Winged Wellness App Design
Case StudyProject Overview
Winged Wellness was a commissioned concept for an avian-care app: one place for bird owners to find specialized vets, trustworthy care information, quality products, and each other. The name does the explaining. Winged is the avian focus. Wellness is care beyond the vet visit.
I delivered the brand identity, mockups, and an interactive Adobe XD prototype. The client shelved the project before development. This page is the thinking behind those deliverables.
My Contributions
Research: Interviewed a friend who keeps African Greys to build the primary persona and a Says, Thinks, Does, Feels map, and identified stakeholders beyond owners: vets, pet stores, and rescues.
Ideation: Structured the app around four branded areas: Avian Aid for veterinary care, Perch Picks for stores, Wing Tips for education, and Parrot Parlour for community.
Design: Created the geometric bird mark, a teal-led palette, and two avian-specific components: the BirdMarkBadge for verified avian vet expertise and the StoreScoreMeter for rating bird-product selection.
Refinement: Scoped a realistic MVP against later-stage ideas, and prototyped the core flows in XD: persistent navigation, list and map vet discovery, and appointment booking.
Outcome: Shelved by the client after delivery of the brand assets and prototype.
Design Notes
A geometric bird mark that can sit in a vet clinic and still feel friendly to owners. Teal sits between clinical blue and natural green. A dotted motif shows up in a few places so you recognize the brand without the interface filling up with it.
Education and community stay separate on purpose. Wing Tips is the authoritative care content. Parrot Parlour is peer discussion, so forum chatter doesn't mix in with expert information.
Research
The brief came from the client's own life as a parrot owner. Even in a big city, avian vets, solid care information, and well-stocked bird supplies are hard to find. I looked at generic pet-care apps to see where they fall short for bird owners.
Persona
Jessica Martin
28 · Project Coordinator · Ottawa · Two African Greys
Jessica is based on an interview with a friend in Ottawa who keeps two African Greys. The name is a stand-in. She is a knowledgeable owner juggling a demanding job with the specialized care those birds need. Scarce avian vets, conflicting online advice, and thin product selection are the problems the app is built around. The wider audience includes casual owners, exotic-parrot enthusiasts, educators, and rescues.
“There has to be a vet who actually knows birds.” Asks forums which products are safe, and compares notes with other owners before trying anything new.
Worries that conflicting online information will lead to a mistake. Questions whether pet-store staff advice even applies to parrots.
Drives across town for the one store with a real bird section. Bookmarks care sheets, researches symptoms late at night, and books vet visits well in advance.
Responsible for two intelligent, long-lived animals, and sometimes a bit isolated in that. She wants to feel sure about her decisions, and to talk to owners who get it.
Information Architecture
Veterinary Care
Avian Aid
List and map views with clinic cards for distance, services, hours, ratings, and booking. Finding a vet is one thing. Finding one who can treat birds is another.
Stores & Products
Perch Picks
Store discovery scored on inventory size, variety, and quality, not generic star ratings.
Education
Wing Tips
Clear, reliable content on nutrition, behaviour, training, and health, with categories and search in a quiet reading interface.
Community
Parrot Parlour
The social side of the app, using familiar forum patterns: discussion cards, replies, likes, and a prominent Start New Discussion action.
Early Ideation
Early sketches, set into a paper mockup: mobile wireframes for the app's main screens, plus first passes at the BirdMark badge and StoreScore meter.
Working out the interface and the two signature components on paper before moving into Adobe XD.
Identity Board
Montserrat
Primary: Headings & Brand
A clean geometric sans for headings and brand moments. Contemporary, without feeling clinical.
Lato
Secondary: Body, Navigation & UI
A readable sans for body text, navigation, and interface elements, chosen so Wing Tips articles stay comfortable to read.
Avian Teal
#319B92
Deep Teal
#1E6B66
Feather Mist
#EAF4F2
Charcoal
#22333B
Sand
#F4EFE6
Pebble
#9FB8B4
Signature Components
BirdMarkBadge
A verification mark for vets and clinics with real avian expertise. Finding a veterinarian is easy. Finding one qualified to treat birds is the problem BirdMark is for.
StoreScoreMeter
A gauge that rates stores on inventory size, variety, and product quality, instead of star ratings that say nothing about the bird aisle.
Prototype & Scope
The XD file is a click-through of the main paths, not a finished product: finding a vet, booking, stores, articles, the forum, and profile. The lists below are the cut. Listings, education, community, and accounts were enough to show the idea. Telehealth, payments, and live scoring need clinic partnerships and real data, so they stayed later-stage.
XD also could not handle the hamburger menu's component states, so I put that menu on its own overlay screen and kept the rest of the flow working.
In the MVP
- Vet and store listings with map discovery
- Educational content library
- Community discussions
- Profiles and settings
Later Stage
- Telehealth and emergency consultations
- Integrated payments and booking deposits
- Full BirdMark verification program
- Dynamic StoreScore algorithms