This project was created for pet parents and dogs that have special needs or behavioral challenges and need to be matched with a service provider that has experience accommodating those special needs. Additionally, the pet service provider (or Pet Pal) needs to be prepared to deal with pet parents that want more visibility into the walking/sitting process.

I did two interviews with pet parents. Neither had used traditional dog walking apps because they didn't believe their pets would receive the ideal level of care from a random stranger.

The user persona was based on a specific case of someone struggling to manage daily tasks because their special needs dog required so much of their daily life. They are in desperate need of assistance but need an experienced Pet Pal that can deal with some niche behavioral conditions.

This map was an exercise in understanding the overlapping needs and wants of dogs and parents and how the right Pet Pal can provide services but also emotional peace of mind.

I compared both Wag and Rover as potential competitors in the market. They provided similar services but didn't have much in terms of vetting the dog walkers they were using, providing crisis customer service for their walkers, and overall their designs were boring.

The goal of the project was to create an onboarding flow and sign up with a profile. I wanted to give the option for someone to see what services were available in their area before they signed up for an account. But for pet parents who signed up, if they were specific about their pet's medical and behavioral needs, they could be matched with people in their area who had experience with those things in their profile (e.g., blindness, separation anxiety, etc.)

Based on that user flow, I did two rounds of wireframing. One was very straightforward, and the other was more design-centric and bold. Ultimately, I ended up combining both directions in the final design.

I wanted to focus the visual design on things that dogs would be excited by: tennis balls, flowers, grass, beach sand. All the colors were named after what a dog would interpret them as. I wanted to use fun photos of dogs with personality mixed with shapes and bold typography. This would differentiate this app from apps like Rover and Wag.

The brand design is bold, bright and fun. I picked the name Doggo because of it's popularity on the internet as a name for dogs but also because the word breaks into "dog" and "go" which is what the app is all about: dogs on the move! It inspired the tagline "How dogs go!" as well. That's what Doggo does, it helps get your dog moving when you need a hand. The logo is based on the curves of a tennis ball, most dog's favorite toy.

The final designs use the bold palette but in a more approachable way. I wanted to lean into the grassy greens and sand color to differentiate this app from competitors and used the brighter colors as accents to tie in the brand design.

This video is of the prototype in action. It walks you through making a profile for yourself, your pet and then finding a Pet Pal and booking a walk.

Next Steps

The next steps for this project are to incorporate feedback from my original interview subjects on the prototype. Their feedback included things like adding a more robust emergency protocols section and having the Pet Parent confirm its accuracy before booking any appointment. They also included adding price to the popups from tiles on the “How can a Pet Pal help you?” Page and some kind of free Meet n Greet package if the Pet Parent books multiple walks at once. 

These are things I would love to add in addition to building out the dog walking flow and the Pet Pal login experience and account. Overall, this project has been an introduction to Doggo and what it’s capable of and it has a long way to go. However, I hope you enjoy what has been built so far and can see the potential. Thanks!