Welcome to Woof!

The Problem

Finding a trustworthy person to take care of your furry friend can be confusing and stressful. Most people rely on a friend, or even a friend of a friend. Woof focuses on creating that safety and reliability that can be expected from a friend. With a thorough screening process to become a walker, and

Research

Based on research and discussions, we found that other apps made users feel pressured into created accounts or making commitments before getting information about dog sitters. When creating Woof, I made it a point to create an option to simply browse dog walkers, so a user could see what kind of services were offered in their area before having to input their personal information. Another important point was trust - which is why Woof has a screening process and background check in order to sign up as a Walker. It also focused on communication and transparency, along with catering to the needs of the user.

User Persona

User Flow

From the very beginning, I wanted Woof to be different in the way that it was set up. Other dog-walking apps tend to start with a series of data and information to fill out, or just ask you to sign in before even getting started. With Woof, you can browse walkers immediately, or take a Personalized Pet Care Plan quiz, so that the app caters to you specifically. That is seen in the first part of the user flow, and from there it shows you specific walkers based on your quiz results.

Wire Frames

For the wire framing stage, I felt it was easiest to get my ideas down with a simple pencil and paper to start. I started by sketching what I imagined the quiz would look like, along with the personalized matches and a profile page.

After the sketches, I turned them into real wireframes, making slight edits as I went.

Visual Design

As I got more and more comfortable using Figma to create, I made pretty significant edits to my design. I focused on making the app feel friendly, clean, and trustworthy.

Prototyping

The Prototyping phase set my designs to the test. I made revision after revision in order to create a visually pleasing and easily accessible app. 

View the full prototype here: Prototype

Takeaways:

The process of designing Woof from start to finish was extremely fun and also challenging! One of the most important things that I found was the value of research and feedback. Finding out exactly what the user wants and how to incorporate that into a product is at the heart of what product design is, and it was great to experience that. I also discovered the value of working as a team, as learning a brand new tool, and researching, and revising over and over was challenging as an individual. Overall, I'm so glad to see my hours, weeks, and months of hard work pay off in the final product of Woof!