PetPal App provides the experience of connecting busy and needy dog owners with trustworthy close by dog walkers.

Hi there! I’m Jackie, a Graphic and UX/UI Designer with a passion for both design and animals. Having many friends and family members with pets, I’ve seen firsthand how challenging it can be for pet owners to juggle their busy lives with the attention their pets deserve. To help address this need, I created a case study on PetPal, an app designed to connect caring, professional animal lovers with pet owners who need a little extra help. With just a click of a button, PetPal makes it easier than ever for pet owners to find reliable and loving dog walkers in their area.

Problem Statement

Many dog owners with demanding full-time jobs and active social lives struggle to find trustworthy care for their pets while they’re away. With family and friends not always available, they need a solution that makes it easy to search for and connect with reliable, professional caregivers who can meet their pets’ needs.

User Research

I conducted in-person interviews with six pet owners from diverse backgrounds, all of whom lead busy lives and own animals. Through these conversations, I confirmed that the key concern for pet owners is finding someone they can trust with their pets. Essential features they desire include verified background checks, real-life photos, proximity to their location, and the option for face-to-face meetings. Below are some of the questions I asked during these interviews, along with their responses, as well as key pain points that should guide my design focus.

Market Research

I decided to explore some popular existing apps to better understand the user experience. My goal was to identify what worked well and what didn’t, in order to gain insights that could inform my own design.

Persona

After conducting market research and interviews, I gained a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by dog owners. I also developed a better sense of their personalities and expectations. To guide my design process, I created a user persona called "Jenna": a young teacher who works hard during the day and has an active social life. As I work on the user flow and overall design, I keep two key questions in mind: “Am I solving Jenna’s problem?” and “Will she be able to easily find what she’s looking for?”

User Flow

I designed a simple and clear onboarding process for the app, with the goal of allowing users to quickly create and complete their profiles, enabling them to start using the app right away.

I kept in mind that users typically discover new apps when they have the time, but they open apps when they need something. With this in mind, I decided to incorporate profile creation into the onboarding process. This way, when users return, their profile is already set up, and they can seamlessly find a dog walker without any extra steps.

Moodboard

The images and colors below inspired my color palette and overall design direction. I aimed to create a feeling of comfort and trust for dog owners, their pets, and reliable dog walkers. The design evokes a sense of warmth and approachability, with key themes of trustworthiness, brightness, softness, and friendliness.

Wireframes

The wireframes below highlight the key areas that users are most likely to engage with: Profile, Messages, Home Page, and Search. These sections were a focal point in my design process, as they drive user interaction and facilitate seamless access to the services users need.

The final design, shown on the next slide, brings these wireframes to life with a thoughtfully applied color palette and small layout adjustments to enhance usability and create a more intuitive experience for the user.

Design System

I began by developing the graphic identity and then applied it to my wireframes. As part of this process, I created reusable components and a design system, ensuring that all colors, typography, and elements were registered in the Figma file. This helped streamline the design process and ensured consistency across the project.

Before creating the prototypes, I dedicated time to designing for scalability, ensuring that the design would adapt to various screen sizes. Since this is a mobile app, I focused solely on mobile screen sizes.

If this were a responsive design project, I would have created additional frames for desktop and tablet views to ensure a consistent experience across all devices.

Final Design

After iterating on how to simplify the onboarding process and streamline the user’s ability to quickly book a service, I arrived at these final designs. To ensure they were intuitive and user-friendly, I had a few people I interviewed conduct user testing with the app. Based on their feedback, I made several small adjustments to enhance both the functionality and the overall visual appeal, bringing the app to life in a way that is both practical and aesthetically pleasing.

Below you will see how the user can book a service quickly, add their pet, and desired day and time.

Prototype

Once I had all my designs finalized, I needed to test their functionality, so I created interactive prototypes in Figma. The videos below demonstrate various user flows, showing how users can easily find a dog walker or access other services for their pets.

After receiving initial feedback from user testers, I updated the flow and interactions to improve both the UX and UI. The changes mainly involved adding a few additional components to make the experience feel more realistic and intuitive.

Onboarding

The video below shows a user going through the onboarding process, highlighting how quickly they can set up their profile and start using the app.

Filter/Search

This video shows a user going through the search and filter process.

Book Service

This video shows a user going through the booking process.

Summary

Thank you for taking the time to read through my case study. Throughout this project, I discovered that trust is the most critical factor for pet owners when choosing a service. My research, concept development, and design decisions were all centered around ensuring that trust remained at the forefront. Many pet owners hesitate to use an app because they fear trusting a stranger with their pets—definitely a tough challenge to address!

I believe I successfully tackled this challenge by incorporating key features that build trust, such as reviews, chat functionality, meet-and-greet options, and professional badges for dog walkers.

If I had the opportunity to start over, I would focus more on qualitative research during the interviews and market research phase to gain even deeper insights. Additionally, I would explore incorporating a referral feature and other design elements to further enhance the app’s functionality and user experience.

Contact

To see more or any of my other work, here is my portfolio. I will also be posting and updating new projects I used to work on and the ones I'm currently doing on my Dribble page.

If you want to work with me, don't hesitate to contact me on LinkedIn.