Dark-first mobile app for dog activity tracking — GPS routes, health metrics, Apple Watch integration, and a design system built for clarity in low-light contexts.
TailSync innovates the concept of dog activity tracking with a special focus on daily walks. Beyond basic duration and distance, the app records your dog's favourite places — giving owners the option to create personalised routes that suit their style and needs.
The goal was clear: ensure a healthy, active and happy life for your faithful friend, through a product that felt as natural to use on an outdoor walk as it did at home on the sofa.
Designing for outdoor, on-the-go use introduced constraints that a standard bright-mode app would ignore — glare, one-handed usage, gloved fingers, and split attention. Every UI decision had to account for the real context of use: a walk in the park with a dog on the lead.
"The hardest part wasn't the tracking features — it was making a data-rich app feel effortless when your hands are full and you're moving."
Building a component library that maintained contrast ratios and readability across true dark backgrounds, OLED-optimised for outdoor sunlight conditions.
Designing a coherent experience across phone and watch — same session, different form factors. The watch UI had to surface only what mattered mid-training.
From outdoor walks to swimming and mountain hikes — the activity model had to be flexible enough to cover very different session types without overcomplicating the UI.
Dog owners and dogsitters have different needs in the same app — owner profiles, dog profiles, and session handoffs all had to feel intuitive for both.
About & goal · Design process — double diamond
The design process followed the full Double Diamond — from competitive analysis and user interviews through to interactive prototyping and a complete UI kit ready for handoff.
Product design — home, activity log, Apple Watch companion, GPS tracking
Each user type has distinct needs, routines, and moments of app use. Persona work shaped which features surfaced first and how session data was displayed across dog owner, rookie owner, and dogsitter contexts.
Experienced pet owner who wants detailed health tracking, historical data, and GPS route logging for their dog's daily routine.
First-time owner, anxious about doing things right. Needs clear guidance, easy session setup, and reassuring health feedback without data overload.
Manages multiple dogs, needs quick session starts, simple handoff to the real owner, and clear activity summaries to share after each walk.
The palette was designed for outdoor readability — deep blacks for OLED contrast, a sparkling cyan accent that pops in sunlight, and warm greys that keep the interface feeling organic rather than clinical.
User analysis · Color palette — three personas & five-colour system
TailSync was the project where I fully committed to dark-mode-first design — not as an aesthetic choice, but as a functional requirement. It changed how I think about contrast, hierarchy, and context-aware UI permanently.
Designing for someone walking a dog outdoors — one hand, possibly gloves, bright sunlight — forced me to question every tap target, every label size, every contrast ratio from scratch.
Keeping phone and Apple Watch feeling like one product — not two — required defining a shared session model before touching any screen design. Architecture first, visuals second.