05 — Product / Visual Design
DOGO
Summary
A concept app that connects dog owners with trustworthy dog sitters — built on the insight that trust, not search, is the real product.
Intro
Three weeks. Seven teammates. Three time zones. A UX design class project at Bittiger where I led design.
Imagine you cannot take your puppy on your summer trip. DOGO helps you find a satisfactory sitter — and, more importantly, helps you trust them before you have to.
01 — The Challenge
Find a sitter you actually trust.
Finding a proper dog sitter is hard. Friends and family may not have the knowledge — one interviewee's grandma once fed her dog chicken bones out of love. Pet stores and strangers are not always trustworthy either.
The first feature was the obvious one: search nearby sitters and pet stores by time slot, home size and price. But that alone was not enough.
02 — Research
19 interviews, one equation.
We interviewed 19 dog owners across multiple cities. Nina refused to use pet stores after a bad experience. Jonny had tried apps but never actually requested a walker — even with GPS, he could not trust the person. Leonard's dog protest-fasted when sent to a friend's house.
After categorizing the data, we landed on a simple definition: Match + Professional = Trust. A sitter who knows and cares for the dog, plus the knowledge to keep it safe.
03 — Design Solution
A community, not a marketplace.
Trust is not a one-day project. DOGO is built as a community of dog lovers who share moments, attend events together, and gradually learn who they would trust with their dog.
The main menu is built around five intents: Moments (online community), Events (offline meetups), Hosts (verified sitters and pet stores), Chat, and Profile. The store-style flow is there, but it sits underneath the relationships.
04 — Hi-Fi
Warm, one-handed, never sticky.
Hi-fi screens cover Moments, Events and event details, Hosts and host details, Chat, and Profile. The color story is warm enough to live on the home screen; the type is soft enough to feel like a family album. Verified certificates surface as a small mark on profiles — professionalism is shown, never shouted.
