Vision & requirements
Decide what to build and write the requirements.
03 / FOUNDER CASE STUDY · iOS & ANDROID
PetTopia.
A social app for pet owners.
Built and run by me.
I built PetTopia from scratch so people could share their pets, discover others, and take part in community tournaments. I designed and developed the app myself, then launched it on iOS and Android.
Apple App Store release Google Play release
See how the app worked
I also handled testing, maintenance, and marketing.
SCREENS FROM THE APP
01 / THE IDEA
An app built
around people’s pets.
I wanted a dedicated place for pet owners to share and get involved.
PetTopia combined a daily feed with discovery and community competitions. People could follow familiar pets, find new ones, and participate by posting or voting.
The challenge was giving people a reason to do something after looking at a photo. Tournaments became an important part of that: a way to participate even when someone had nothing new to post.
02 / MY ROLE
I was responsible
for the whole app.
When I decided to add a feature, I was also the person designing it, building it, testing it, and explaining it to users.
Design & development
Work through the screens and build the app.
Testing & launch
Test the app and handle both store releases.
Maintenance & marketing
Maintain the app and get it in front of people.
After launch, I continued maintaining the app and working on marketing.
03 / HIGHLIGHTS & DISCOVERY
Finding posts
worth a look.
Highlights gave people a daily starting point. Discover let them choose what to browse next.
Highlights and DiscoverSwitch between the two screens.
01 / HIGHLIGHTSPut the photo
Put the photo
first.
I kept the photo large, with the pet’s name and caption just below it. Daily and Following let people choose between the day’s highlights and pets they already followed.
A reset time showed when the daily selection would change.
Why this layout
The photo is the reason to stop and look. The pet’s name and caption should be easy to find without taking over the screen.
02 / DISCOVERSearch for something.
Search for something.
Or pick a category.
Discover paired search with Fresh, New Faces, Dogs, Cats, Trending, and General categories.
Each category showed a few posts as a preview. People could see what caught their attention before opening a category, or search when they knew what they were looking for.
Why this layout
Search and categories serve different needs. I kept both on the same screen so browsing didn’t require a search term.
04 / TOURNAMENTS
Give people
something to join in on.
Tournaments gave people a way to enter their pet, vote on other posts, and come back for the results.
Which competition can I join?→What do I do next?→What happened when it finished?
01
Choose a competition
The tournament page listed daily, weekly, and community competitions. Each card showed the format, time left, entry requirements, and whether someone could vote or compete.
The next actionChoose whether to vote or enter.
02
Compare two entries
Daily voting showed two posts as Entry A and Entry B. The photos took up most of the screen, and people could vote without having to post anything themselves.
The interactionVote on the entries, rather than the profile names.
03
See the result
History kept the winning entry and top five placements after a tournament ended. People could return to see which pets placed and look at the winning post.
The conclusionKeep results available after voting ends.
05 / LAUNCH & MAINTENANCE
Getting PetTopia
into both app stores.
I handled the work of building, testing, and releasing the app.
PetTopia was released exclusively through the Apple App Store and Google Play. After launch, I continued maintaining it and working on marketing.
Because I was doing the development too, I could follow a design decision all the way into the released app.
THE RELEASED APP
PetTopia brought together a feed, discovery, recurring tournaments, voting, and results people could revisit.
My own product, from idea through maintenance.Getting it launched and getting people to keep using it were different challenges.
06 / WHAT I LEARNED
What I’d approach
differently next time.
These are the areas I’d revisit based on reviewing and running the app.
Let people look
before signing up.
People had to register before seeing the content. I’d rethink that order and simplify onboarding so they could get a feel for the app before committing to an account.
Get the photos
and videos right.
Cropping, image sizing, and video playback needed more attention. In an app built around pet posts, problems there get in the way of the main reason someone opened it.
Think about sharing
while designing the feature.
The anonymity decision showed me how a voting feature could also affect marketing. I’d think through how people invite others in while designing participation, rather than leave it until later.
“With PetTopia, I had to follow through on my own product decisions: design the screens, build them into the app, test them, and keep the app running after launch.”BUILDING PETTOPIA
APP SCREENSHOTS
A closer look at the app.
Select a screen to inspect it. Use the arrow keys to move through the gallery.
Original app screenshots. Open one to inspect it at full size.