickly scan, prioritize information, or understand key offerings.
"Outdated and Broken Media Content"
Many featured videos are 10 to 15 years old, and several links no longer work, reducing user confidence and failing to accurately represent the user experience.
"Insufficient Reservation System"
The online reservation form allows users to select dates when drop-off or pick-up isn't available, causing confusion and requiring additional back-and-forth communication via email.
Personas
I created two personas to represent our primary user groups: a professional worker seeking dog care and a retiree that has animals as well. These personas helped guide content hierarchy and clarify which features mattered the most.
User Journeys
Journey mapping helped identify moments of confusion and friction, allowing me to restructure the homepage, reduce text, and simplify navigation.
Competitors
To understand industry standards and user expectations, I conducted a competitor analysis of local and national pet boarding websites. This helped me identify common patterns—such as clear service breakdowns, transparent pricing, prominent booking buttons, and strong use of photography—that build trust with pet owners. I used these insights to refine the layout, simplify navigation, and polish the overall visual hierarchy for the Dungeness Pet Ranch redesign. Rather than copying competitors, I focused on adapting best practices to improve clarity, reduce friction, and make the experience feel more modern and trustworthy.
04. The Design Process
My design process began with rapid paper wireframes to explore multiple layout options for the homepage structure, reservation flow, and service details. Sketching allowed me to quickly ideate and compare different ways to present key information such as pricing, service types, and booking steps.
After identifying the strongest concepts, I created digital wireframes in Figma to refine layout, spacing, and functionality. These were then developed into a low-fidelity interactive prototype that captured the essential user flow—from selecting services to submitting a reservation request.
To validate the design, I conducted two rounds of moderated usability testing with pet owners.
These refinements improved clarity, reduced user confusion, and ensured that the reservation flow aligned with customer expectations and real business constraints. This iterative process allowed the design to evolve from early sketches to a more intuitive, trustworthy, and user-friendly booking experience.
Paper Wireframes
After iterating on several homepage variations, I refined the design to focus on simplicity, ensuring users can quickly understand key information without cognitive overload.
Digital Wireframes
For the low-fidelity prototype, I focused on the Home, Combined Luxury Boarding/Dog Daycare, and Reservation Request pages, as these screens represent the core steps users take when exploring services and initiating a reservation at Dungeness Ranch Pet Resort.
Homepage
Luxury Boarding Page
Reservation Page
Low-Fidelity Prototype
For the low-fidelity prototype, I demonstrate two entry points to booking a reservation at the Dungeness Ranch Pet Resort
Usability Study
Two moderated usability studies were conducted to evaluate the low-fidelity prototype and identify usability issues early in the design process.
Round 1 Findings
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Users were unsure whether their Reservation Request had been successfully submitted, indicating a lack of confirmation feedback.
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Users expected a drop-down calendar when selecting reservation dates.
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The “Desired Service” drop-down was not functioning as expected, causing confusion.
Round 2 Findings
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Users attempted to select pick-up and drop-off dates when the resort is closed, highlighting the need to gray out unavailable dates in the calendar.
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Users wanted pricing to be repeated on the Reservation Request page as a reminder of boarding and daycare fees before submission.
05. Refining the Design
In addition to insights from the usability study, I revisited several competitor websites to identify opportunities to further improve clarity and user confidence. Based on this review, I introduced a rotating hero image on the homepage that cycles through images of dogs, cats, a bird, and an image of the Dungeness Ranch Pet Ranch. This visual approach quickly communicates the range of animals the resort accommodates while reducing the need for explanatory text and minimizing visual clutter.
Because choosing a boarding facility requires a high level of trust, I also added customer reviews to the homepage. Featuring real feedback from past clients will help reassure users that their pets will be well cared for and supports more confident decision-making earlier in the user journey.
To further improve navigation and reduce friction, I restructured the main navigation bar. Instead of organizing content by animal type, I grouped options by service—Boarding, Dog Daycare, and Pricing—reflecting how most users approach the decision process. Since the majority of guests are dogs, this structure naturally supports primary use cases while still allowing users with other pets to navigate directly to boarding information. Additionally, pricing was prominently placed throughout the website giving users consistent ways to find and confirm fees throughout the experience.
Mockups
These mockups reflect refinements made to improve clarity, build user trust, and streamline the reservation experience based on usability feedback and competitive analysis.
Homepage
Reservation Request Page
Luxury Boarding Page
Reservation Request Confirmation page
High-fidelity Prototype
The high-fidelity prototype focuses on creating a clear, reassuring, and low-friction reservation experience for pet owners. Trust is established early through a rotating hero image that communicates the range of animals cared for at the Dungeness Ranch Pet Resort and by placing customer reviews on the homepage. The reservation flow was refined to provide clear visual feedback for required fields, reinforce pricing at key decision points, and restricted calendar selections to available pick-up and drop-off dates, reducing user error and follow-up communication. Multiple booking entry points—directly from the homepage or through the Luxury Boarding page—support different user behaviors while maintaining a consistent and intuitive reservation experience.
Accessibility Considerations
Accessibility considerations included clear visual hierarchy, sufficient color contrast, non-color indicators for required fields, and large, easily selectable interactive elements. Form feedback and constrained calendar selections were designed to reduce user error and cognitive load.
06. Going Forward/Next Steps
If this project were to continue, the next phase would focus on validating the design with real users and expanding accessibility support. Conducting unmoderated usability testing with pet owners would help confirm that the refined reservation flow, pricing visibility, and calendar constraints effectively reduce confusion and follow-up communication. All stock images would be replaced with real ones and a new video of the resort would replace outdated footage.
Additional next steps would include completing a formal accessibility audit aligned with Web Content Accessibility Guide (WCAG) 2.1 AA guidelines, testing keyboard navigation and screen reader compatibility, and refining mobile responsiveness to ensure the booking experience remains clear across devices. Future iterations could also explore automated confirmation emails and reservation status tracking to further reduce uncertainty after submission.
