This is my first case study from the Dribble Product Design course! Here I documented my journey with the help of my mentor and fellow peers in the group.

“How might we help owners trust the dog walkers while providing them with a reliable service?”

In a market of numerous pet services apps, Paws Express was developed to provide a reliable experience for both pet owners and pet walkers. Every dog owner wants what is best for their pets. For some owners it may be about boosting their pets confidence or having an experienced vetted walker. End of the day TRUST and RELIABILITY plays a major role for both owners and walkers alike.

INSPECT AND CONSOLIDATE DATA - RESEARCH (FOREVER ONGOING):

First phase of the project had to do an extensive market research. Took into account the different applications that were used in Toronto and the suburbs.

Conducted user interviews with dog owners that lived in the city and the suburbs. Compared customer reviews and user interview data.

Majority of users expressed the need of a trustworthy and reliable service. Some applications seemed too complex and less approachable as well.

With the information I collected I was able to create a User Persona.

The main struggle was to consolidate multiple users into one personality group. I learned to not base the persona off of the numerous pain points every user had and instead create a personality that is unique to that person but also speaks to similar themes with the chosen user group. The Persona represents a user that is looking for a reliable experience through the app.

A SMOOTH SAIL THROUGH THE - USER FLOW:

TIME FOR A CLOSER LOOK - WIREFRAMES TIME!

With the user flow defined it was time to sketch out wireframing ideas! I started by sketching out wireframes from other apps with similar user flows. I used this and started sketching my own ideas. After picking out elements that worked in the wireframing phase I was able to mock up a final wireframe.

With my peer group we were able to build a lo-fi wireframe together - "The finding a dog walker flow".

The sign up and login were combined together to minimize the number of clicks to finish signing up or logging in.

Added a Map modal for the user to search closely or the option to close the modal.

IS IT PWETTY YET? - VISUAL DESIGN

Taking the common user likes into consideration, it was important for my app to express a friendly, reliable and passionate design. The moodboard started to shape the colors and spacing utilized in the app.

With the color palette I had keep accessibility in mind and make sure it was readable. I found that some colors did not work like the bright yellow I had.

It was important for me to obtain this from not just the color and spacing from my moodboard but also from the typography as well. After some research I used Quicksand(friendly) and Catamaran (reliable and easy to read).

It was challenging to visually bring something functional together. Initially I focused on using certain colors that were too light and not good for accessibility.

I got stuck with using a monochromatic scheme at the start and found that I had to go back to the moodboard process to access a variable color palette.

Here feedback from my peers was extremely helpful, it made me look at certain elements that needed to be changed to enhance the user experience.

In the final version I made sure that the primary color was designated to CTA so that the user is led on a journey and not distracted by multiple primary color buttons in one screen.

DON’T LET IT BREAK - COMPONENTS AND PROTOTYPE

After multiple iterations I finally had the chance to build the app out. I found that having a library of components and autolayout sections, very useful. Especially while testing it with the users it made the process easy to iterate faster and know that the spacing shall always be the same.

I came up with the final version of my prototype after testing it with users. I observed what worked and didn’t. What may confuse them and so on. This is where components shined, as with a few clicks I was able to update the prototype easily.

FINAL THOUGHTS - PAWFECT OR NOT?

I don’t think there is such a thing as Pawfect, there is always something you can find and iterate upon. As the first time designing an app it was definitely an experience. I had times I had to pull myself back and think about it being functional rather than add all the flashy effects in it. Also thinking back on why I started this case study in the first place was important.

In many ways I do find I was able to keep parts of the process simple enough for the user to glide through. In the future I would like to take the time to elaborate on the scheduling in the app. I find that process would require a more robust research and is something that would be beneficial while users schedule for a walker.

Thanks to my Mentor and peers for this fun case study. I would not have gotten far without the feedback and knowledge all of you have!