CityPups is a startup dedicated to helping people in cities adopt the perfect dog! However, research revealed that people in cities struggle to find adoptable dogs that are a “good fit”.
CityPups recruited me to design and test a possible solution
The startup identified several constraints to adhere to when developing solutions
How might we help give users confidence in their compatibility?
How might we help people who live in cities feel 100% confident that a dog will be a good fit for them AND the dog?
A system to match you with the perfect best friend!
Step 1
Enter information about yourself
Step 2
Enter information about your home
Step 3
Enter information on what you’re looking for in a pup!
Designed for the unique needs and lifestyles of people in cities.
Now that we’ve seen my solution, let’s take a look at how I got there!
CityPups conducted interviews in order to determine:
What’s Important to People Looking to Adopt?
People in cities feel uncomfortable adopting - or even browsing - because they don’t want to fall in love with a dog that ends up being incompatible with their lifestyle.
People in cities want to be 100% sure that they have a mutually compatible match.
People living in cities struggle to find the right dog due to their unique needs and situations
CityPups compiled these insights and themes to form a user persona:
Ellie lives alone in a studio apartment in NYC and feels ready for the responsibility, and companionship of a dog.
Ellie hasn't taken action because she doesn't feel 100% confident that a dog will be a good fit for her AND the dog.
Ellie wants to find a dog to adopt and wants to feel confident that they will be a great fit for each other
She follows some adoption agencies on instagram, and "saves" some dogs she wants to adopt.
Descriptions of dogs on sites are too general: "this dog doesn't require a lot of space" but how small is too small?
Ellie has spoken to adoption agency representatives. It’s very time consuming to find the right contact, or make an appointment.
Sites focus on making a connection between people and dogs. Can lead to her falling in love with a dog that needs more than she can provide.
She asks friends, and people in her building who have dogs for advice.
Ellie doesn't feel 100% confident that a dog will be a good fit for her AND the dog.
I researched similar sites, as well as sites with features I think would be beneficial for this project
Imagery puts dog’s personality on display
Fun graphics and animations create an engaging experience
Saved searches and “recently viewed” options allow users to easily return
Filter options allows users to narrow down searches
“Pet match” gives users AND pets a better chance of finding the perfect match
Extra filter options - like “Price” - allow users more control
Fun icons and language create an engaging experience
Location on map allows users to prioritize by distance
Similar pet adoption sites had some good features, but they do not always take a persons unique situation into consideration.
With most sites, you can view the pets before filtering preferences - leading to the potential for falling in love before realizing that the user and the dog are incompatible.
More specific filter criteria is needed than is currently available for people who live in cities.
Based on the research provided by CityPups, and my Competitive Analysis, I began conceptualizing the user flow and solution design.
Concept: if users were prompted to answer a series of specific questions upfront, the results would be filtered in such a way that promotes high confidence in a compatible match.
To create a design solution based on my concept, I returned to my problem statement:
How might we help people who live in cities feel 100% confident that a dog will be a good fit for them AND the dog?
By defining the Problem Statement, I was able to organize an ideal User Flow.
Using the “Crazy 8’s” method, I quickly produced versions of the Critical Screen.
Storyboarding flushed out the Idea, Flow, and Design.
These techniques helped me determine the critical screens for my solution as well as formulate a design for those screens.
Based on my User Flow and CityPups’ research, I determined that being able to apply filters before seeing results was critical to users.
Based on my results from the Crazy 8’s method and Storyboarding, I designed the screens with fun and active graphics and language.
Usability tests were conducted with:
Five participants...
Who live in an urban area, and/or used to live in an urban area...
That have either adopted a dog or want to adopt a dog.
Critical Issues and Resolutions
The initial round of usability testing revealed three usability issues in the design that were corrected in the subsequent iteration:
Based on feedback from my mentor, I iterated on elements that caused inefficiency in my design:
Find the perfect match with the BFF Compatibility Test!
Redesigned homepage includes fun and engaging imagery, icons, and language!
The BFF Compatibility Test filters potential results based on user-specific needs/lifestyles!
With questions specifically designed to provide the best matches for people AND dogs.
Keeping users engaged with fun images and colors, and fun, active language!
AND ensuring that they find their perfect match!
No more falling in love before realizing that the dog can’t fit in with the user’s lifestyle!
Confidence in Compatibility
Since this Design Sprint was my second student project in the Springboard UI/UX curriculum, it provided me with the opportunity to show how much I’ve progressed as a designer.
I was able to “think visually” and quickly translate my ideas into a visual design.
Although I was able to see how much progress I’ve made, there are some key takeaways from this experience:
