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Pawmates · ideation · 2026

A card that carries a neighbourhood

A facsimile of the LinkedIn profile card.

Status
Ideation and concept design. Not built, not launched, so there is no usage data yet.
Role
Product designer and PM
Scope
4 design rounds, a user flow, and a growth model with the measures I would ship it against.

01 · The problem

A city of installs is not a neighbourhood

Pawmates only works when a neighbourhood has enough people on it.

So installs spread across a city do not help much. And the app had no simple way for owners to bring in the people they already see every week, neighbours, dog park regulars, even the groomer.

02 · Where it started

The pet at the centre, not the owner

I started from LinkedIn's profile QR code and put the pet at the centre instead of the owner, because people are a lot more likely to follow a dog than a stranger.

The final Pet ID share card: a pet's photo, name, breed, neighbourhood, a short bio, a birthday and a QR code.
The share card as it stands after 4 rounds. Biscuit, Sven as the owner, Luna and Mochi are sample data, and the dog illustration is a placeholder for a real pet photo.

03 · Iterations

4 rounds, each one from feedback

v0.1Close to the reference

Version 0.1: an owner screen, a two-sided print card and a scan screen, with technical labels.

First pass, close to the LinkedIn pattern, with an owner screen, a two-sided print card and a scan screen. Still had technical labels on it.

v0.2Friendlier

Version 0.2: a bigger photo, a bio, and facts like birthday and favourite spot.

Made it friendlier, bigger photo, a bio and facts like birthday and favourite spot, and the technical details came off.

v0.3Simplified

Version 0.3: personality traits removed, a larger QR code, no scan screen, and a one-sided print card.

Cut the personality traits, made the code bigger, dropped the scan screen and made the print card one side, so it is easier to scan and cheaper to print.

v0.4Final

Version 0.4: every fact removed except the birthday.

Cut every fact except the birthday, since it is also a reason to share the card again every year.

Held constant
Pawmates purple, pill buttons and real icons, through all 4 rounds.
No counts
The scanner sees "Luna and Mochi follow Biscuit" instead of a follower number.
One token
The code carries an App Store campaign token, ?ct=petid, because App Store links ignore UTM tags.
The final one-sided print card, sized for a collar tag, a wallet or the fridge.
The print card after v0.3 went to one side. It is meant for the collar tag, the wallet or the fridge.

04 · User flow

4 taps, nothing to type

The main path is Profile, Pet ID, Share, then pick Story, Message, Save, Copy link or Print. There are 3 other ways in, a prompt right after setting up a pet's profile, a birthday reminder, and attaching the Pet ID to a Lost Pet alert.

The Pet ID button and these prompts are new. The bottom bar matches our current prototype.

User flow diagram: four screens from Profile to the share sheet, three other entry points below, and what happens after a neighbour scans the card.
The main path, the 3 other ways in, and what happens after someone scans. If they do not have Pawmates yet, the code opens the pet's profile on the web with a button to get the app.

05 · Framework

Growth loops

A growth loop treats growth as a cycle. That means one user's action creates something other people see, and that brings in the next user. The Pet ID works as a loop:

  1. An owner sets up their pet's profile.
  2. They share the Pet ID online or print it.
  3. Friends and neighbours see it.
  4. They scan it and see the pet's profile.
  5. They follow the pet, or install the app and add their own pet, and the loop starts again.
The Pet ID growth loop: five stages in a cycle, each with the measure attached, plus what starts a share and why the loop fits Pawmates.
Each stage of the loop with the measure attached to it.
It is local

A printed card gets scanned by people in the same neighbourhood, which is exactly where we need new users.

It helps people come back

Following more neighbourhood pets fills up the feed.

It is made for stories and messages

Those count for more than likes on Instagram and TikTok, and it does not need a "Download Pawmates" caption, which those platforms hold back.

It keeps working offline

A card on a collar keeps getting seen with no extra effort.

The Fogg model says a behaviour happens when motivation, ability and a prompt line up. So I kept sharing to 4 taps with nothing to type, and placed the prompts where motivation is already high, after a pet's profile is done, on the birthday, and in a Lost Pet alert. Most of the iterations were about making it easier, less to read, a bigger code, one printed side.

Growth loops: Reforge, Balfour, Winters, Kwok and Chen, 2018. Fogg behavior model: BJ Fogg, 2009. Both entries are in my design library.

06 · What I would measure

Planned, with no data yet

Share rate, scans per card split by online and print, follows per scan, installs from ct=petid, new installs that go on to add a pet, how long one loop takes, and how many scans come from the owner's own neighbourhood.

My guess for the weakest step is scan to install. So the web profile that non-members land on is the first thing I would design and test.

07 · Next steps

What happens if this gets built

  1. Design the web profile for people without the app.
  2. Build the Pet ID screen and share sheet into the prototype.
  3. Add tracking for each step of the loop.
  4. Test printed cards in one neighbourhood and compare it against one without.