Project Overview

Project Brief

Hello all,

This is a case study for DevPaws, a dog-walking app. It is mainly for developers and remote workers who sit behind the screen all day and can’t find the time to walk his/her dog.

The goal is to make the app easy to browse, filter, chat, and book for a dog walk, to find a reliable dog walker easily and quickly, and to focus on their job getting done...

The problem is that many dog walking apps require users to sign up and enter all information for their profile to proceed and look for a close trusted dog walker.

My role was to research, brainstorm, set a target audience, wireframe and apply the visual design and prototype, and lastly conduct user testing to make sure that this app would be used by developers and remote workers.

Understanding the User

User Research

Pain points

#1: All apps require user signup and much information to provide.

#2: Waste a lot of time to find a reliable dog walker and little info was provided

#3: Could not find a straightforward app with few steps to reach the goal.

#4: No option to choose dark or light mode.

User Flow

This user flow helps new users/dog owners browse and check for trusted dog walker availability before they need to sign up and provide the needed info to book a dog walker. It helps like Emily and busy people to save time and money and make use of filtering and search features.

Wireframing

I added only a few services that are needed by developers and remote workers most: Dog Walking, Dog Training, and Drop-in Visits. After selecting a service, Emily can filter by rating, number of walks, years of experience, cost, number of certifications, location, and name. A photo, bio, and information are displayed for a selected dog walker. Then lastly sign up and book.

Visual Design

Usability testing

Findings

• Do you think you will use this app?

  • 20% will use the app and 80% will not.

• How easy was it to navigate and use DevPaws?

  • 10% said it was very easy, 30% easy to use, 30% neutral, 20% difficult, 10% difficult

• What are your thoughts on the design and user interface of DevPaws?

  • 20% liked it a lot, 30% liked it, and 50% neutral

• Tap to rate your prototype experience with DevPaws: 1-10

  • 13% (10), 13% (8), 25% (7), 13% (6), 13%(5), 25% (4)

• And some comments and suggestions on improving the app like:

  • Make it clearer what the next step is.

  • a small tutorial - how to create a dog walking/pet profile - Higher contrast between bkg and primary color

  • The use of the back button is in places where it's not necessary, in the profile section you can favorite?!

  • I wasn't able to sign up or go through the onboarding flow. Also, I didn't know what to do on the main screens - what is my goal?

  • The copy on signup/login felt wordy, I would consider either trimming down or making the "Welcome..." sentence a large font from the rest of the copy. It was confusing to go from a signup/login screen to a completed profile screen ... I would have expected a home screen/feed of some sort. "Favorites" did not match my mental model ... was it favorite Friends or Messages? In the profile, I did not expect the change password to be so prominent. “

I would have gone through each of the above comments and fixed and improved the app the usability.

Takeaways and next steps

I learned that design involves the process, user flow, and functionality of the app. Usability testing is an important step that provides insights for iterating and improving the app.

Thanks to Mentor: Charles Christie

Thanks to all the testers who provided helpful feedback.