Bark & Rescue is a location based community-driven mobile app designed to help dog owners respond quickly to local incidents. Users can report events such as lost dogs, dog fights, injuries, or found pets, while nearby community members receive real-time notifications within a defined radius, enabling faster awareness and assistance.
Role
Product designer
Platform
Mobile application
Client
Paul James (Director), Bark & Rescue Ltd.
Problem statement
Dog owners currently lack a dedicated, real-time platform to report and respond to local incidents such as lost pets, found dogs, or emergencies. Without a centralized, location-based system, critical information is not shared instantly with nearby users, limiting timely awareness and community response. There is a need for a solution that enables immediate incident reporting and instant notifications within a defined radius to improve safety and coordination within local dog owner communities.
Research phase
Market research: Analyzed the pet care and community safety space to understand user behavior, existing gaps, and opportunities for real-time incident reporting within local dog owner communities.
Journey mapping: Mapped end-to-end user journeys to identify key touchpoints, emotional states, and friction areas when reporting or responding to dog-related incidents.
Project scope: Defined the core problem, target users, and feature boundaries to ensure a focused MVP, prioritizing real-time reporting and location-based notifications.
Design phase
User flows: Created structured user flows to define how users report incidents, receive notifications, and interact with alerts within the app.
Wireframing: Developed low-fidelity wireframes to explore layout structures and validate interaction patterns before moving into visual design.
Visual branding: Established a visual identity system to reflect trust, urgency, and community safety through color, typography, and UI style direction.
High Fidelity designs and prototyping: Designed polished UI screens translating concepts into a complete user experience, focusing on clarity, accessibility, and real-time interaction efficiency.
High fidelity designs
Designed polished UI screens translating concepts into a complete user experience, focusing on clarity, accessibility, and real-time interaction efficiency. Total 100+ screens designed.
User onboarding
Creating alert
Design handover
To ensure a smooth transition from design to development, I prepared a comprehensive handoff package containing high-fidelity screens, reusable components, design specifications, interaction details, and responsive layouts. All designs were organized within a structured design system, with clearly defined typography, colors, spacing, and component states to maintain consistency throughout the product.
Detailed annotations, user flows, and edge-case scenarios were documented to help developers accurately implement the experience while minimizing ambiguity. Regular collaboration with the development team helped validate feasibility, streamline implementation, and ensure the final product closely matched the intended user experience.