Bingo: Dog Walking App
Tools: Figma, FigJam, Procreate | Timing: March-May 2022 | Role: Sole UXD
There's already a lot to do in our daily lives between working and being a pet parent. Hiring a dog walker can increase a pet's quality of life while also relieving us of our own stress and guilt when time feels elusive. However, finding a dog walker you can trust with your cherished pets can be challenging. Love of animals doesn't qualify someone as a good dog walker. Bingo aims to connect dog owners with nearby dog walkers who have been fully vetted, including completing certified animal handling and training through leaders in the industry like Fear Free® to ensure a trustworthy and reliable service.
The Challenge: Trust
Current pet care apps, like Rover, Wag!, Barkly Pets, and even Trusted HouseSitters will complete background checks and indicate security through badges, but a lack of criminal record is no guarantee that someone will take care of your dog properly. Many online dog walkers are inexperienced, unlicensed, and untrained. They may have chosen this profession because they genuinely love animals, yet a lack of knowledge, experience, CPR, and First Aid training could lead to complicated and heartbreaking situations. As a fully vetted marketplace of dog walkers, dog owners can explore reviews, tangible qualifications, schedule meet and greets, check the weather good for walking conditions, and casually chat with dog walkers to ask questions and get a sense of fit. Likewise, dog walkers, can review detailed dog profiles to decide if their service is a good fit as well and earn certified training.
User Interviews
I wanted to know the pain points of users who hire dog walking services and if they had any experience using current pet service applications on the market. I talked to 3 participants who met the criteria and conducted interviews over the phone. I then created a persona to ensure a user centered decision process throughout the project.
The Solution: Trust Through Training
Your dog is a member of your family. You want someone you can trust to enter your home, lovingly look after your dog, and offer a peace of mind. When you hire a professional dog walker through Bingo, you can rest assured that your pet is in good hands. Your dog and your home will be safe because the dog walker is licensed, trained, and insured. They provide complete attention to your pet and can quickly recognize areas for improvement, such as emerging behavior difficulties, enrichment opportunities, and other areas that could otherwise go overlooked.
User Flows
To start, I needed to define a high-level flow for my target audience: dog owners. Booking a walk was critical to the main function of the app and enabled me to identify the elements that will hold the most value to the users.
Wireframes
Based on insights from research and user flows, I first sketched the layout of screens in my user flows using FigJam. After that, I quickly created lo-fi wireframes. As the problem could be solved in different ways, I continued to iterate on the screens to find the best way forward.
Visual Design
I called my app Bingo and identified how the brand would look and feel to the users. Through a developed moodboard, I was able to find inspiration and set the tone for making design decisions. With components built, I was able to create and manage consistent designs across the project.
Dog walks are performed outside, so I wanted to incorporate the feeling of happiness in nature. Therefore, I chose colors associated the sky, grass, and earth. I began integrating the style guide and my developed brand into the wireframes and converted them into high fidelity screens. This is my most favorite part of design! I love seeing ideas spring to life. I tried keeping a minimalistic display for a user friendly focus, but also with a pop of fun. That’s what dog walking is to our pups...a whole lotta fun, socialization and exercise!
High Fidelity Screens
To ensure the best possible experience, users are aware upfront of the steps needed to create an account or profile. I also tried to make it as short and sweet as possible by allowing the user to complete the task in just 5 steps.
Prototype & Usability Testing
I created a prototype using Figma to conduct 2 moderated remote usability tests. The purpose of these tests was to ensure the users could complete the app's primary tasks, identify any issues of concern in flow or design, and general impressions of the overall design.
I had iterated the onboarding and dog walker listings a couple times before landing on the versions presented. I went back and forth between showing multiple listings vs. the final 1x1 view. I decided on keeping it as simplified as possible while displaying the more important trust evoking qualifications, experience, and reviews prominently.
After collecting all the user feedback, I discovered 3 major issues that needed attention for redesign:
1. Not knowing when they had completed onboarding even with the steps present.
2. Questioning if they were signing up as a dog walker or pet owner.
3. Not knowing what Fear Free is and why they would feel more at ease with that certification achieved.
