This conceptual project was created for educational purposes as part of the Dribbble Product Design course by Jesse Showalter.

Project Overview

Intro

WoofRover is a dog-walking app designed to connect dog owners with trustworthy and expert dog walkers, providing a convenient and reliable solution to meet the needs of busy dog owners.

This case study showcases how WoofRover addresses the challenges faced by dog owners and creates a seamless experience for finding and booking dog walkers.

The Challenge

Dog owners face challenges finding trustworthy and reliable dog walkers who can provide the best care for their pets. The lack of a convenient platform for connecting dog owners with expert and qualified dog walkers leads to frustration and concerns about the safety and well-being of pets.

Existing dog-walking apps must still address dog owners' primary needs and concerns. Checking online reviews showed that as recently as last year (2022), dog owners and dog walkers have experienced app usability, functionality, and interface issues.

This app aims to simplify finding and booking a dog walker process while building trust, creating transparency, and enabling accountability between dog owners and dog walkers.

My Role

Product Designer (UX/UI Designer), responsible for all aspects of the design process, including:

Conducting research, interviewing users, creating visuals, wireframing, designing and implementing design system, designing and iterating on designs based on feedback, and creating mockups, prototypes, and usability tests.

ChatGPT as my copilot. I wrote the prompt and asked ChatGPT to write copies for the headlines, descriptions, and testimonials.

Timeline

Three Months.

My Approach

Research & User Insights

I started by understanding the main pain point and finding out the most challenging part for dog owners when they try to find suitable dog walkers. Then, I collaborated with fellow designers to make a clear problem statement.

I conducted secondary research by looking online, reading forums, and talking to dog owners. This helped me understand what they struggle with and what they need.

To understand the existing market, I conducted a comprehensive competitive audit. I analyzed similar dog-walking apps' features, offerings, and user experiences to identify their strengths, weaknesses and checked their reviews.

I started independently and later collaborated with fellow designers on my team; we collectively placed users at the forefront of the design process. We developed an affinity map and combined user insights from interviews and research.

This collaborative effort played an important role in pinpointing dog owners' needs, pain points, and objectives.

I created a persona to represent the target audience based on user research. The persona's preferences and needs guided my design decisions and ensured the app met real users' needs.

With the insights from the user research, my persona's needs, pain points, and challenges, I crafted a user flow demonstrating a dog owner's journey entering the app for the first time, creating an account, finding the dog walker, and then successfully booking a session.

Design Process

Once I had a clear idea of the user flow, I moved into low-fidelity wireframes, explored multiple layout options, and iterated on the designs.

I thoroughly explored various visual design approaches, ensuring that I maintained a strong focus on the user experience, functionality, and accessibility of the app.

Through moodboarding and extensive exploration of existing design systems, I aimed to achieve a modern, minimalist, and playful interface. I experimented with different design elements and layouts, all while prioritizing the seamless user experience and ensuring that the app remained intuitive and user-friendly.

To ensure consistency and efficiency in my designs, I built a mini design system with reusable UI components. This allowed me to apply changes throughout the app easily.

Key Featured Solutions

WoofRover provides various features to address the identified challenges and meets user needs.

• Users can create personalized profiles and preferences, allowing the best match with dog walkers.

• The search bar and filtering options allow users to find dog walkers based on location, rating, expertise, and more.

• The in-app scheduling and booking functionality make it convenient for users to manage their dog walks.

• The real-time messaging and updates enable seamless communication between dog owners and walkers.

• The rating and review system ensures transparency and helps to build trust.

• The flexible subscription plans offer a seamless and effortless booking and payment experience.

User Experience & Feedback

I developed an interactive prototype and conducted user testing sessions with the mid to high-fidelity designs ready. I gathered helpful feedback from users, observed their interactions with the app, and identified usability issues and opportunities for improvement.

User Test Findings | First Round

High Priority | Usability Issues:

• Fix the navigation, broken connections and dead ends.

• Eliminate unnecessary screens that confuse users and do not affect the user experience!

• The sign-up flow is lengthy, so either reduce the number of steps or make it more accessible and engaging!

Other Issues:

• Create the missing screens that is not part of the flow, but users expect to have.

• Be more descriptive and add visual clues in between pages.

• Add details (Price, email notification, confirmation number, etc.)

• Improve the visuals of pages by adding some illustrations.

• Make sure all pages are consistent.

I prioritized the insights from the user testing session, iterated and refined the designs to address pain points and improve the usability issues that I captured during the test.

User Test Findings | Second Round

By addressing usability issues, making adjustments, and iterating on designs, the second usability test ran smoother and only minor adjustment were needed.

The iterative and user-centered approach throughout the design ensured an intuitive app that addressed users' needs and expectations.

Prototype

View and experience the WoofRover App's prototype in Figma.

• Short Version - Recommended | WoofRover Prototype

• Longer Version | WoofRover Prototype

Conclusion

WoofRover will become the solution for dog owners looking for quality pet care by addressing the pain points of trust, safety, time constraints, and communication.

Final Thoughts

What I Learned

• Design iterations lead to improvement. Being open-minded when receiving feedback and making changes based on that improved the app functionality and made me try harder and sharpen my design skills.

• The user-centered design approach is a win-win situation; it benefits the user and the business. Satisfied customers = High conversion rates = More revenue for the company.

• The importance of keeping myself up to date with the tools and technology. I love learning new tools, it keeps me motivated, and I always look for opportunities to expand or improve my skills.

What’s Next

Optimizing the transition between screens could improve the app's overall usability and flow, so I need to finetune some transitions.

Thank You!