Role
Co-founder
Product designer
Timeline
3 months (ongoing)
Tools
Figma
FigJam
Adobe Illustrator
Team
Arin Jain (PM)
Andrew Choi (Dev)
Jesse Tzo (Dev)
BACKGROUND
From personal frustration to purpose
As a dog mom to Snowball (the craziest husky ever), I've experienced how frustrating it can be to switch vet clinics—endless phone calls, missing records, and delays with scheduling records from the previous clinic. Since Snowball's files weren’t digitalized, the staff had to dig through stacks of paper to piece things together. My teammate Arin, our product manager and fellow dog parent to Cosmo, had faced the same inefficiencies.
These shared frustrations led our team to co-found Vetrail, a platform aimed at streamlining communication and client management for veterinary clinics. The idea was developed as part of USC's LavaLab, a startup incubator that brings together student entrepreneurs to build innovative products. Over several months, I led the design process while collaborating with a cross-functional team of one product manager and two developers.
PROBLEM
Clinic chaos: disconnected systems left staff overwhelmed
Research & User interviews
To design a product that truly addressed the needs of veterinary clinics and pet owners, our team conducted extensive user research. Our goal was to deeply understand how information flowed between clinics and pet owners — and where it broke down. Here were some of the main questions we had asked:
This included interviews with over 20 veterinary professionals — vets, vet techs, and receptionists — to identify the most pressing challenges they faced in day-to-day operations. Here are the main pain points that we discovered:
Inefficient communication
Veterinary clinics were overwhelmed with phone calls and in-person requests from clients.
Manual data entry
A significant amount of time for vet clinics was spent manually entering new client information.
Minimal digitalization
Clients relied on physical copies or phone calls to access their pets' medical records.
Complex test results
Test and lab results are hard to interpret, requiring extra time for vets to explain to clients.
The vet clinics we interviewed with receive 150+ calls daily, with 3 receptionists working simultaneously. Clinic staff were overwhelmed by constant updates, lab result follow-ups, and scheduling issues. Speaking with them validated what we had experienced ourselves: the process was broken, and something needed to change. Our team saw a clear opportunity for digital solutions to simplify communication, reduce overload, and improve client experience.
SOLUTION
Reducing manual tasks by 70% to enhance clinic efficiency
Vetrail is a platform that streamlines veterinary clinic operations and transforms client communication, making it easier for clinics to manage care and for pet owners to stay informed.
AI-summarized test results
Vets can upload test result documents, in which users (pet owners) can quickly access. Once the user clicks in, AI will analyze and summarize the results.
Easy uploads
Veterinary clinics can quickly upload and securely store documents like doctor's notes and lab results, streamlining document management and improving workflow efficiency.
Scheduling
The scheduling feature lets clinics manage appointments, customize availability, and send automated reminders, reducing no-shows and simplifying bookings.
Messaging
Direct messaging lets pet owners easily communicate with their clinic for questions, updates, and reminders, ensuring quick, secure exchanges without phone calls.
DESIGN PROCESS
Figuring out the best way to optimize efficiency for both clinics and their clients
User flow & journey
To ensure that Vetrail served both veterinary staff and pet owners seamlessly, we initially mapped out two distinct but interconnected user flows — one for clinic staff and one for clients. This helped us align our design decisions around key actions for each user.
From concept to structure
With the user flow clearly defined, I translated our key tasks and pain points into mid-fidelity wireframes to begin shaping the platform's layout and functionality. At this stage, the focus was on structure over style: prioritizing usability, content hierarchy, and interaction clarity. These wireframes laid the foundation for user testing and allowed our team to align quickly around layout decisions before diving into high-fidelity design.
Testings, iterations, & finding the optimal solution
As we tackled our biggest challenge of finding the most efficient way to onboard new clients with 40+ pages of pet history documentation, we gathered feedback after each iteration from both clinic staff and pet owners to better understand how users navigated the interface. Here’s a look at three major iterations:
Iteration 1: Clients upload PDFs → still required clinics to retype info, offering little time savings.
Iteration 2: Structured intake form → saves time for clinics, but time-consuming for the clients.
Iteration 3: Integration with Practice Information Management System (PIMS) → automated record transfer by parsing document data, significantly reducing manual entry.
Feedback from both clinic staff and pet owners confirmed that the PIMS integration significantly improved the onboarding experience. Clinic staff reported a drastic reduction in manual data entry and fewer errors, allowing them to focus more on patient care rather than paperwork. Pet owners appreciated the simplicity and convenience of not having to fill out lengthy forms or upload multiple documents, making the process faster and less frustrating. Overall, the automated data transfer created a seamless experience for both sides, validating that this solution effectively addressed the core pain points identified in earlier iterations.
Crafting the brand identity
When developing the brand identity for Vetrail, my goal was to create a visual language that felt trustworthy and warm. Since the platform centers around pet care, something deeply personal for users, it was important that the branding evoke a sense of comfort and reliability without feeling too clinical.
I wanted Vetrail to help make pet owners feel confident in its reliability. The color palette and overall design were shaped to reflect that balance between warmth and professionalism, making sure the platform felt approachable without losing the sense of care and credibility needed for managing things like health records and appointments.
Typography, color, and iconography were chosen to communicate clarity and ease, helping users navigate around. Overall, the branding was crafted to reflect Vetrail: a digitalized tool built to support the everyday needs of people who care about their pets.
IMPACT & RESULTS
Paw-sitively impactful: gaining validation and early success
Since launching our MVP, we’ve successfully onboarded three veterinary clinics as design partners — located in Cincinnati, San Jose, and Davis. These early adopters provided critical real-world feedback, helping us validate our core features and refine pain points in scheduling, communication, and document sharing.
Through these partnerships, we’ve:
Reduced time spent on phone calls by 35% surfacing common client questions through the messaging system.
Cut 2–3 hours of administrative time per week via the new client onboarding system.
Improved appointment follow-through by enabling automated confirmations.
These collaborations have shaped Vetrail into a more user-focused product. We are continuing to grow Vetrail as a startup, expanding our reach and iterating on the product to meet the evolving needs of veterinary clinics and their clients.
Pitch decks
Our team participated in a pitch competition where we pitched in front of 3 VCs. These are the slide decks that I designed for Vetrail. (Click above to view)
And finally... a HUGE shoutout to my amazing team - Arin, Andrew, and Jesse - for their unwavering support and hard work throughout this journey! Couldn't have asked for a better team.
