Intro

Dog walking and pet sitting apps are pretty common lately. Apps like Rover, Wag and Fetch are leading the dog walking market.

I started working on this app following the same patterns, but as you'll be able to read below, at some point I figured out that there could be an opportunity to define a more personal and meaningful experience.

Persona

User Flow

This flow is focused on sign up and how to reduce friction by minimizing the amount of input necessary.

Wireframe

Wireframe is expanding on the flow above and showing some additional screens. It was used to define the main flow or "happy path" that includes sign up, discovery and booking.

Design System

The Twist 🌪️

I realized that Marv, a father and dog owner would probably gladly spend time with Hartigan and realized that booking dog walks or pet sitting should not be the only way of optimizing the schedule.

If Marv is at home and just has to juggle too many things at the same time, what if we could free up some of his time by doing some chores for him and let him spend quality time with his family and Hartigan?

Prototype

User Testing and Next Steps

Based on user testing results, app is simple enough to use. Users were able to create a profile, book house cleaning and find the details as expected. Overall, they were happy to learn that the app provides a way to spend more time with their pets while other chores will be done for them.

However, there's room for improvement in the booking part of the app. Users would like to be able to be able to choose the person that's going to be providing the service, not simply be matched with one. Also, there was some confusion regarding the level of detail for cleaning: one user said they would prefer predefined options instead of text input.