LITTLE PAW: DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A USER-CENTERED PET CARE MOBILE APPLICATION USING UI/UX PRINCIPLES

Abstract: As the reliance on mobile apps to perform daily activity has grown, there is a need for better designed, unified digital platforms in various specific areas. While the pet care industry is expanding, it still doesn't have a comprehensive mobile application with service integration abilities and a great user experience. In this paper, I describe the development of a mobile application that takes care of pets, designed through the Figma platform and based on a method called Double Diamond. The app brings together grooming, pet grooming food delivery, veterinary visits, medicine management, walking and training in one convenient, easy-to-use application. The design follows Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1 AA) standards, includes a reusable Figma component library and provides an emotional visual identity based on a consistent color palette and typographic system. The current market of Rover, Petco and Waggle is analyzed for key design issues. The proposed system is designed to solve these problems by a structured information architecture, concise three steps user flows, and an accessibility-first component design. The study shows that systematic use of user-centered design principles can lead to an improvement in the navigational efficiency and service discoverability as is measurable in mobile pet care applications.

Keywords: UI/UX Design, Mobile Application Design, Pet Care Application, Figma Prototyping, User-Centered Design, Accessibility, Information Architecture, Double Diamond Methodology