Welcome to Waddle!

Waddle connects people who need someone to walk their dog for them with people who want to provide dog walking services. Owners are given more time for their other responsibilities by finding someone to walk their dog for them. This platform also is a space for people who would like to earn extra money by walking dogs for others.

I designed the app myself by following a standard product design process - Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Over the course of a few months I had conducted the research interviews, created the user flows, made high fidelity wireframes, created the visual design, prototyped the app and tested it.

Research

Trust is the largest deciding factor when choosing a dog walker.

I started by conducting a survey with two people who have dogs and have used a dog walking service in the past. We discussed their past experiences of leaving their dog(s) with someone else, what they liked and disliked of their past services that they used, and what they look for in a dog walker. Discussing the issues they faced in the past provided insight into what kinds of problems they were having while using dog walking services. Some of the issues they had faced include but were not limited to:

The most important factor in hiring a dog walker for them was trust. They wanted to trust that the dog walker they hired would be reliable and could keep their dog safe while under their care. One of the participants mentioned that they trust their friends decisions so they would likely hire a dog walker that had been used by a friend. I decided that Waddle would use a contact based referral system to show whether people in your contacts has used a dog walker and whether they liked or disliked them. This referral system adds an element of trust between people who are looking to hire dog walkers and allows people to recommend dog walkers to their friends.

Meet Sydney!

Sydney is a user persona I used to represent someone who would likely use the app. Sydney is a consultant who travels for work every week and would need someone to walk her dog consistently so that she can continue to take care of her dog with her busy work schedule. Her dog is old so she would need someone who can connect with her dog and is able to understand her dog’s needs.

Using this persona put into perspective the different kinds of needs someone may have while using an app like this; they may need to find someone they can book with consistently, they would need to know their experience with dogs with certain needs, etc. These are the common challenges that I’m focusing on in my design.Let's follow Sydney on her journey in joining the app.

Let's follow Sydney on her journey in joining the app...

This user flow is of the onboarding process for a new user as well as the process a user would have to go through to book a service. Earlier on I had explored the idea of offering dog sitting as a service as well and decided to simplify it by sticking to just providing dog walking.

Other dog walking apps have a longer onboarding process before the user is allowed to access the platform. They have to fill out all of their own profile information and their pet’s information before they can browse the kinds of dog walkers are on the app. This user flow takes the minimum amount of information necessary for the user to get to use the app. They are allowed to skip the steps at any point and come back to complete their profile later once they are ready to book with a dog walker. I wanted the user to be able to see the information provided on the platform before having to create a profile. This lets them see the options they have, the features the app has and decide if they want to book through this app before having to make the commitment of creating a profile and entering all of their personal information.

Wireframes

These wireframes explore the dog walker search page to what the app would look like during a current walk.

The dog walker search page is for the user to explore the dog walkers that they can book with. I created a filtering system to narrow down how they would find a dog walker. Some of the criteria that they could filter by would be pricing, distance, experience level, referred by a friend, etc.

The current walk page shows what the app would look like during a current walk on the schedule. If the walker chooses to do so, they can share their live location during the walk to show the route that they are walking and how much time has elapsed. The location would only be shared once the walk was started on the app. If they don’t want the live location shared then the route will be shown in a summary once the walk has ended. The notifications section lets the walker update the dog owner on how the dog is doing and if there are any issues that they had during the walk. These features are focused on transparency between the dog walkers and dog owners. They can agree on whether they’d like to share certain information or on what basis would notifications be necessary.

The messages page is for users to message potential or booked dog walkers. It would be recommended that the dog walker meet with the dog and dog owner at least once before the first walk to see if the dog walker is a good fit for the dog and to see if the dog walker can provide the appropriate care. The app will recommend this once they have booked the dog walker for the first time.

When it came time for the visual design, I decided to focus on creating a profile page instead to show what kind of information is on the platform before ever talking to a dog walker. I wanted the profile page to provide enough information so that it’s quick and easy for someone to select a walker.

Visual Design

I made the filtering system to be seen under the search bar to make it clear that the results shown are based on the criteria highlighted. In the search bar, users can search by location or name of the walker to find specific walkers.

The dog walkers highlighted in the top section are walkers that have been referred by a friend, meaning that someone in the users contacts has booked and liked this walker in the past. The rest of the dog walkers are based on what’s filtered.

Most of the information about the dog walker is on their profile page. It includes their location, credentials, and achievements. The walker chooses photos to share and a bio to share a little bit about themselves. In the reviews part of the profile, people who have booked the dog walker in the past can rate, review and recommend the dog walker. The messages tab on their profile shows the messages between that dog walker and the user. My main focus was for the user to be able to quickly scan all the information and book as soon as possible. On the bookings page, they would be able to see the walker’s availability and decide when to book with them, whether that’s once or on a recurring basis. Once the dog walker approves the booking, they show up on the user’s calendar.

When exploring visual design, I had made a dark and a light version of the app to get a feeling of different colors.

I want to create an environment that feels clean, natural, fun, and trustworthy. While creating a mood board, I gravitated towards images that have some colors that you see in nature with an element of bright colors to add some fun and catch the users attention.

I had played around with using different colors for the theme and I ultimately decided to continue with just the natural colors. It felt more calm and trustworthy, whereas the bright colors didn’t mix well with it and felt more exciting than relaxing. I had started out with the dark theme but with some user feedback I chose to move forward with just the lighter version.

Through testing and peer review, I added some more space in the lighter version to give the home page some room. I also tried to create a clear sense of hierarchy with the sizing of typography. The sign up pages now include the titles of sections and the opportunity to skip at the very top of the page instead of it being an afterthought at the bottom. The user can see their progress through the sign up process and come back to their own profile to fill out their pet’s information. I made the profile page easier to navigate from with the navigation bar. I also organized the profile page better by having a sliding bar between different parts of the profile so it’s understood that the different parts are all in one area.

Takeaways and Next Steps

Throughout the project, I learned a lot about how to create an environment that would foster relationships between people to trust one another and how having a brand sense across the app also develops trustworthiness. Creating a system where the dog walkers are recommended by a friend in your network is one way I chose to explore developing trust. This is the first app I have ever chose to build on my own. I learned so much about the design process and how to iterate on the design with testing and feedback. I hope to create a project soon with more constraints.

If I had more time to work on the UX research, I would have explored different kinds of features and solutions to customer issues that could be implemented. I would want statistics of where users give up in the process of choosing a dog walker and how to alleviate difficulties in the process.I would also have gone in depth and created more screens of the app and its prototyping. I would further improve the app with more testing and iterations of the visual design.

Thank you for reading!