Petly

Petly is a social platform designed for pet owners to share moments, explore content, track moods, and connect with other animal lovers. My approach focused on friendly visual design, intuitive navigation, and lightweight interaction patterns that keep the user flow simple.

This concept includes color exploration, UI kits, micro-interactions, and a complete high-fidelity prototype built in Figma. Below are selected screens from the visual system and interface design process.

Visit Prototype
Finalized splash page design Finalized login page design Finalized home page design Finalized comments page design Finalized reactions page design Finalized messages page design Finalized search page design Finalized notifications page design

What is the problem?

Pet owners love sharing their furry friends online, but most platforms are too noisy and people-focused. There’s no easy way to express moods, discover pets by vibe, or enjoy a feed free of human drama. Petly creates a calm, joyful space just for pets — where every tag, post, and connection celebrates them.

What is the goal?

Petly is a lightweight social app for pet lovers, focused on emotional tagging and calm discovery. Users can post with mood, location, and reason tags, explore vibe-based filters, and enjoy anonymous browsing or pet profiles. The experience feels relaxed, joyful, and entirely pet-centered.

Research Insights

To understand what pet owners were missing, I analyzed platforms like Instagram and Reddit. While Instagram is full of pet content, it lacks meaningful tagging and feels cluttered. Reddit communities such as r/aww offer strong engagement but provide no emotional context or personalization.

Through 10 user interviews and a short survey, pet owners expressed a desire for a calmer, pet-only space — one where they could tag moods like “sleepy,” “snuggly,” or “chaotic,” discover pets by vibe, and avoid the drama of people-centered feeds.

Jay — The Dog Dad

Jay, 34, lives in the suburbs with his energetic Golden Retriever. He enjoys documenting their outdoor adventures and connecting with other large-dog owners. Jay avoids noisy, drama-heavy platforms and gravitates toward community-driven spaces where sharing feels genuine.

  • Motivations: Connect with big-dog lovers
  • Barriers: Impersonal interactions

Nina — The Cat Mom

Nina, 28, lives in a cozy city apartment with her orange tabby. She loves sharing soft, aesthetic moments and prefers smaller, more intimate spaces where she can express her cat’s moods and photos without being overwhelmed by noise or off-topic social media content.

  • Motivations: Pet-focused feed
  • Barriers: Off-topic content
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Design Process

Pet lovers wanted a calm, expressive, pet-centered environment free from the chaos of typical social platforms. My design process focused on identifying emotional needs, simplifying interactions, and creating a visual language that feels joyful and soothing.

Through early sketches, low-fidelity mappings, and iterative feedback, I shaped a product that highlights moods, moments, and connection without overwhelming users.

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Visual Evolution

I started with low-fidelity wireframes to define structure and flow without focusing on aesthetics. Once the navigation and hierarchy felt intuitive, I built the high-fidelity designs using a soft, friendly visual system inspired by pet moods and expressive tagging.

The final screens include the Home Feed, Posting flow, Search, Profiles, Messages, and Notifications — all designed to feel light, warm, and emotionally expressive.

wireframe 1 wireframe 2 wireframe 3 wireframe 4 wireframe 5 wireframe 6
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Interactive Prototype

Once the visual system was finalized, I connected all key screens in Figma to test the full user journey. This clickable prototype helped refine transitions, navigation flow, and micro-interactions across the app.

The prototype mappings illustrate how users move through screens via icons, gestures, and browsing patterns — bringing the entire Petly experience to life.

Petly Prototype Map