AWOO Dog Walking App - Dribbble Product Design Case Study
Hi everyone, this case study was completed as part of Dribbble's Product Design Course - October 2022 Cohort. We were given a project brief for a dog walking app to take us through the course curriculum involving weekly group mentorship sessions, video lectures, articles, and design exercises in Figma. The process outlined below will include my research findings, user flows, low-fi & high-fi wireframes, and user testing results with a clickable prototype.
Project Brief
Dog owners sometimes need help caring for and walking their dogs. Create a service to connect dog owners with dog walkers. Consider how we can help dog owners trust their dogs are in safe hands.
Problem Statement
Dog Owners don’t have an easy way of employing Dog Walkers to walk their dogs. There is an opportunity to connect these two groups with each other.
Dog Owners:
Need to find someone who is compatible with their dogs and understands their behavior/tendencies.
Dog Walkers:
Need to protect themselves from dangerous pets and environments.
User Research Interviews
The following questions were asked in interviews with a few friends and family about their experiences with pet services. Their responses are summarized below.
1. Do you ever ask friends or use a service for dog walking or pet sitting? Why? How often?
All three participants have heard of Wag! and Rover for pet services, but haven't used them personally. They have asked friends and family for help with their pets or helped them in return as well. One of the participants (my sister), is a veterinarian and works closely with dog owners and their dogs every day, but doesn't own any pets of her own.
2. What do you like about the service? What do you dislike?
Pros: Convenience and has heard the services are reputable and a lot of people use them.
Cons: Not being able to trust someone coming into your home.
3. Are there any services or features missing?
Offering physical GPS tracking tags for dogs and helping facilitate secured access to dog owner's home with physical product partnerships.
Ability to track the location of the person walking your dog in real time through the app.
Ability to set minimum time/distance limits for how long the dog walks should last.
Dog owners should be able to choose a path the dog is familiar with if possible.
Good dog walkers with better ratings/reviews should be able to charge more for their service.
Dog walkers should know ahead of time if anyone will be home when they arrive.
Dog Walkers should have the ability to report bad dog behaviors so the dog owner and other dog walkers can be informed on the dog’s profile; then the dog owner can help address it privately and should be referred to dog walkers with more experience that charge more to walk their dogs.
4. What are the most important things you look for in a dog owner or their dog before accepting their dog walking request?
Dog walkers should have common sense and is responsible.
Dog walkers have pets themselves.
Dog walkers should receive the same background check as a normal job.
Dog walkers should be trustworthy, on-time, reliable, and transparent on how much they're charging - but doesn’t mind paying more for reliable service.
5. What dog preferences do you have? Which of those preferences would you like your dog walker to share with you?
Dog's size, activity level (running/walking), demeanor and behavioral tendencies, age, breed, weight, medical conditions, solo or group walks, if they need medicine to be administered (separate charge), or if they need to be fed (separate charge).
Market Research & Competitor Analysis
The following research was conducted to find the commonalities and differences between existing mobile applications offering similar services.
Rover - Dog Boarding & Walking
Star Ratings: 4.7 | # of Reviews: 19,800 | # of Downloads: 1,000,000
Service providers have Profiles with Star Ratings, # of Reviews, # of Repeat Clients, Proximity, Name, Profile Picture.
Profiles include Type of Home, Children Present, Yard Available, Owns Dogs
Services Provided: Boarding, Dog Walking, Doggy Day Care, Drop-in Visits, and House Sitting
Has Cat & Dog Profiles with Name & Breed Information
Has Dog Walking Route GPS Tracking, Walk Distance & Time, Scheduling Features, # of "Pee Breaks" / Walk
Dog Walkers can upload photos of dogs on their walks.
Dog Walkers can chat with Dog Owners while on the job.
Emergy Support provided by app to Dog Walkers.
Wag! - Dog Walkers & Sitters
Star Ratings: 3.1 | # of Reviews: 7,350 | # of Downloads: 1,000,000
Services Provided: Dog Walking, Sitting, Boarding, Training, Vet Advice, Drop-Ins
Service providers have Profiles with Star Ratings, # of Reviews, Name, Profile Picture.
Dog Owners can favorite Dog Walkers.
Provides GPS Tracking of Dog Walkers walking dogs.
Dog Walkers can chat with Dog Owners while on the job.
Dog Walkers can upload photos of dogs on their walks.
Has Dog Walking Route GPS Tracking, Walk Distance & Time, Checklist for Dog Pee/Poop & Locking the Door.
Wag! also has a separate app for "Pet Caregivers", but it only has 1.6 stars.
PetBacker - Dog Boarding & Sitters
Star Ratings: 4.1 | # of Reviews: 4,240 | # of Downloads: 500,000
Services Provided: Boarding, Daycare, Sitting, Walking, Taxi, Grooming, Training
Service providers have Profiles with Star Ratings, # of Reviews, Name, Profile Picture.
Community features to share pet photos and experiences with others.
Verifies service providers via Facebook, Google, Phone, Email, & ID.
Also shows if service providers have Certifications (e.g. for Trainers), Business Licenses (e.g. for Doggy Day Care), Police Clearance, Online Tests
Walks can be booked in advance on a scheduled date for 1 or more pets and 1 or more walks with pricing upfront.
Dog Walkers can chat with or call Dog Owners while on the job.
Dog Walkers can upload photos of dogs on their walks.
User Flows
The following user flows were created based on the findings from my market research above.
The first user flow below for onboarding starts similarly to Wag! with every option to Sign Up or Log In on the very first screen to get the user onboarded as quickly as possible. In contrast, Rover starts with an extra step to decide if you want to “Find Pet Care” or “Create Account”.
The second user flow below for booking a dog walk takes some inspiration from Rover and Wag! as well.
User Personas
The user persona below was created based on the findings from my research interviews.
Low Fidelity Wireframes
The low-fi wireframes below were my favorites out of a dozen brainstormed and created in Figma before moving on to designing high-fi wireframes.
High Fidelity Wireframes
The high-fi wireframes below were created in Figma based on the low-fi wireframes above and visual designs inspired by my market research.
Style Guide & Components
The style guide & components below were inspired public design kits such as Material 3, Evergreen, and Garden. Free icons were sourced from FontAwesome.com as well.
Prototype
The clickable prototype linked below was created in Figma using the high-fi wireframes above.
Usability Test Plan & Results
The following user tests were conducted using the test plan linked below. The structure and format of this test plan took inspiration from creating tests on UserTesting.com for past projects.
User Testing Key Takeaways
Based on the feedback from the user tests above, I plan on making the following changes to the app before testing the next iteration.
Color adjustments should be made for smaller text elements to be more readable.
Fields for location information should be added to Dog Profile Set Up Screen.
Fields for medical information, allergies, and special needs should be added to Dog Profile Set Up Screen.
Fields for dog behavioral tendencies and temperament should be added to the Dog Profile Set Up Screen.
Fields should be added for environmental preferences your dog might have on the Dog Profile Set Up Screen.
Dog walkers should be limited to what they can charge based on how many repeat customers they have. More repeat customers leads to higher wages.
Filters should be added for Price Range, Distance, Sorting by Most Reviews, Sorting by Recently Added, Has Repeat Clients, and Saved Favorites on the Dog Walkers Home Screen.
Should make it clearer if there are any additional fees or taxes to be added to the total cost displayed while on the Book Dog Walker Screen.
Notification settings should include the option to send a notification for favorited dog walker availability in the future.
A feature should be added to track your dogs location while they are on a dog walk.
Next Steps...
Going forward, I would like to apply the feedback from user testing above by iterating on the existing wireframes and testing them again.
I would also like to add wireframes for the Filter Menu Overlay on the Dog Walker Search Screen, the Dog Walker Map Search Screen, the User Account Settings Screen, and the Payment Methods Overlay on the Book Dog Walker Screen.
Lastly, I would put together a Product Requirements Document with well-defined user stories, conditional statements, product specs, and animations referencing the high-fi wireframes for development handoff.