Hola dribbble! 👋  My name is Noemi. I'm sharing the process of designing a mobile app that helps connect dog parents with trustworthy and reliable dog walkers, offering on-demand and scheduled dog walking solutions.

Project Overview

Project Brief

As a working dog parent, it can be challenging to juggle work and the care of their pups. Sometimes it requires the help of family, friends, and even third-party services to care for and walk the dogs when they cannot.

They usually lean heavily on family and friends as the first line of defense because they provide comfort and trust over a third-party service, even though sometimes they cannot rely on them due to scheduling conflicts.

The goal is to revamp the existing mobile dog-walking experience and create a solution that prioritizes reliability, comfort, and safety while still feeling accessible, friendly, and approachable. The goal is to provide dog parents with a solution that feels like family & friends but with unwavering reliability that their dogs will get the care they need whenever they need it.

Role

My role in this project was to conduct market and user research and, based on those findings, go through every step of a defined design process and design a solution that would connect dog owners with dog walkers.

For this project, I went through a 7-step design process where I: 

• I conducted User Research and Market Research to unpack the problem, define opportunities, analyze risks and rewards and define project goals. The research included interviewing dog owners and analyzing existing mobile dog-walking solutions.

• I also collaborated with other designers in the class who conducted user and market research and coalesced our findings.

• I generated User personas for our dog walker and owners that aligned with our results.

• Created user flows & low-high fidelity wireframes to communicate ideas. 

• Developed a style guide and design system that communicates the app's visual design.

• I constructed a Figma prototype that I tested and gathered feedback from dog owners.

Understanding the User

User Research

To understand the potential user, I conducted virtual and in-person interviews with owners who have used existing dog-walking apps and those who are hesitant to use a third-party service.

I also leveraged my Twitter & Instagram following to ask questions about dog walking preferences.

User Research

To understand the potential user, I conducted virtual and in-person interviews with owners who have used existing dog-walking apps and those who are hesitant to use a third-party service.

I also leveraged my Twitter & Instagram following to ask questions about dog walking preferences.

In total, I interviewed three people and got five additional responses based on questions I asked on social media.

Since our findings were shared with the rest of the designers in the class during the user research phase, we were able to interview roughly 24 dog owners collectively.

Our research showed that most young dog owners relied heavily on family & friends to take care of their pets, as most were concerned for their pets' safety and well-being. Trust & familiarity were more prominent indicators of who dog owners tended to trust to take care of their pets over experience. I also noticed that young dog parents tended to rely on third-party apps as a last resort or when there was a scheduling conflict with their friends & families, in which quick matching & scheduling was essential. Lastly, when relying on third-party services, user reviews and recommendations were crucial to determining which dog walker to trust.

Market Research

During the market research phase, I conducted a competitive analysis of the top three mobile apps on the iOS App Store; Rover, Wag!, and Spot Dog Walkers.

The market research revealed that safety for pets and service reliability are two critical needs of a pet owner when looking for a dog walker. Even though Wag! & Rover has excellent ratings and background checks, and people tend to be happy with the service; there is still a handful of wrongful experiences regarding their furry friends, including the loss of a pet during walks.

The main weakness of the apps is rooted more in the business model and process than the app experience, even though the UX experience could be improved.

The Spot Dog Walkers app was the only one out of the three that solved the issue of reliability and safety of pets. However, the service is only for dog walking and only in selected cities in Canada, and the features are less refined than the other apps.

Personas

User Flow

With all the research, discovery done in the previous phases, and further analysis of existing dog-walking app flows, I began crafting the initial user flow for the app.

The user flow improves the signup process by reducing the number of steps it takes to onboard. Both Wag! & Rover, the most popular dog walking apps in the market, introduces a very long onboarding sequence before a User can start searching and booking.

One of the main improvements is reducing the number of ways a User can create accounts; leveraging SSO with Google and Apple eliminates typing for the user.

The profile setup process, where they can add their pets, home addresses, etc., has now become optional—allowing users to fill the sections during the onboarding process or wait until they are ready to book.

SSO and an optional profile setup simplify and fast-track a dog owner into performing their desired action.

Finally, the app provides various ways of booking dog walkers, searching for them, or booking on-demand walks with the best dog walker available. One distinct aspect that sets it apart from the existing solutions is that It'll leverage a dog owner's existing friends who are also dog owners to recommend and create trust when finding a dog walker for their needs.

These design choices during the onboarding process appeal to our persona Thriving Mariam, as it removes the obstacles she might face when booking a last-minute walk for her beagle Sia.

Ideation, wireframing, prototyping

Based on the user flow, I created a set of low and high-fidelity wireframes that helped visualize, test, and validate various flows.

During the sketching portion, I explored various concepts for the onboarding flow, and the booking flows that incorporated both on-demand and scheduled dog walks.

During the wireframes, I thought about how a dog owner might use the search functionality and what information was necessary for a dog walker profile. I solidified the information hierarchy and visualized the map view of the search.

Visual Design

After the initial wireframes, I began to do some exploration around the feeling and brand of the app.

From the research and initial testing of the wireframes, our goal was to create a modern, friendly and functional user experience that was trusting and approachable.

For the visual design, I explored various color combinations, textures, dark & light modes, and treatments for the UI elements.

Style Guide & Design System

As part of the visual design, I generated a style guide and design system of various UI components that can be used to create new screens.

Usability Testing

After creating a prototype of the happy success path as a new user wanting to book a dog walker, I conducted two rounds of usability testing.

Users successfully created an account, found a dog walker, and scheduled a walk. They thought the app was friendly and approachable and liked the brand colors.

However, the usability testing outlined that users thought setting up their profile was still mandatory. The long text blocks and the progress bar element created confusion that the step was optional.

Both rounds of testing revealed that users would love an extended app flow where they can set up their pets and home addresses and book a "best available dog walker" and someone they've booked with before. They also loved the "Trusted by Friends" recommendations as they built trust and confidence in their dog walker selection.

Takeaways and next steps

Takeaways

A significant takeaway from this project is that designing a solution goes beyond addressing the challenge but also being able to align the design, brand, and experience to the non-tangible feelings and goals a user has. In this project, those were "trust," "safety," "reliability," and "friendliness."

Another key takeaway is that constant feedback throughout the various settings of the design process helps you create better experiences. It helps us learn what works and what doesn't and helps us refine a solution our target audience might use.

Next Steps

A handful of dog owners only tested the prototype. The next step is to have more people play around with the prototype and gather feedback. Followed by other rounds of refining the design and experimenting with different layouts.