Dakia Canada was approached by a forward-thinking client who identified a gap in the market for a dog-centric social media platform. This client envisioned a space where dogs could connect with each other, discover local dog parks, and access valuable resources like dog recipes and training information.
How might we use design to create a social media platform catered towards dog-owners in North America and Europe?
The solution is ChewyBook, a full-service social media platform complete with the ability to follow friends, chat with other dog owners, as well as discover new shops, cafes, and more for your dog.
To ensure ChewyBook addressed a genuine market need, I began by conducting a competitive analysis of existing platforms like Dogpack. This research provided valuable insights into current user behavior and feature sets. Additionally, I created a moodboard to visually define the app's aesthetic and user experience. Finally, I designed a general user flow for the app to inform the design and development of the app.
After designing the screens in Figma, I handed off the designs to our developer, who developed the app inside of FlutterFlow. During the development phase, I iterated the designs multiple times to ensure user-centric design standards were being continuously met.
For example, the screens in Figure 3 were added after the first iteration to ensure the user is able to more easily understand the current state of the app. After development, our QA team reported more positive feedback from users.
After development and iterating the design a few times, I believe that I am better able to understand User-Centric design and can implement those principles better.
I also think that we would benefit from a larger design team, as I was the only designer for this app. However, being the only designer for this project also taught me how to communicate with developers and product owners, refining my communication skills.
ChewyBook is now available for download in Canada on the App Store and the Google Play Store.
