DouguizardAvailable

Freelance side projectProduct Designer — end to end

MakeAppet

Swipe to meet a dog or cat nearby: the dating pattern everyone knows, pointed at adoption.

The product

  • The swipe screen: For you and Nearby tabs above a full-bleed photo card of a dog with its name, age and distance, and round dismiss and like buttons below it.
    01Name, age and distance on the card; like or pass.
  • A pet profile: a large photograph, the name and distance, a four-cell grid of age, breed, sex and weight, a written description, and a primary Bark me button beside a favorite button.
    02What a photo cannot carry.
  • The match screen: a Congratulations heading with an It's a Match ribbon, the two matched pets either side of a heart, a suggested opening line, and a Say woof button above a Not now link.
    03A match, and something to say.
  • The browse screen: a location and a search field with filters, a violet panel asking for a donation on behalf of shelters, then an Adoption section with species tabs and a grid of nearby pets.
    04Browse by species, the shelters' ask included.
  • The welcome screen: a grid of photographs of dogs and their owners behind a paw mark, the line "Connect and uncover the ideal pets that match your preferences in your area", and an Explore button.
    05The premise, before any sign-up.
/ Role
Product Designer — end to end
/ Team
Solo designer, handed off to a dev team
/ Year
2018

The idea

Adoption borrows the swipe from dating apps, and puts the shelters' donation ask where the attention already is.

Context

MakeAppet applies swipe-to-match to finding a pet nearby: browse by species, swipe through what is close, and open a full profile before deciding.

What I did

  1. 01

    Nobody adopts from a photo — a tap deeper, the profile adds breed, weight, sex and a description.

  2. 02

    Two ways in — swipe to browse, or filter by species and distance when you know what you want.

  3. 03

    The shelter ask where people look — a donation panel between search and results, not buried in a menu.

/ Tools & methods
  • Sketch
  • iOS
  • Prototyping
  • Developer handoff
/ Authorship

Product design end to end, handed off to the development team that built it. Never released.

© 2026 Doug Vargas

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