Pet Care
Role: UX/UI Designer
Pet owners often feel overwhelmed by caring for their furry friends—finding trusted caregivers, choosing the right services, managing schedules, and ensuring their pets’ well-being, all while learning about proper care practices.
How might we design an intuitive app that centralizes all pet care services—house sitting, drop-in visits, daycare, and caregiver options—while providing guidance on pet well-being, thereby empowering users to care for their pets with ease and confidence?
Imagine wanting to grow your own garden but feeling overwhelmed by where to start — from choosing the right seeds to finding organic supplies. I envisioned a place where everything a gardener needs could come together effortlessly.
Garden Hub began as a simple seed of inspiration: to create an app that nurtures not just plants, but also the passion for sustainable, organic gardening — making it easy, joyful, and accessible for everyone. This is the story of how that idea took root and began to grow.
Project background and personal journey
Caring for pets can be both joyful and challenging. Pet owners often struggle to find reliable caregivers, manage schedules, and ensure their pets’ overall well-being. The idea for Pet Care emerged from the need to create a seamless platform where all pet care services—house sitting, drop-in visits, doggy daycare, and caregiver options—are centralized. The app aims to simplify pet care, offer trustworthy solutions, and provide guidance for pet owners, making pet parenting easier, stress-free, and enjoyable.
As a UX designer passionate about creating meaningful experiences, I was drawn to the challenge of understanding both pet owners’ and caregivers’ needs. I immersed myself in research, conducting surveys and interviews to uncover pain points, preferences, and expectations. Through iterative design, wireframing, and high-fidelity prototyping in Figma, I crafted a solution that balances usability with empathy. Pet Care is not just an app—it’s a reflection of my commitment to designing intuitive, human-centered experiences that make everyday life better.
Simplifying pet care, one app at a time!
Every step of your pet’s care, made simple and accessible.
PROBLEM
Many pet owners face challenges in managing the day-to-day care of their furry companions. Finding reliable caregivers, scheduling visits, ensuring proper nutrition, and keeping track of health needs can be overwhelming, especially for busy individuals and families.
Currently, pet care solutions are fragmented. Owners must juggle multiple platforms, rely on word-of-mouth recommendations, or navigate unclear service options. This often leads to stress, missed care opportunities, and uncertainty about the quality of services.
Pets are integral to their owners’ lives, yet inconsistent access to trustworthy care and guidance can compromise their well-being. The lack of a centralized, user-friendly platform makes it difficult for owners to confidently manage their pets’ needs, creating unnecessary friction in what should be an enjoyable and rewarding experience.
There is a clear need for an all-in-one app that brings together care services, expert guidance, and helpful tools, making pet ownership simpler, safer, and more enjoyable. By providing a reliable, accessible solution, the app can empower owners to focus on bonding with their pets while ensuring their health and happiness are always a priority.
Research: Competitive & SWOT Analyses
SWOT: Rover & Wag!
SWOT: PetDesk & Pawtrack
PetDesk and Pawtrack are strong in pet health management, offering reminders, vet appointment tracking, and integration with veterinary services. However, they lack on-demand caregiving, service booking, and community features, limiting their utility for pet owners who want a complete solution. In comparison, Pet Care combines health guidance with a centralized platform for booking trusted caregivers, daycare, and other services, addressing these gaps. While PetDesk and Pawtrack could expand to include caregiving and community support, Pet Care already targets this opportunity, providing a holistic, user-friendly experience. The main challenge for Pet Care is maintaining trust and reliability, but its integrated approach positions it as a more comprehensive solution for pet owners.
PetDesk and Pawtrack excel at pet health management, providing reminders, vet appointment tracking, and integration with veterinary services. However, they lack on-demand caregiving services and community support, limiting their usefulness for pet owners seeking a complete solution. In contrast, Pet Care combines health guidance with a centralized platform for booking trusted caregivers, daycare, and other pet services, addressing these gaps. While PetDesk and Pawtrack could expand into service booking and community features, Pet Care already targets this opportunity, offering a holistic, user-friendly experience. The main challenge for Pet Care lies in maintaining trust and reliability, but its integrated approach positions it as a more comprehensive solution for pet owners.
User Surveys & Interviews
I explored local pet communities, veterinary clinics, pet daycare centers, and online forums to gain first-hand insights from both new and experienced pet owners. Engaging directly with them through interviews and observations helped me understand the real challenges they face in managing their pets’ daily needs.
Through this hands-on research, I uncovered pain points across the pet care journey—from finding reliable caregivers and scheduling services to accessing trustworthy guidance on health, nutrition, and well-being. These insights were crucial in shaping a user-centered design that genuinely addresses the needs of pet owners, making pet care simpler, more reliable, and stress-free.
User Survey Takeaways
Before conducting the survey, I carefully crafted questions to understand how pet owners currently find caregiving services, manage their pets’ daily routines, and what support they wished for in a single app. The survey reached a diverse group of users—from first-time pet owners to experienced caretakers—and revealed two major themes: difficulty in finding reliable caregivers and a strong need for trustworthy guidance on pet health and well-being.
Pet owners expressed a clear desire for convenience, such as booking trusted sitters, daycare, or drop-in visits through one platform. Experienced owners also highlighted the importance of accurate advice on nutrition, health, and daily care routines. These insights highlighted the fragmentation in current pet care solutions and confirmed the opportunity for an integrated app. This feedback reinforced the potential for Pet Care to become a go-to solution, providing simplicity, reliability, and peace of mind for the pet owner community.
Card Sorts & Affinity Mapping
Following the survey findings, I conducted card sorting and affinity mapping sessions with pet owners. These exercises revealed how users naturally grouped their needs—caregiving services, health guidance, reminders, and additional support—while also surfacing their priorities and expectations from a one-stop pet care app.
The insights highlighted not only functional needs but also the emotional value users place on trust, convenience, and peace of mind. By clustering themes, I was able to shape Pet Care’s structure and navigation into an intuitive flow that resonates with both new and experienced pet owners.
User Persona
Add a Title
Empathy Map
Meet the Users:
Personas, Task Flows, Journeys
To begin wireframing, I stepped into the daily lives of pet owners — observing routines at dog parks, visiting local vet clinics, and engaging in online pet communities.
Conversations with both first-time and long-time pet parents uncovered the realities of balancing busy schedules with consistent pet care, from managing health checkups to arranging trusted caregiving. These insights shaped relatable user personas for Pet Care, which then guided task flows and user journeys that reflect authentic pet parenting experiences.
This research uncovered patterns of trust, convenience, and reliability, laying the groundwork for a design that supports owners in giving their pets the best possible care.
Exploration, Ideation:
1A & Wireframes
During the exploration and ideation phase for Pet Care, my focus was on the core features that would genuinely support pet owners — booking trusted caregivers, accessing pet health guidance, and managing reminders for feeding, walks, and vet visits.
I mapped the journeys of Sarah, a busy professional looking for reliable daycare for her dog; Rahul, a first-time pet parent who needs guidance on nutrition and exercise; and Saira, who wants quick access to grooming and emergency support services. Key features identified included a seamless booking system, personalized health tips, and integrated scheduling tools.
Based on these insights, I sketched initial concepts that gradually transformed into wireframes for Pet Care, laying the foundation for an intuitive and supportive pet care experience.
In the ideation phase for Pet Care, I focused on key features highlighted by our personas—seamless caregiver booking, accessible health guidance, and easy-to-manage reminders for feeding, walking, and vet visits.
I mapped out the user journey for pet parents like Sarah, a busy professional seeking reliable daycare for her dog, and Rahul, a first-time owner needing support with nutrition and exercise. Central to the app’s design was a personalized pet dashboard that tracked appointments, health routines, and upcoming tasks. Features like a caregiver catalog, in-app tips for well-being, and notifications for medications or grooming were also sketched.
From these insights, I moved into wireframing, emphasizing smooth navigation and clear organization of pet care tasks. The wireframes evolved into mid-fidelity prototypes, refined through feedback, to create an experience that felt trustworthy and supportive—helping owners confidently manage every aspect of their pets’ care. These prototypes acted as a blueprint, demonstrating the app’s structure, interaction points, and intuitive flow.
Garden Hub taught me
Pet Care has been a path of exploration and growth, transforming from a simple concept into a full-fledged solution designed to make pet ownership easier and more reassuring. This independent project was inspired by the everyday realities of pet parents—those searching for dependable caregivers, owners looking for practical health advice, and families juggling multiple routines. Their voices shaped the direction of the design, ensuring the app provides real support for both pets and their owners.
Working solo allowed me to approach the process with clarity and empathy. I immersed myself in understanding the trust, care, and convenience pet owners seek, translating these needs into features that are straightforward yet impactful. Building this solution reinforced the importance of designing with compassion, while also sharpening my ability to move from research to concepts to polished design in a structured and user-focused way.
