DOGTREE Brand Rebranding & Digital Experience
Project Goal
To transform a 25-year-old traditional pet treat brand into a digitally-native, emotionally resonant E-commerce platform.
1. Visual Design Detail Analysis
The visual identity was redesigned to bridge the gap between "Traditional Reliability" and "Modern Digital Aesthetics."
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Logo Symbolism: The new logo retains the "Tree" silhouette but constructs the canopy using geometric shapes that represent various pet treats.
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Logotype Geometry: The custom typeface incorporates "Cat Ear" curves in the letterheads and "Dog Tongue/Leaf" shapes in the terminals to symbolise the harmony between pets and nature.
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Colour Psychology: A refined "Natural Green" palette was chosen to evoke feelings of health, safety, and high-quality organic ingredients.
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Imagery Direction: Photography focuses on high-contrast, reflection-free product shots and candid, "empathy-driven" lifestyle photos of pets and owners.
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Sustainable Packaging: Shipping boxes were redesigned using shallow, eco-friendly cardboard to align with the "Natural Style" brand positioning.
2. UX Logic & Flow Optimization
The user experience was re-engineered to move beyond a simple "Add to Cart" transaction toward a "Pet Care Journey."
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The "Pet-First" Onboarding:
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Logic: Instead of a standard sign-up, users are invited to create a "Pet Profile."
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Data Integration: By tagging age, weight, and allergies, the system automatically filters and prioritises suitable products on the homepage.
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Engagement-Driven Architecture (The 3 Pillars):
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Shop: Simplified navigation (Dogs/Cats/Toys/Care) with a "One-Click Reorder" feature based on past consumption rates.
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Diary: A social networking function where owners share "Pet Diaries," fostering a sense of community and brand loyalty.
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Classroom: An educational hub providing expert knowledge on pet nutrition to build long-term authority and trust.
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Dietary Reporting Loop: The system generates monthly "Diet Reports" via email, analysing the pet's health trends and suggesting specific nutritional supplements.
3. Target Persona
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Profile: Independent women (aged 30-40) living in metropolitan areas (e.g., Tokyo).
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Pain Point: Busy schedules with a need for efficient, mobile-first shopping experiences.
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Emotional Driver: Viewing pets as "Silent Best Friends" or "Children," prioritising their health and quality of life.
4. Deep Dive into Design Solutions
4.1 Digital Evolution of Visual Identity
To overcome the limitations of the traditional brand in digital environments, we implemented the following detailed treatments:
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Geometric Logo Reconstruction:
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Core Elements: The original "tree" silhouette is preserved, but the leaves are replaced with geometric blocks representing various pet treat shapes.
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Digital Optimisation: Lines were thickened, and strokes simplified to ensure high recognizability on mobile devices (App icons) and small interface elements.
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Typography with Emotional Semantics:
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Design Details: "Cat ear" curves were integrated into the letterheads, and "dog tongue/leaf" rounded arcs were added to the terminals of the custom logotype.
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Brand Tone: A typeface with a sense of weight and warm lines was selected to balance the rigour of "professional health food" with the approachability of a "pet brand".
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Colour and Imagery Strategy:
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Colour Palette: "Natural Green" is used as the primary colour to communicate the quality promises of no additives, domestic production, and health.
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Imagery: Photography focusing on "lifestyle atmosphere" and "empathy" was chosen, moving away from rigid cutout images in favour of warm, interactive pet photos.
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4.2 UX Logic: From "Transaction" to "Companionship"
The website was redefined as a "Pet Health Steward" rather than just an e-commerce platform.
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Personalized Onboarding & Guidance:
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Pet Profile: The first step for new users is to create a "Pet Profile" that includes breed, age, allergies, and dietary preferences via tags.
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Smart Filtering Logic: The system uses profile data to automatically push products that are "safe" and "suitable" for that specific pet to the top of the homepage, reducing search time.
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The Stickiness Loop:
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Diary: Owners can record daily life and diet, with the option to share publicly to build a community with other female pet owners.
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Analysis: Based on purchase history and profile data, the system generates a monthly "Diet Report" via newsletter with personalised nutritional advice.
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Classroom: The "Pet Nutrition Classroom" transforms product purchasing into a health-education experience, building brand authority.
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Seamless Mobile Experience:
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Focusing on busy metropolitan women, the App optimises "One-Click Reordering" and "Out-of-Stock Notifications" to facilitate quick purchasing during fragmented commute times.
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4.3 Extending Offline Touchpoints
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Emotional Connection through Packaging:
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Shipping Box Design: High-quality brand patterns are printed on shipping boxes, which periodically feature "Pet Testimonial Stickers" (with user consent) to make unboxing an emotional surprise.
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Product Development: Specialised groceries and high-quality sundries designed for female owners (such as pet plates or mugs) were developed to increase the sense of brand belonging in daily life.
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1. Situation
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Context: Established in 1997, DOGTREE is a legacy Japanese brand specialising in domestic, additive-free pet treats with over 25 years of heritage.
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Pain Points: The existing e-commerce interface was outdated and lacked a digital-first visual strategy. A purely transactional relationship with customers led to low social engagement and emotional resonance, resulting in low brand stickiness and retention.
2. Task
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Objective: To drive e-commerce growth by architecting a new retail website and mobile application.
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The Challenge: To modernise the brand experience for our target demographic—high-income single women in their 30s and 40s—by delivering a "fun and intuitive" digital journey without compromising the brand’s established heritage.
3. Action
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Visual Strategy Refresh: Redesigned the visual identity, including a new logo inspired by product geometry, a sophisticated yet "healthy" colour palette, and approachable lifestyle photography to create a sense of daily connection.
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UX Optimisation (Pet Profiles): Developed a "Pet Profile" feature allowing users to track dietary habits and health status. This data-driven foundation enables the system to provide personalised product recommendations tailored to each pet's needs.
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Enhanced Interactivity: Introduced "Shared Diaries" and "Pet Nutrition Masterclasses" to foster a sense of community and solidarity among owners, while establishing brand authority through expert knowledge.
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Lifestyle Expansion: Developed original merchandise for owners to strengthen brand affinity and a sense of belonging within the "DOGTREE community."
4. Result
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User Experience: Successfully transformed a standard purchasing process into an "interactive experience," lowering the barrier to purchase while significantly increasing user engagement and "joy of use."
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Strategic Brand Value: Through digital tracking and nutritional reports, the brand evolved from a mere treat provider into an indispensable "parenting partner." This established a robust foundation for long-term brand loyalty and for ongoing data collection to support future growth.
dogtree - A Japanese pet snack brand rebuilt as a lifestyle community for Tokyo professionals who treat their dogs like family
DOGTREE is a Japanese pet food e-commerce brand with nearly thirty years of history, specialising in all-natural, additive-free snacks for dogs and cats sourced entirely from domestic producers. Despite its strong product credentials, the existing brand identity and website had grown dated — visually ill-suited to the digital environment and unable to foster any meaningful relationship with customers beyond the transactional.
A deep-dive target audience study defined the core user: a single professional woman in her 30s to 40s, based in Tokyo, high-earning, busy, and deeply devoted to her small-to-medium-sized dog — treating her pet not as an accessory but as a companion and family member. She shops on her phone during her commute, values lifestyle alignment over price, and is looking for a brand that understands the bond she shares with her dog. This insight reframed the entire design strategy: the goal was not simply to refresh a shopping website, but to build a **pet lifestyle community platform**.
The new **logo** retains the original tree silhouette as a familiar anchor, but reinvents it: the canopy is now composed entirely of pet snack silhouettes — bones, chew rings, fish pieces, vegetables — so that the brand's core product becomes inseparable from its identity. The mark is an immediate, intuitive expression of "Natural Style." A clean forest green and a bespoke surface pattern built from the same snack vocabulary establish a visual language that is fresh, wholesome, and consistently alive.
On the **digital side**, the redesigned website and app introduce a Pet Profile system — a digital notebook where owners register their pet's dietary preferences, health conditions, and eating history, which the platform then uses to surface personalised product recommendations and nutrition guidance. A DIARY feature enables community sharing of everyday pet moments, while a CLASSROOM section provides editorial content on pet diet and health — giving users compelling reasons to return even when they are not shopping, and building the kind of brand loyalty that pure e-commerce rarely achieves.
DOGTREEは、創業から約30年の歴史を持つ日本のペットフードECブランドである。国産・無添加にこだわった高品質なペットおやつを主力商品としているが、既存のブランドアイデンティティとウェブサイトは時代遅れで、デジタル環境に適したビジュアル表現ができておらず、顧客との関係も売買以上のものに発展していなかった。これが今回のリブランディングの核心的な課題であった。
ターゲットリサーチの結果、コアユーザー像として浮かび上がったのは、東京在住の30〜40代の単身キャリア女性だ。高収入で多忙、小〜中型犬を我が子のように大切にし、通勤中にスマートフォンで買い物をする習慣がある。彼女が求めているのは、単なるショッピングサイトではなく、愛犬との暮らしを豊かにしてくれるブランドとの繋がりだ。この洞察がデザイン戦略全体を再定義した——目指すのは「ECプラットフォーム」ではなく、**「ペットライフスタイルコミュニティ」**である。
新しい**ロゴ**は、既存ブランドのツリーシルエットを継承しながらも、その樹冠を骨、咬輪、魚の切り身、野菜といったペットおやつのシルエットで構成し直した。ブランドの核心商品そのものがアイデンティティの一部となり、「Natural Style」というブランド精神を直感的に体現する。クリーンなフォレストグリーンと、同じおやつシルエットから生まれたブランドパターンが、清潔感・健康・自然という一貫したビジュアルトーンを確立している。
**デジタル設計**では、Pet Profileシステムを導入。飼い主が愛ペットの食の好み、健康状態、購買履歴を記録すると、プラットフォームがそのデータを分析してパーソナライズされた商品提案と栄養アドバイスを提供する。DIARYのコミュニティ機能では、ペットとの日常を他のユーザーと共有でき、CLASSROOMではペットの食事と健康に関する読み物コンテンツを提供する——買い物をしていない時でも訪れる理由を作り、ブランドへのロイヤリティと信頼感を着実に高める仕組みだ。