Designing a trust-centred dog walking experience for busy pet owners.
WalkMate is a mobile app concept that connects dog owners with trusted local walkers - reducing the anxiety of delegating pet care through transparency, safety, and compatibility.
The project explores how digital experiences can reduce the anxiety associated with delegating pet care by improving transparency, safety, and compatibility throughout the booking process. The solution focuses on helping busy owners quickly find qualified walkers while providing reassurance through detailed profiles, behavioural matching, GPS tracking, and real-time updates.
Trust and visibility are the real bottleneck.
Many dog owners struggle to maintain a consistent walking routine due to work commitments, travel, family responsibilities, and unexpected schedule changes. While friends and family may occasionally help, these arrangements are often unreliable and difficult to scale.
The challenge becomes even greater for owners of reactive, anxious, or high-energy dogs, where trust and experience play a critical role when selecting a caregiver. Existing solutions often focus on convenience and availability but provide limited support for evaluating compatibility between walkers and individual dogs.
Key user concerns:
- Can this walker safely handle my dog?
- How do I know my dog is okay during the walk?
- Does the walker have experience with dogs like mine?
- How can I stay informed while the walk is taking place?
- How quickly can I arrange a walk when plans change?
Mapping the problem space.
To better understand the problem space, I conducted desk research, competitor analysis, and problem-space exploration informed by my own experience as a dog owner. Research focused on dog ownership trends, pet care spending behaviours, existing dog walking platforms, trust barriers, booking behaviours, and user expectations.
Platforms analysed: Rover, Wag!, and Pawshake. Focus areas included discovery flows, profile design, booking workflows, communication tools, and trust mechanisms.
Highlighted growing pet ownership in urban environments, increased willingness to invest in pet wellbeing, strong emotional attachment between owners and pets, and demand for flexible care solutions.
Maria Koleva, 32 - project manager and dog owner.
Maria has a busy and unpredictable schedule. She occasionally needs support walking her dog but struggles to trust unfamiliar caregivers, particularly because her dog has specific behavioural needs.
- Find reliable dog walkers
- Feel confident about her dog’s safety
- Stay informed throughout the walk
- Book quickly when plans change
- Limited trust in strangers
- Lack of transparency during a walk
- Difficulty assessing walker experience
- Anxiety while away from her dog
Four insights shaping the design.
- 01
Trust outweighs convenience.
Owners are unlikely to book a walker without confidence in their ability to safely care for their dog. Design response: verified profiles, ratings, reviews, and experience indicators.
- 02
Transparency reduces anxiety.
Owners want visibility into what happens during a walk. Design response: GPS tracking, photo updates, messaging, and walk history.
- 03
Compatibility matters.
Dog owners want walkers who understand their dog’s specific behavioural and physical needs. Design response: behaviour-based matching and experience filters.
- 04
Flexibility is essential.
Many users seek help due to changing schedules rather than fixed routines. Design response: quick booking and recurring walk scheduling.
How might we…
- …help owners trust someone with their dog?
- …help owners find walkers suitable for their dog’s behavioural needs?
- …reduce anxiety during the walking experience?
- …make booking a walk fast and frictionless?
Five objectives to guide every decision.
- 01
Build trust through transparency.
Provide clear information about walkers and their experience.
- 02
Simplify booking.
Reduce effort required to find and schedule a walk.
- 03
Improve safety.
Keep owners informed throughout the service.
- 04
Support dog-specific needs.
Enable better compatibility between dogs and walkers.
- 05
Encourage consistent exercise.
Make professional walking services more accessible.
A structure built around trust signals.
The information architecture was designed to keep trust-building content accessible throughout the user journey while supporting quick access to booking-related tasks.
Key sections:
- Home
- Search walkers
- Walker profiles
- Pet profiles
- Bookings
- Messaging
- Walk tracking
- Reviews
- Account management
From first booking to first review.
- 01
Create account
Quick onboarding focused on essential identity verification.
- 02
Add pet profile
Breed, age, energy level, photos — the foundation for compatibility matching.
- 03
Specify behavioural needs
Reactivity, anxiety, leash behaviour — matched to walker experience filters.
- 04
Search walkers
Location, availability, behavioural-experience filters.
- 05
Review profiles & book
Verified credentials, reviews, and quick confirmation flow.
- 06
Track walk & leave review
Real-time GPS, photo updates, post-walk feedback closes the loop.
Low-fi exploration.
The wireframing phase focused on validating navigation structure, information hierarchy, booking flow, and walker discovery experience. Key design decisions included prioritising trust indicators and reducing friction within the booking process.
Trust, visibility, simplicity.
The final interface was designed around three core principles.
- 01
Trust
Detailed walker profiles, ratings, reviews, and experience indicators.
- 02
Visibility
Real-time updates and GPS tracking.
- 03
Simplicity
A streamlined booking experience requiring minimal effort.
Building trust into every interaction.
One of the primary challenges identified during research was establishing trust between dog owners and walkers. WalkMate incorporates multiple trust-building mechanisms across the experience.
- 01
Walker verification
Clear profile information and credentials.
- 02
Ratings & reviews
Social proof from previous customers.
- 03
Behaviour expertise indicators
Visibility of walker experience with specific dog types and behaviours.
- 04
Real-time updates
GPS tracking and status notifications.
- 05
Photo sharing
Visual confirmation throughout the walk.
- 06
Walk history
Records of previous services and activity.
Testing the prototype with real users.
Evaluate whether users could successfully find and book a suitable dog walker using the prototype.
Moderated usability testing using an interactive Figma prototype with 1 dog owner unfamiliar with the application. Tasks: create a pet profile, search for a suitable walker, review walker information, complete a booking.
What worked:
- Navigation felt intuitive
- Booking process was straightforward
- Walker profiles were informative
- 01
Matching logic was not obvious
Users were unaware that matching occurred behind the scenes. Recommendation: make matching criteria more visible.
- 02
Behaviour tags were overlooked
Important compatibility information received little attention. Recommendation: increase prominence and visual hierarchy.
- 03
Walker selection took longest
Users wanted additional confidence before making a choice. Recommendation: strengthen trust signals and expertise indicators.
- 04
Map interaction created minor friction
Some hesitation occurred during location selection.
Recommendation: improve discoverability and guidance.
A complete UX process, validated.
WalkMate successfully demonstrates a complete UX process, from problem definition and research through to prototyping and usability testing.
The project reinforced the importance of trust as a primary design consideration within service-based marketplaces and highlighted how transparency can significantly influence user confidence and decision-making.
The usability testing validated the overall booking experience while identifying opportunities to further strengthen matching visibility and compatibility communication.
Trust is the real product. Everything else is the packaging.
Where it could go next.
- 01
AI-powered matching
Recommendations based on dog behaviour, breed characteristics, and previous bookings.
- 02
Smart walker recommendations
Learning from user preferences and booking history.
- 03
Expanded care services
Pet sitting, day care, training sessions, and veterinary support.
- 04
Health tracking integration
Activity monitoring through wearable devices.
- 05
Community features
Owner groups, recommendations, and local pet events.
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