Bark App
An idea that came out of a personal experience that turned into a potential solution for others in the same situation
The Challenge
As a dog owner, especially after moving to a new area, I found it a bit difficult trying to find dog friendly spots (a park, store, etc.). Searching Yelp on their mobile app was hard to get details on dog friendly places within their search function. Random sites would sometimes have outdated information which was unclear when it was posted. It became irritating. So I thought, what if dog owners could have a similar experience Yelp, but make it more social to communicate?
The Role
I took it upon myself to create a solution that could possibly benefit all dog owners, whether or not they are new to an area or just visiting. I created Bark from start to finish. I sketched it out, evaluated and did minor user research with other owners. Designed the functionality, user flow, wireframes, and an early version of UI.
Sample User Flow
Above is a sample user flow from home screen to location detail page using the search results from the map. Since this is a pet project (pun not intended) of mine, it has been an on and off process.
Current UI Design
Here is a in progress of the UI Design for Bark with majority of the screens showing. It has been a fun challenge into working what kind of design patterns, color schemes, fonts, and the rest of the overall branding. This has gone through many changes and iterations, but it has helped pushed me further as a designer.
Note
This project was most recently worked on in 2017. It was a way for not only work further on my UX skills on my own (this was not a bootcamp project, for the record), but also to learn Sketch at the time. If I land up picking this project up again, I will put it in Figma and really dive into improvements and possible other features to add. I also would like to take another stab at the branding as well.