PawPal 🐾
Pet Adoption Application
Design Goal
How might we make the user (adopter) instantly connect with their potential pet(s) and make their adoption experience more pawwdorable?
So I begin to design an experience that helps adopters to find a pet that matches their home & lifestyle.
Inspiration
Stuart Little
(Courtesy : Columbia Pictures)
Marley & Me
(Courtesy : 20th Century Fox)
Instagram pages of aww-dorable puppies
(Courtesy : instagram/puppiesforall)
Friends & relatives with pets
(Image : my cousin with Coco Bean)
Research
WHY DOGS
There are all kinds of pet shelters and animal homes around the world which have a variety of pets looking for a good home.
I decided to design specifically for dogs since they are the most widely available and common pet species but sadly, also the most abandoned kind of pets (street dogs).
Needless to say, they are one of the most aww-dorable pets around (along with cats ❤) but the app can be customized to incorporate all kinds of animals.
Brainstorming
I began by understanding the given problem and writing down my initial thoughts. I broke down the factors that would affect the adoption of a pet based on the factors given in the design prompt but also some others based on primary & secondary research, hallway interviews with pet enthusiasts and shelter workers and ultimately talking to my friends and relatives who owned pets.
Brainstorming design goals
Brainstorming adoption features
Research & Contextual Inquiry
Statistics
I then started to figure out why people adopt pets, especially dogs, in the first place. From my research, I discovered that:
🐾 Dogs are one of the most preferred pets due to their relatively low maintenance, traits of loyalty and friendliness (man's best friend) and wide selection of breeds.
🐾 Around 3.3 million dogs are enrolled in a shelter or rescue home every year but there are not enough facilities to support them all. *
🐾 Roughly 1.6 million dogs are adopted and out of the 710,000 animals who enter shelters as strays, 620,000 are dogs and are returned to their owners. *
🐾 Approximately 670,000 shelter dogs are euthanized each year. *
🐾 Approximately 44% of all households in the United States have a dog. *
* Source: American Pet Products Association 2015-2016 (APPA)
Findings
From these stats and initial interviews, I found that there are many misconceptions about rescued dogs and animal shelters in general. While most adopters were influenced by word-of-mouth experiences of their friends and fellow pet owners, many were hesitant due to a variety of factors like health concerns of a shelter animal, dog's ability to adapt to the new environment and whether the new addition would fit their existing lifestyle.
“We’re skeptical about adopting from a rescue home. Those dogs are so unhealthy; might even have rabies!”
“I live alone in a studio apt and work 8-10 hours a day. My office isn’t pet friendly. I am not sure how much time I can give to that adopted dog...”
“My family had a rescued a stray pup from the street when I was a kid. He was the most loving, well-behaved dog I know. I encourage everyone to adopt. It’s life-changing for them and for you!”
“I have a 5 month old so I am looking for a more calmer, easy to train dog who won’t chew off my daughter’s toes.”
On-boarding quiz content
Competitive Analysis
I then went on to doing some top-level competitor analysis to find out which other similar apps are out there and narrow down their strong pints which I found interesting. Based on which made sense to my own design ideas, I then went on to list some potential app features, focal points in the app layout and the content to be displayed.
Establishing the Design Goals
From the research and analyses, I narrowed down on my design goals:
🐾 Design a digital platform for the users to interact with their potential dogs (meet, take the dog for a walk, etc.)
🐾 Educate users of these myths and misconceptions about rescue dogs
🐾 Generate more trust about shelters and let users connect with them personally
🐾 Get more puppies and dogs adopted rather than from high-class kennel clubs and shops
Basically, turn people from users to adopters and get more dogs adopted!
Sketches & Wireframes
Explore pets timeline
Interaction Map
Hi-fi Prototype
On-boarding quiz
For any adoption (in this case pets), there is a long process one has to go through like filling multiple forms before actually taking the pet home.
So I decided to start the adopter on-boarding process by a quiz which would help determine the adopter's preferences and initial choices w.r.t. their potential pet.
Instead of jumping straight to different types of filters like age, temperament, location etc., I first designed the questions so as to make the adopter feel valued and the entire process more legitimate.
Much more than filters
Also, sometimes the adopter may like a pet which has many more qualities than what they chose in the filter. So getting a holistic view of the adoptable pets is better rather than just applying generic filters. It takes much more than just details to get to know the pet better.
This also helps in matching the pet's personality with the adopter's lifestyle.
Curated experience
There are many cases where rescued animals are abused and not looked after well or don't have enough room to remain active.
Hence, the questions asked are structured in a way as to find out the adopter's personality but also whether their lifestyle is pet-friendly.
After the quiz, the system would analyze the answer choices and draw out pet options to choose from. This makes the user feel that the entire process is a curated experience, designed specifically for them.
The users can always go back to their PawPal Profile and edit their answers in case of changes in their preferences.
Play through the interactive prototype alongside here
or
visit https://invis.io/2EG69CMZJM7
Alternate Screen Colors
I used alternating screen colors between each quiz question so as to lessen the visual and eventual cognitive burden on users. It is shown that seeing repetitive screens (same color, text, layout, etc.), especially if they are questions, can negatively impact an app's perception. I wanted the on-boarding quiz to be interactive in a way that the user doesn't feel bored to take it. I wanted the app to capture the adopter's lifestyle and personality as accurately as possible to efficiently match them to their PawPal.
Connecting with the Pet
Explore Features
The adopters have the option to first set up meeting the dog at the shelter via the MEET PET option. This is a great way to interact with the pet (dog), take him/her for a walk and get to know their potential pet's personality. It is important that the dog should be comfortable with its owners too. Mutual liking between adopters and their pets would add to the app's popularity and reliability.
There is also an option to directly CONTACT THE SHELTER. This establishes that the pet is from a genuine source and the shelter home in fact exists. Adopters can find contact details of the shelter home and also using the integrated Maps service, find the location if they wish to visit.
Although there is no login functionality yet (I wanted to app to be as open and accessible as possible), users can still SHARE the pet's information or maybe rate the post via social media. Since according to research, most pets are adopted by word-of-mouth publicity, using social platforms can definitely help create awareness amongst neglected shelter homes and users can also connect with fellow adopters to build a strong adoption network.
Future Steps
🐾 I plan to add a few key features to the PawPal app. The current prototype design is only made available to prospective adopters. I would also like to add a section where the shelters and rescue homes can directly add their pet listings and communicate with the adopters directly. The Chat options is currently available inside the app but they should also be able to connect via other social platforms.
🐾 An option to upload videos or .gifs of the pets so that adopters can see them live or in action before actually visiting the shelter.
🐾 An option for adopters to upload images and testimonials of their new PawPal and validate the experience of rescuing and adopting a pet.
🐾 A forum or discussion section where tips about pet care, vaccinations and managing pet allergies would be provided. This would encourage first time adopters to confidently consider rescuing animals without hesitation.
References
Invision App, invisionapp.com
Google Material Design Icons, https://material.io/icons/
Google Maps
Humane Society of Huron Valley, Ann Arbor
Puppies For All, instagram/puppiesforall
Columbia Pictures
20th Century Fox
Paw Image - Pixbay.com (licensed under Creative Commons)
American Pet Products Association (APPA)