traX - a dog walking experience
Enter: Challenge
Dog owners need help finding adequate walkers. We're here to help with traX.
Duration: March - April 22
from transactions to relationships
Stage 1: Market Research
During a competitive audit of apps Rover and Wag, a gap was described as a lack of personalization and connection between dog owner and walker. Furthermore, an opportunity was identified to shift the user's mindset from a transactional to a relational approach.
Problem statement: a dog owner who struggles to get their companion enough exercise while they are otherwise obligated.
competence and connection please!
Stage 2: Interviews & Empathizing
Through phone interviews, users expressed a need for community experience, and connection in their dog walkers. Additionally, anxiety, anger, concern, isolation, disappointment were identified to describe a disconnect when utilizing existing applications and current user expectations. Through personification, establishing trust was prioritized to transform the current limitation into a form of empowerment.
keep it through and make it quick
Stage 3: User Flow and Wireframes
Through various collaborations with peers, a thorough account/ profile set up, a comprehensive search, and additional walker access to create familiarity were identified for the ideal happy path. Inversely, this created a complexity to eliminate redundancies while maintaining an integrity of the flow when engaging in layout and priority guidelines.
show me the highlights but let's keep it moving
Stage 4: Visual Design and Critiques
A minimalist style was chose to place an emphasis on encouraging the user to evaluate each dog walker not only with quantifiable metrics such as ranking and reviews but also through imagery, social proofing, and interpersonal interactions to ensure the best fit. Various constraints and signifiers helped the start to finish process have a sense of fluidity while allowing affordances for discovery purposes.
show me more dog and tell me the value add
Stage 5: Prototyping and Testing
Through various design critiques, user testing, and mentor sessions, core benefits to the user became more clear and aligned with the preceding Design thinking process. Additionally, branding went through various iterations to further communicate the value proposition and increase engagement.
Exit
Roles | Reflections | Acknowledgements
Roles:
generalist for all stages presented
Reflections:
starting with two screens are better than ten
think about value propositions early and often
good enough is okay with me
Acknowledgements: Thank you to my ~
mentor: Ben Balderas for his patience with all my questions
friend: Jesse O' Chapo for his design critique and direction
peers: Team mates at Dribbble for their kindness and collaboration