Pet owners sometimes need help caring for their pets. The challenge was to create a service to connect pet owners with pet sitters. It was also important to consider how to help pet owners trust that their pets are in safe hands.

I was the sole product designer who did an end-to-end design process:

User interviews + Market Research

Persona + User Flow

Wireframes

Visual Design

Design System

Prototype + Usability Testing

The outcome was an all-in-one pet care service mobile app with a simple 4 step onboarding process and branding that conveys trust, yet playfulness.

Here are few usability testing metrics from 3 total participants:

8.5/10 average for overall user experience

9.3/10 average for visual and branding

9.0/10 average for trustworthiness and safety

I remotely interviewed 3 pet owners with four of the same questions:

Do you ever ask friends or use service for pet sitting? Why? How often?

What do you like/dislike about the service?

Are there any services or features missing?

What are the most important things you look for in a pet sitter?

Their answers varied due to experience, but few key insights were:

2 interviewees wanted to see their pets on camera during real time

3 interviewees look for reviews

2 interviewees said price is important, but would pay more if service is great

I analyzed and compared direct and indirect competitors. Key insights include:

4 of the 5 apps offer multiple services to choose from

3 of the 5 apps don't have an option to sort profiles

2 of the 5 apps use GPS to track walks

Below is Version 1:

User can login or sign up

4 steps to onboard

Empty state occurs since there are no appointments yet

Below is Version 2:

User must upload multiple photos to verify self and their pet(s)

I changed the stepper UI to reflect Material Design more accurately

To explore branding, I created a quick moodboard:

There were 2 opposite directions to consider

The former was more suitable

I used Material Palette plugin in Figma to help create my color palette:

Blue is the primary color

Pink is the secondary color

Different tints and shades help with variation and accessibility

UI Theme: Material Design 2

Font: Fira Sans and Fira Sans Extra Condense

Colors: Blue(primary), Pink(secondary), and neutrals

Icons: Material Design and Iconify

Illustrations: Icons8

Images: Unsplash

I remotely tested with 3 participants to gauge the following:

Task completion

Pain points or obstacles

User experience

UI/Branding attraction

Trust/safety impression

Once again, here are few usability testing metrics as a result:

8.5/10 average for overall user experience

9.3/10 average for visual and branding

9.0/10 average for trustworthiness and safety

Here are a few key insights:

Participant A expected to see a welcome/confirmation page after onboarding

Participant B was uneasy with adding payment before finding a sitter

Participant C thought editing sitter preferences in onboarding isn't necessary

Based on my findings, here are my design iterations for V2:

I added a welcome/confirmation page after onboarding was completed

I made adding payment optional during onboarding

I enabled sitter preferences page to be continued without being edited