Hate leaving your pet for more than a few hours? Don't trust anyone to properly care and love for your four legged fur baby? Chow allows you to find sitters in your area and keep tabs on them while you're away. The owner gets real time alerts when the sitter arrives, leaves, and checks tasks off the checklist. The in-app chat allows the sitter to send updates through out their sitting. The sitter also has instant access to emergency contacts set up by the owner.
This app is similar in that you can rate the sitter and send them messages and requests throughout the day. You can receive images from the sitter for peace of mind. This app had the best itnerface.
They offer different services such as dog walking, a quick drop in, or boarding. You are given a list of people from your area where you can read their reviews and pick the one for you. This is my main inspiration resource.
This app is for house sitters, like mine, except this app is basically a mobile classified listing. The owner puts out an ad about what they need, and sitters reach out to them. There is no interaction and the interface is outdated.
1. Choose your sitter based on pay, reviews, skills, experience, etc.2. Schedule a meet-up with pet sitter3. Daily to-do lists that the sitter can check off as they go4. A notification system when the sitter arrives and leaves your residence5. A notes section as reminders for the sitter on food or health information6. Chat section for owner to check in7. Have emergency contacts list for sitter, directions to vet, and a back up sitter if need be8. Leave reviews for both the sitter and the owner to help future users
Margie, Crazy Cat Lady
Margie is a 35 yr old woman who lives in a small apartment with her 12 cats. They mean everything to her and she hates leaving them. She was offered a free 12 night cruise and is reluctant to go because she can’t trust anyone to properly care for her cats. She has never been away from them for more than 4 hours. She needs a get away and can’t pass up this opportunity to meet an exotic island man. This app would allow her to hand select her sitter that understands her and her cats’ needs. The location notification and mood tracking collar would keep her at ease so she could check in on them every 15 minutes.
Craig, Reptile Collector
Craig is a 48 yr old man who lives in a dark, dungeon like house with his 9 snakes and 6 lizards. He collects exotic reptiles and treats them like royalty. He is planning on taking his mom a trip to Italy and needs someone with experience with reptiles to watch after them while he is gone. This app allows him to pick the exact person needed for a job like this, someone just as passionate about reptiles as he is. The emergency contact list is important to him since very few vets in the area will accept his pets in case of an emergency. He likes the idea of a mood tracking collar and looks forward to testing it on his Komodo Dragon.
Julie, Bargain Shopper
Julie is a 46 yr old stay at home mom. She needs a vacation and planned a wonderful trip to disney for her family. She now needs someone to take care of the dog while they are gone. She doesn’t trust kennels or her mother-in-law so she needs a reliable service that she knows she is getting her money’s worth. The location notification and the interactive checklist will give Julie peace of mind that she is getting what she paid for and isn’t getting ripped off. Being able to sort sitters by price means that she can find the right sitter at the right price.
Kim, Dog Lover
Kim is a 25 yr old vet tech who loves animals, especially dogs. She has three dogs that she treats like children. She works long days and needs someone to stop in and take care of her babies mid day. She needs someone reliable and lovable to give her peace of mind during the day. The location notification sets her mind at ease knowing her pups are being taken care of rather than wondering and worrying. The mood tracker allows her to monitor them while she is away. She loves giving her sitters good reviews so they can continue to care and love for more dogs.
Barry, The Big Softie
Barry is a 56 yr old biker who is planning a cross country trip with his gang. He unfortunately can’t take his little love bug named Precious. He wouldn’t dare leave Precious in a kennel so he needs someone to take care of her at home. Barry will be on the bike most of the day so won’t have access to his phone very often. The emergency contact list helps put him at ease if the sitter needs any help. The checklist and notes section will help the sitter remember everything they need to do without reaching out to Barry with questions.
1. Log in and check out the full list of sitters in your area
Some minor hesitation when users arrived to the "home page" which is the sittings page. This would be resolved in real life scenarios when that screen would be blank with a message saying "You have no sittings scheduled, find a sitter to set up an appointment" and a link to the search page. This prototype is set up as if someone already used it and was familiar with it. A new user would have some guidance on the emtpy pages.
2. You just got another dog! HOORAY!! Add your new pet to your profile.
No issues.
3. You need to find a sitter near you. You want to hire the closest one that offers Boarding. Request a sitting for your 3 day vacation in July.
Some users did not notice rght away that it was sorted by closest, this can be reoslved by adding a sorting button next to the filter button.
4. You’re on vacation and want to check in on your sitter, Kristine. You want to make sure that they got their 2 mile walk yesterday.
Took some time to see the "active" sitting button at the top. It may blend in too much with the top nav that users are just skipping over it but this would also be solved by having guidance on empty pages when a new account is made.
5. Your sitter sent you a picture of your pups this morning. You miss them terribly. Go back and view the image again.
No issues. I was surprised that all but one user went through the messages tab on the main nav. There is also a messaging icon on the sitting page itself which takes you directly to the conversation with that sitter.
6. You’re still on vacation and just found out that the emergency contact you have set up in the app is away on vacation as well. Edit your emergency contact to someone close to home in case your sitter needs them.
No issues.
7. Your current sitter Kristine is doing an awesome job. You want to make sure you can easily find her next time you leave. Add the sitter to your favorites.
No issues.
8. You hired Chris last week for 30 minute checkins. He was a bit of a disappointment. According to his timesheet, he was only there for 20 minutes each day. Leave him a bad review.
Slight hesitation in finding the past sitters but I think the concept of the "sittings" was still slightly confusing for some users. This again would be solved by having guidance on empty pages when a new account is created.
9. You’re the sitter and you went out to run some errands. Your car won’t start and the tow truck won’t be there for hours. You need to reach out to the emergency contact from the owner to cover for you while you wait.
No issues.
10. You’re the sitter and you just finished your daily 2 mile walk. Check it off the checklist to show the owner it has been completed.
No issues.
