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Design 2 (Mobile Application)
Phil and Vivian create a profile for Will
On the map, they look for dogs nearby with a good star rating. The star rating tells whether or not DogPack thinks the two dogs would be a good match (based on size, breed etc.)
Phil and Vivan find Rosey, a 3 year old Chihuahua that lives nearby. They believe she is a good match for Will so they they click the Meetup button.
Phil and Vivian propose a time, date and location to meet up with Rosey. Now they can't wait for Will to meet their new friend!
Learnability - The learnability is fairly high for this interface due to its external consistency with many other mobile apps. People who have used mobile apps are familiar with the map based interface with widgets that, when selected, bring you to a detail page.
Efficiency - For casual use, this interface is fairly efficient. The map acts as a shortcut for users to find users in their vicinity visually, versus scrolling through a list. For extended use, however, the lack of any kind of history hurts the efficiency of the app. There is no way to easily view or find dogs that you have met up with in the path.
Safety - One of the benefits of mobile apps is that almost all the interaction is done by pressing buttons. This leaves less room for errors that are caused by using more complex controls. Furthermore, there are no modes to cause mode errors, or dangerous commands that can cause description errors. One issue with this design is the inability to undo an operation. If someone were to make a mistake and press the invite button on the invite page, there is no way to undo it.
Design 2 (Forum / Blog Approach)
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