*This case study was done as part of Dribbble's 12-week Product Design Certification Course.

Role: Product Designer

Responsibilities: User Research, Market Research, User Flows, Wireframes, Visual Designs, Prototypes

Many dog owners have very busy schedules and are not always available to walk their dogs as often as needed. When these owners are not available, they rely on family and friends to walk their dogs for them.

Why? Because their dogs are members of their family. They want to leave their dogs with someone that is trustworthy and familiar.

Pup Strut is a Dog Walking app for the busy dog owner looking for that trustworthy dog walker.

User Research

My user research was conducted via phone interviews. I spoke with 3 dog owners. All 3 of them walked their dogs themselves or used a close family member, if they weren't available. Their main concern about using an app to find a dog walker was trust. If they were to use an outside service or app, that dog walker must be trustworthy.

"I normally drive my dog to the park because he is too spoiled to walk! I don't trust him with strangers ... I would need multiple good references and videos before I let someone else walk him."

"I walk my dog morning, noon and night!" He is a guard dog and it takes a lot for him to warm up to someone. He has to be comfortable and familiar with anyone around him."

Market Research

I compared two popular Dog Walking apps, Wag! and Rover. Both of these apps have many similarities. They both offer Dog Walking, Pet Sitting, Pet Boarding, Drop-in Visits and Training. They also both require their dog walkers to pass a background check.

However, Wag! offers more safety and security benefits such as, insuring their services and providing lock boxes. Rover is good for dog owners that are looking for local dog walkers. Rover also allows the dog owner to pay directly through the app. Both apps have customers that really enjoy using their services and are highly rated.

Persona

Lucy is a busy Business Owner. Her dog, Blu is very spoiled and doesn't like to go for walks. She doesn't trust anyone with Blu, except for her daughters. However, her daughters are tired of being her backup. So, Lucy would only feel comfortable with a service that she could trust with her Blu.

User Flow

With this User Flow dog owners can set up a secure account and create a vivid picture of their dog for the dog walkers. The dog owners are able to choose their service, get detailed information to help select a dog walker and book a walk, while knowing their information is already securely stored in the app.

Wireframes

In my 1st Iteration the user did not Log in/Sign up until after they searched for Dog Walkers and filled out the Dog Profile.

In this 2nd Iteration, I moved the Log in/Sign up screen to follow the Logo/Home screen. I moved the Dog Profile screen to after the Log in/Sign up screen, so that the dog and owner's information would be securely saved. I expanded the Dog Profile screen from 1 screen to 2 screens to not overcrowd the screens. I also added the calendar and time scheduler to book the dog walker.

Visual Design

Prototype

Test Pup Strut's Prototype

Usability Testing

I had 2 users test my prototype.

The 1st Tester liked using the app, but found a few areas that weren’t clear. Based on his test, I made the following changes:

          Make the “Terms & Conditions/ Private Policy” more visible.

          Change “Dog Bio” to “About My Dog”.

          Put the words identifying the dog’s behavior over the picture.

          Change “Select Date” to “Book Walk”.

Since I had made the changes from the 1st Test, the 2nd Tester didn’t have as many pain points. He wanted to know about accessing the dog walker’s availability & schedule. Based on Test #2, this is the change that I made:

          Create blackout dates on the calendar to show the dog walker's availability.

The 2nd Tester thought everything else was clear and well explained. He said he enjoyed his experience.

Outcome/Results

This project helped me see just how important User Research, Market Research, Prototyping and User Testing are to creating a product that an user will want to experience. Also, doing iterations early in the design process saves the designer time.