Permigo - dog care app
Design brief
Project overview
User research - interviews and online surveys
Dog owners prefer to ask friends and family to take care of their dogs
The first step - Interview dog owners to understand the problem, identify some patterns and determine the key pain points.
The majority of the dog owners look for the dog care only for the emergency situations and perceive their friends and family as the most trustworthy people. They not only know their dogs are in good hands, but also feel comfortable that their furry friends are familiar with the caregivers and will not be disobedient or get stressed when they are away. Other important aspects that determine the choice of the caregiver are the experience, attitude and approach to the dog. The dog owners want to be sure that their dogs are safe and the caregiver will follow all instructions, as they pay a lot of attention to teach their dogs the right behaviors. They might trust a new caregiver only if they get some recommendations, see the qualifications or find out how the dog react to that person. All dog owners have never used dog care service.
The second step - get additional insight through quantitative analysis
Market research - competitive analysis
Understanding the competitors and identifying opportunities
The detailed features analysis and verification of main flows were the basis of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the selected direct competitors. The majority of the top recommended pet care applications are limited to the specific locations what creates opportunity for Permigo to address these gaps and dominate new markets. The competitor’s strengths are an inspiration for the potential application development where Permigo needs to propose better solutions to create winning results to attract dog owners and experienced caregivers already using others services. Addressing the pain points and weakness creates another possibility to gain the clients and become the top service. The market research was a crucial step to understand the competitive landscape to build the effective product strategy with great user experience.
Persona
Meet Lisa, caring dog owner that wants to ensure her dog Diego is safe and treated well
Understanding key insights that were relevant to potential users like Lisa allowed me to identify the main problems and concerns of entrusting the dog to a stranger and focus on how to address it in the next project phases.
User flow
Building confidence - allow Lisa to get to know the app first
As identified during research, Lisa would like to get familiar with the application first and check the available caregivers as this can reinforce her decision to use the app. She is a very cautious customer and prefers to gather as much information and insights as possible as this helps her to build the confidence to trust the service. That’s why she can freely explore the application without the need to provide all information on her dog in the first place. She can verify available pet care options first and then decide to register.
Design decisions
Helping Lisa to find a new buddy for the dog in the community of trustworthy dog caregivers
The main design principle was to build a community of dog lovers, where a dog owner can establish a relationship with the passionate caregiver. The social aspect aims to build the trust and evoke the positive feelings of finding a new buddy for a dog.
Wireframing
Outlining main concepts - onboarding, searching and booking
The goal was to design the main flows and features identified as Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to validate the main design concepts in early stage - account integration and trial meeting.
Design system
Evoking trust through visual design
I selected blue as the main color as it evokes trust and loyalty, making people to feel confident and secure. Deep red is the accent color that symbolizes passion, strength and motivates to action.
Visual design
Creating clean and minimalistic design
The goal was to achieve the visual balance where minimalistic design brings the focus to the key application features, making Permigo easy to navigate, intuitive and engaging at the same time. The final design is the result of multiple interactions. The design includes the app walkthrough UI elements that provide Lisa a better sense on how to engage with key application features.
Designing multiple states - driving Lisa to action
Explore Permigo before registration
See your friends connections
Meet your dog caregiver for a trial before the booked dog care
Easily find previously booked dog carers that you've grown to love & trust
Prototyping and testing
Designing new elements to communicate application concepts more effectively
Validating main user flows with two users, allowed to identify various opportunities for application improvements. This overall helped to enhance the main concepts of finding new buddies and setting the trail meeting making the application more eye-catching, trustworthy and intuitive. Additionally, Facebook has not been perceived as the secure account onboarding option, therefore new functionality was added - search for friends. Due to time constraints, I tested the prototype with two users and made the change after each iteration. Ideally, I would test the prototype with 5 users to get more insight or identify some patterns.
Conclusion and next steps
Start with MVP, iterate early, enhance
Designing the application that will help to build the trust with new caregivers and will differentiate itself from the market is the challenging project that requires comprehensive analysis and attention to details. Validating the ideas in the early stages provides invaluable insights that not only allows to improve the usability aspects, but also can uncover potential for new functionalities. Within MVP, I focused on the key user flows - user onboarding, dog care search and booking. In the next stage, I would improve the search process by adding additional filters, prepare the dog onboarding flows helping Lisa to provide key information on her dog in the easy way. I would also concentrate on additional trust-building factors for the booked service itself that will keep Lisa updated about her dog and build the confidence for both sides.