Project Overview

Spot is a dog walking app built to connect users with trustworthy dog walkers. The mission is to be the #1 reliable dog walking service starting in the Southern region of the US.

How can we improve the experience and build the trust between dog walkers and dog owners?

I was the sole designer on the project so I did the user research, personas, user flows, wireframes, brand identity work, the final UI, and the prototyping tests.

Problem Statement

Dog owners want to find someone reliable and trustworthy, to feel confident that their dog is being taken care of, and to have clear communication with the walker with live updates.

In my user research, the #1 issue was finding a dog walker people can trust. The next issues that arose were availability, scheduling, and cost. Dogs become part of the family, so many users were apprehensive about finding a dog walker. The user research gave key insights into what actual users need, issues they are experiencing, and how I can solve those problems.

Personas

Based on the user research two key personas were created: Julie, the dog owner and Ryan, the dog walker. Each persona has their own personal goals, motivations, and frustrations to keep Spot on track for solving the users problems. It was very informative creating a dog walker persona to make sure I was keeping the walker needs and pain points in mind for the app experience.

User Flow

The main user flow was created with the first user persona, Julie, with a goal to find a trustworthy dog walker with affordable rates. I wanted to incorporate optimized search filters in the profile creation so the dog owner minimizes time searching and can find a dog walker right away or the user can skip to search and view results. Then completing the user flow with the confirmation of the dog walk.

Wireframes

Shown are some variations of low-fidelity wireframes, with the user flow and personas in mind. The wireframes helped solidify key aspects of the app that would bridge the gap of trust between the dog walker and dog owner.

Visual Designs 

Overall went for a warmer color palette to convey excitement + energy. Spot's branding has more personality using dog photography and pops of colors to really differentiate from competitor brands. Using Poppins as the main typeface, as the sans-serif matched well with the bit of playfulness of the brand.

Prototype + Testing

After creating the prototype I intentionally did a couple rounds of user testing to validate the direction of the app. The user testing provided some great insights on what was working and what needed some improvement. 

Prototype link

The first task was to create an account and the second was to search for a dog walker. I gained some great insights:

1. Overall I updated the onboarding carousel to make it more obvious

2. Icons sizes were made a little bigger after I saw how small the back button was when tapped on by the user

3. Made the CTA buttons a little larger and longer as well

4. I provided some indication that you can scroll on screens in the profile creation since many users didn't realize you can scroll

5. Changed the language on the matched dog walkers screen since many users were getting confused. I fixed the language to help make it clearer to the user and added a 10-second delay to move on to the results page

Outcome/Results

Overall Spot bridged the gap between dog owners and dog walkers. I learned how crucial user research is to detect the core issues dog owners are having and how a product designer can solve that problem, always keeping it user-centric. The main user persona was conscious of price and I kept that in mind during all the designs and screens, to make sure rates were obvious and easy to find.

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Another round of user tests in prototyping can help solidify the app flow but initial user tests gave great insights. If I had to do this project over again I would start with a specific city to first market in and talk directly to those users vs. having a broad user base to begin with. Then expand the app to other regions of the U.S. to grow and take market share in the dog walking space.