Smoll : A Dog Walking App
Project Background
Dog owners sometimes require assistance in caring for and walking their dogs, but when it comes to hiring others for this responsibility, trust becomes a significant concern.
This prompts the question:
"How might we design a trustworthy dog-walking application?"
User Research
I conducted interviews with dog owners in Bangkok by asking the following questions to empathize with the users:
Q1. Have you ever used a dog-walking/sitting service?
Q2. What do you usually do when you have to leave your dog?
Q3. Are you open to the idea of using a dog walking service for assistance?
Q4. Under what conditions would you consider using a dog-walking service?
Q5. What are the most important qualities you seek in a dog walker and the services they provide?
I then developed a user persona to serve as a reference point throughout the development process.
User Flow
After gathering user insights, it became evident that the booking process plays a significant role for users. Consequently, I designed a user flow to outline the complete process of booking a dog walker
Wireframes
Then I built high-fidelity wireframes, which consist of in-app solutions (key features).
Usability Testing
I used Maze to conduct a test for the initial prototype.
The test includes five tasks that users need to complete:
• Sign up
• Booking a dog walker
• Contact another dog owner
• Complete an active walk then rate a review
• Booking a recurring walk.
While the majority of the tasks went well, the booking a dog walker process show significant unsuccessful rate due to misclicks on Home Screen.
Therefore, I redesigned the Home Screen and conducted A/B testing.
Iteration
The consensus from the test was that the B version was preferable, prompting me to adopt design B. This led to an improvement in the misclick rate from 57.4% to 13% and a decrease in the time spent from 78.8 to 16.9 seconds.
