Overview

Halo Collar is a GPS dog-safety wearable. As Founding / Lead Designer I designed the 0→1 mobile app, working directly with hardware and ML engineering to translate device constraints into product decisions.

The Ask

Design a consumer mobile app from zero for a hardware product whose core constraints — GPS/satellite connectivity, SIM-based firmware updates, virtual geo-fences — are set by physics and hardware, not by design.

Constraints

• GPS/satellite connectivity: signal loss, delayed fixes, battery trade-offs

• SIM-based updates: firmware changes ship slowly, UI has to tolerate stale state

• Virtual fences / geo-fences as a core interaction, not a feature

• New product category: no existing mental model to borrow from

• Onboarding had to work for non-technical pet owners

What I Did — UX Architecture

Every hardware constraint became an explicit design decision instead of an apology in a tooltip. Connectivity gaps were designed as legible states ("last known location, 4 minutes ago") instead of hidden failures. Geo-fence creation was built as a direct-manipulation map interaction, not a settings form.

Interaction Design & Onboarding

Onboarding was rebuilt from 15 minutes to under 2 through iterative, research-driven usability testing — cutting every step that didn't directly get a fence set up and a collar paired. I scaled and led the growing design team through this period.

Key Screens

• Live location with connectivity-state legibility

• Direct-manipulation geo-fence creation on the map

• Streamlined pairing & onboarding flow (15 min → under 2 min)

• Alert and notification design for fence breaches

Outcome

The company went on to raise $40M+ at a $400M valuation. The app holds 4.1★ (8.5K ratings) with 100K+ Google Play downloads. (Company outcomes shown for context — not claimed as a direct result of design work alone.)

What I'd Do Differently

Instrument connectivity-state edge cases earlier with real hardware in the field, rather than relying on simulated GPS dropout in early usability rounds.