The Project

Walkies! is a mobile application that connects dog owners with trusted dog walkers in their area.

My role: This project is my very first foray into product design. It is intended as a tool to showcase UX design methodologies as well as new Figma skills.

The Challenge

Create a mobile application that evokes trust and allows our users to easily book dog walkers to care of their precious pets. Ease of use, flexibility, and care are the core challenges I sought to tackle.

The Research - Understanding our users

To kick off the exploration phase of this project, I connected directly with several dog owners to get their feedback. I was able to immediately validate the lack of trust these owners have when they think about booking an online service of this type. Trusting an unknown person to take care of their beloved pets is a hurdle many communicated as too hard to overcome.

User Personas - based on the initial data I collected, a synthesis of the information was created in the form of user personas that we can use to guide our exploration and craft a solution aligned to our users needs.

Exploration with User Flows

With the data gathered, I crafted user flows to provide guidance around the user onboarding flow and possible search flow.

Ideating with Wireframes

To further explore the flow and the look and feel, I crafted two wireframe variants to visualize different ideas for the user's onboarding flow.

Crafting the Visual Design

The design was created keeping basic color theory in mind. Blue was established as one of the primary colors in other to evoke trust. This was combined with purple in order to elevate feelings of sophistication with an undertone of safety.

Testing and Prototyping

After setting up the visual design and applying those principles to the wireframes I previously built to create high-fidelity screens. These were then used to go back to our users to test and gather additional feedback.

?? Onboarding Flow Prototype Link

Onboarding Screens

Outcomes & Forward-Looking Statement

After testing and user feedback, I learned the direction taken on this first iteration of Walkies! does help to establish trust and make users feel at ease with a friendly and approachable app.

During this process, I also learned there is the risk of oversimplification. When too many elements are stripped away from the user interface, there is a risk of making users feel trapped when navigating the interface.

Looking Forward -

This was an incredible experience going through the entire process of building a case study for this application. Not only was this a process of learning design principles, but also learning how to effectively use a tool like Figma. I look forward to further building my skills and keep iterating on my designs. Walkies! will forever live in my heart as my first foray into this Product Design journey. ??