Design Brief

Buddy Walkers has created the perfect app to provide dog walking services in a way that is simple, secure, and reliable to busy dog owners all over U.S.

Problem Statement

How may we provide busy dog owners a service that allows them to hire dog walkers on demand and create simple ways to establish trust between the dog walkers and them?

User Research

Through multiple phone interviews with dog owners we got to acknowledge a sample of their needs and expectations when it came to hiring dog walkers and making use of the services.

The most important thing for us through these interviews was to understand the dog owner's thought process and to be able to translate data into strategic and user friendly user flows and screen designs.

Market Research

As we analyzed pros and cons of leading dog walking apps we observed that some of them where asking the users to provide to much personal information before giving them the opportunity to browse and get familiarized with the app first.

After this observation our team concluded that it was best if we provided the users with the opportunity to browse first and then decide if they wanted to move forward with the services, no strings attached.

By doing this we believe our chances of signups and bookings will increase as the user builds trust with the app first through screen browsing.

User flows

From the beginning we intentionally made sure that the thought process behind every screen provided a smooth journey for the users. We emphasized building trust first through browsing the app and once they made their decision of hiring a dogwalker to then ask them kindly to sign up or log in.

Wireframes

For this process there were multiple meetings that were focused on making sure that the screens displayed user friendly layouts and consistent design patterns.

The goal was to build trust with our potential clients and so we decided to focus first on how to guide the users from browsing to signing up.

After that, we pivot our focus on crating the rest of the app making it simple for the users to be able to hire dogwalkers on demand, have their appointments organized, create a profile for them and their dogs and have the possibility to join the community.

Visual Design

Our visual elements come together to project an user friendly, secure and approachable aesthetic through consistent layout designs and typography.

Some of the techniques used to promote trust with the users were to show them from the home screen relevant details about the dog walkers such as experience, reviews ranks and price range. Then we made sure to repeat that information as they kept in touch with the dogwalker through messenger screens, dogwalker profiles and scheduled walks.

Another technique we used to promote trust was to enable scheduling through the messenger chat screen. This provides simple ways for the user to book a service through the same screen they got convinced to do so.

Prototype

Through constant testing within our team members, we got to refine the screen design layouts to the maximum. In this phase, we got to rearrange some of the visual elements to simplify the users experience.

We also got to add secondary features as we analyzed the screens, such as the possibility of offering other services at the bottom of the screens and to add the share button in the dog walkers profile screen. 

User Testing

Our user testing experience was very particular, for we started testing the prototype with someone who's primary language was Spanish and knew very basic English. Come to find out that the layout designs through screens made sense to that person and we got to discover the areas where we needed to improve to make sure the users journey was as smooth as possible.

After testing the first prototypes we got to fix technical problems that had to do with scrolling and transitions between screens. We also got to consider adding features to the app such as ways to sink app calendar to google calendar and to be able to cancel scheduled appointments through Google calendar as well.

Through further testing we got to verify and make sure that our goal of making the app as user friendly as possible and making the journey to hiring on demand dog walkers was simple and smooth.

Next Steps

As we continue to focus on developing strategies to increase trust between dog owners and dog walkers through our app, the following is being considered:

What if we added social media features such as stories and reels to the app? Would it increase the number of bookings?

Would it allow the users to feel more secure at the time of hiring?