Completed as part of the Dribbble Product Design Course — June 2022.

Skills: User Research, Market Research, Persona Development, User Flow, Wireframes, Visual Design, Prototyping, User Testing and Delivery

Software: Figma

Project Brief

Design a dog walking app that connects busy professionals with dogs to trustworthy and reliable dog walkers.

The Challenge

Dog owners love their dogs like they are part of their family. Sometimes due to travel or busy work schedules, dog owners need help ensuring their dogs daily exercise needs are met. Their main challenge is finding trustworthy dog walkers who not only understands their dog(s), but are also vetted and certified.

User Research

After conducting a series of user interviews, one thing consistently stood out is users would be more comfortable knowing that walkers had been vetted and received professional certification and training. This not only would help users be more at ease with strangers entering/exiting their homes, it would also help increase the level of service offered by the walkers.

Market Research

There's no shortage of dog walking apps in the market. Majority follow a similar user flow and product offering with the emphasis being on dog owners, dog walkers booking rather than the dogs and level of service. There's little to no security built in, or any verification of the walkers who'll be performing the task. Adding in a verification and training requirement prior to first appointments will help differentiate WALK amongst all the other apps. Exploring other pet service apps provided a different perspective into what was working when presenting similar content.

Apps Researched: Barkley Pets, Go Jauntly, Wag, Rover, Scout, Cat in a Flat, Dogtopia, FitBark, Skiptown and Figo

Persona

Gaining an understanding of different users and their experiences with similar apps allowed me to gather information and insights, which then translated into needs and pain points. This allowed me to formulate a Persona, a visualization of who I was creating the app for. 

Chris, a busy professional loves his dog Jameson. His career goals and personal interests keep him occupied most of the day and sometimes well into the evenings. Jameson, a three year old Lab needs lots of exercise, and often Chris is booked up. WALK would be a perfect solution. A dependable walker who's been trained and vetted can swing by and walk Jameson anytime.

User Flow

After fully understanding the brief and challenge I was able to pair that with the market research and target audience. This allowed me to formulate the ideal experience for our user (Chris) once they open the app. The User Flow diagram above maps out the beginning screens of the WALK app. 

Sketches

Rough (LoFi) sketches and thumbnails were used to establish a direction for the WALK logo and onboarding screens. Sketching allowed for a faster exploration of ideas while capturing key take aways to continue expanding on.

Wireframes

Used Figma to create high-fidelity (HiFi) wireframes for key screens including; splash, onboarding, login and main profile. The initial wireframes have the user arriving on a splash/load screen, then swiping through the onboarding pages ultimately arriving at the login screen.

Moodboard

Keeping in mind the target audience, the moodboard helped visualize the creative direction of WALK. The elements, colors and images are influencing the upbeat and modern design of WALK. The organic wavy shapes resemble modern day architecture and the colors are simple and easy on the eye. Iconography and imagery are clean, relatable and welcoming.

Components / Design System

Establishing a components library and design system allows designers to work faster with more accuracy and consistency. Using the initial wireframes and moodboard as direction, I was able to create a repository of key assets and commonly used components. Applying the auto-layout feature within Figma to these assets made the process of scaling the design more streamlined.

Prototype and Testing

Initial user testing surfaced a few issues with the primary navigation and scheduling a walk (+). While reworking those a few other design edits came up that would help users better understand the different areas within the app. Ultimately making the whole experience more intuitive. Additional interviews and testing was performed again to ensure any modifications made to the end design proved successful. 

Check out the WALK prototype. 

Refine and Delivery

After successful user testing it was time to go through and finalize any assets (images, colors etc.) and triple check to ensure everything was in line. Once complete, everything was packaged, organized, labeled and ready for hand off.

Conclusion

The dog walking app case study was both challenging and enlightening. I'm grateful for the experience and excited about what I've learned. The Product Design course provided invaluable knowledge that will be beneficial in my career.

Special Thanks to …

dribble and Jesse Showalter for offering this fantastic course.

Thanks Nelio de Barros for your guidance, insights and patience.

You’re all awesome!