Walk the Dog
Challenge
Dog owners sometimes need help caring for and walking their dogs. Create a service to connect dog owners with dog walkers. Consider how we can help dog owners trust their dogs are in safe hands.
Introduction
Tasked with the challenge above and using my research to understand dog owners' needs further, I anchored my research on the hypothesis that 'it is hard to find good dog walkers and carers that you can trust'.
Research process
Users
My process included broad research such as simple off-the-cuff conversations with co-workers who had dogs to better understand the service of dog walking. I also conducted surveys to ask a variety of simple questions on the use of walkers, how often, and the types of experiences they had.
To further understand my users and their pain points I conducted several face-to-face interviews with not only dog owners but professional dog walkers and trainers.
Market Research
There are a variety of apps available, all very similar in look and feel, along with features. Some aimed at walkers and trainers for them to subscribe to and brand their own to build their individual businesses and others as a crowed based sourcing platform where anyone can offer their service and owners can pick and choose.
Research results - Insights
My research helped me explore and validate the issues around 'trust', along with uncovering that trust needs to go both ways.
Owners need to trust that the walker is of a high enough competency and experience to care for their dog. Where on the other hand walkers need to trust that the information provided to them via any platform or direct from the owner is true and accurate. From my trainer interviews, I heard many stories of dogs not necessarily being ready themselves for a group walk and park play, with so many factors involved even in the mindset of the dog being walked, these include breed, size, age, gender, de-sex or not, walking experience, just to name a few.
Solution
Design an app that allows owners and walkers to build profiles, be encouraged to update and log their dog's experience as they go, and have a clear communication stream via chat to build that repour and trust before the first walk.
Users
Anyone can have a dog, but from my research, I found 4 potential user groups and narrowed it down to only two for this project.
These were:
The dog walker - Who used these type's of services to help promote their business and grow their client base.
The dog owners, in particular the young professionals - They have recently become dog owners in the pandemic. An effect of the last two years and countless lockdowns, singles and couples alike all thought they needed an extra friend in the house to help them contend with lockdowns and also an excuse to get out for their 2 hours exercise.
These owners are very important, they are young professionals who are having to go back to work 3-5 days a week in a non-pet-friendly office and have the disposable income to pay for such a service multiple times a week.
User Flow
These simple flows identify key steps for the user - both owner and walker as they begin the onboarding process. Further flows are required to establish both profile build paths and jobs to be done.
Also included is a walker search flow for when the owner searches, finds and interacts over chat with a potential walker.
Wireframe designs
Constantly iterating and designing different screens for various flows and instances. Using the crazy 8 rapid sketching method to get ideas on a page, I would do this multiple times to refine individual screens before moving to Figma to clean up and add type and other details. I found I would move from hand sketch to design more often than following the complete process of sketch, Figma wires then hi-fi design.
UI Mood Board
I looked at a variety of design trends and app designs. I really like Glassmorphism and the incorporation of this with 3D elements and illustration.
UI Design
Bringing my design to life allowed me to further iterate screen layout and user flow. I constantly changed screen order and simplified screen content.
My design style is contemporary, bold, fun, and approachable. Looking at other apps within this space, they are very straight, have similar color pallets, looking very utilitarian. I wanted to use this project to push what I thought could be seen as an app in this segment, and ultimately with a break-out design that would target young professionals who are likely to use the app.
Component Library
I have included a simple component library as a base of what I started with. This outlines key features that have been carried on throughout the design, including; the glass effect created with a linear gradient fill, buttons, alt assets that can be used as glass or solid, input fields, buttons, profile, and other card building assets. There are many more components that have been used and a number of symbols that have not yet been included.
Type & Color Primer
Hi-Fidelity UI Design WIP v2.4
The initial screen are just on boarding and joy ride for generic user until they select either owner or walker. Then I have designed out the screen for an owner to go through the process of setting up a profile. This flow can also be seen in the animation at the top of this case study.
As the owner completes their profile they received the snap shot of the information they have provided, the back arrow allow then to go back and adjust any information that is incorrect, add another dog or submit are also available.
Now the owner is in their home screen and can access the full services.
Booking a service is done by selecting what they are after, then the calendar and time would slide down from the service card section. User would then hit search taking us to the map page where there are results based on location proximity.
Further design is needed for filtering, expanded walker profiles, chat and other steps through booking.
Conclusion
This project has allowed me to step through each stage of the product design process and work toward a project structure around insights and purpose.
What I have designed only scratches the surface of this product's capabilities and the finished product that is needed to be delivered. However, this is a great snapshot or my progress and shows my understanding of the product design process. I am constantly learning and interacting with this project as I dive deeper into the user flows and jobs to be done within each interaction a user makes with such a product.
To support my UI design I prototyped the user on boarding, adding screen transitions and animations to further enhance and speak to my design language and what I would wish to create if the project was to be produced.
See the animation below.