The Context

This project is the result of a 6-week assignment given in Dribbble's Product Design Course during the Summer of 2022.

My Role

Product Designer

My Team

My world-class cohort of 13 design fellows and 2 amazing Mentors: Djordje Vanjek and Tom Parandyk

Time Spent

Outside of Group Sessions: 60-72 hours

The Problem

Dog Owners who need help ensuring their furbabies are well cared for and walked when time is not on their side.

The Solution

A service where Dog Owners go to easily find reputable and trustworthy professionals who love dogs as much as they do.

The Definition of Done

Develop a proof-of-concept that can be vetted and tested with 5 current dog owners in order to solicit meaningful feedback on usability and viability.

A note on branding: over the course of this project, the brand name went through a number of incarnations. In the end, Spot won out as it as it both implies that it gets one out of a tight jam and is a play off of the 1960s popular book series "Dick and Jane" who had a dog named Spot.

The Process

.:.  Empathize

.:.  Conceptualize

.:.  Realize

1. Empathize

Weeks 1-2 were focused on building out our shared perspective on the application's design goals and the criteria for the final proof-of-concept. 

Activities

Problem Definition Workshop

Market Research

Design Research

User Flows

Wireframes

User Research

Peer Reviews

User Research is the single most important aspect of any given design project in order to surface the pain points and motivations that drive the Users' experience.

The better clarity we gain into their everyday lifestyle and workflow, the better we can address their needs and anticipate the kinds of features and functionality that best serves their needs.

After reviewing our proposed end-to-end workflow (see above) with Dog Owners, we discovered that the question of whether there were enough dog walkers available nearby and whether those walkers were vetted in some way were top-level concerns.

Designing for the User's Intent – Hypothesis

Displaying local walkers at the top of the App Home feed would reduce the User's effort when initially searching for "best possible choice" and, in turn, increase the chances of sending a booking request to the best possible match.

End-of-phase Decision Summary:

• Prioritize non-member access to view local inventory

• Increase "Trust Signals" such as pictures, ratings, reviews, credentials

• Deprioritize Application Onboarding UX at Sign-On

2. Conceptualize

Weeks 3-4 were grounded in substantiating our initial findings that Dog Owners need a quick, painless way to browse whether there are credible Dog Walkers nearby, ideally, without signing up for an account.

Activities

User Flows

Prototyping

User Feedback

Initial Brand Exploration

Initial Design of Key Screens

Design Reviews

Visual design based on the initial wireframes and updated user flow brought about a deeper understanding of the experience from both usability and desirability perspectives. It also helped to identify just how prominent the Dog Walker's profile image needs to be.

Note, after reviewing this round of designs, the decision was made to limit the number of services offered from 4 to 1 (Dog Walking) in order to increase clarity around how to best promote dog walkers.

Learnings from this second round of design testing fell into two categories, visual and usability, both of which are dependent on having a stronger brand identity. The key pieces of feedback were captured in the figjam session below for reference.

End-of-phase Decision Summary:

All focus on refining how Dog Owners view and learn more about Dog Walkers based on their profile information.

In order of importance:

• Prioritize logo design and visual design language in time for proof-of-concept testing

• Increase the User's ability to scan for "best-choice" possible

• Continue refining the presentation of "Trust Signals"

• Reduce the number of services offered to just the dog walking

• Put the booking screen and flows into the backlog

3. Realize

Week 5-6 were primarily focused on making UI/UX refinements that would elevate the overall Dog Owner's first impressions of the application and feel more capable of trusting the Dog Walkers they find.

Activities

Brand Identity Development

UX/UI Refinements

Prototyping

User Testing & Feedback Synthesis

Design Documentation

The two specific areas of refinement:

1. Improve how the Dog Walker's profile image and metadata (ratings, reviews, certifications, favorite-count and rates) adapt to different card treatments.

The intention behind this line of reasoning was that the treatments would then be performance tested in order to find out how to best optimize the design for conversion metrics such as favorited, booked, times booked without search, etc.

2. Refine the way the content sections make the Dog Owners feel like they are able to make the "best possible choice" and Dog Walkers feel they have the best opportunities for authentic self-promotion.

The Outcome

5/5 Dog Owners tested said they would happily subscribe to a service like Spot and would highly recommend it to friends and family.

Learnings

At the beginning of this project, there were many points of view as to what would be the best solution. Often it was based on initial, well-intended assumptions of what the end user would want most. Thanks to my patient and stand-up friends who showed up for testing time and time again – helping me arrive at what I feel has a very approachable and trustworthy design. There were a lot of corners that had to be cut in order to stay on time and "on-budget", but making time for feedback was never one of them!

Thank you!

Here's to a big round of applause 👏 for you – I truly appreciate your time and hope you enjoyed this case. Please feel free to dm me if you have any questions or queries.