Pet Adoption Website

Discover

Research

Secondary: I conducted research to learn about national and local animal shelters and associations. As non-profits, many are focused on education and collecting donations. In terms of their sites, they all seemed focused on curating a personal connection between the user and the pets.  

Primary: I conducted one-on-one user interviews over Zoom with five participants with the following characteristics:29-33 years old, female, pet owners. I asked questions based on the process of getting their pets as well as their experiences as owners.  

Assumptions

• People probably want pets with pleasant temperaments. Validated
• People probably want pets that have been vaccinated. N/A
• People probably adopt/buy pets to improve their quality of life. Validated ‍
• People probably want pets that will fit in with their present lifestyles. Validated ‍
• People probably want to adopt/buy from reputable organizations. N/A ‍
• People probably want to browse through pet options online before going to the organization in person. N/A

Challenges: Many participants didn’t utilize websites very much during the adoption process, so I didn’t get a lot of insight into that particular experience. Going forward, I relied a lot on my secondary research when constructing my site.

Define

Problem statements

• People need to ensure their pets are emotionally content because their wellbeing is important to owners.
• People need to receive emotional support from their pets because this improves their overall quality of life.
• People need pets that are willing to cuddle because this makes owners feel loved.
• People need to feel a sense of control over their pets’ wellbeing because the unknown is anxiety-provoking.

Persona

Site Map and Flows

I created a feature roadmap focused on what I would need for the MVP. I also created task flows and user flows.

The below user flows show the paths of a first time and second time user.

Develop

Branding

Based on research, I wanted to create a brand that felt personalized, intuitive, trustworthy, and caring. I chose a bold color palette and typefaces that were both warm and professional. When dealing with images, I wanted it to feel as if the pet was reaching past the boundaries of the individual frames as well as the screen to create a very personalized experience.

UI Pages

Deliver

After creating a prototype, I conducted usability testing with five users in my key demographic to understand if there was any friction in the process of searching for a pet and getting pre-approved to adopt it.

Results summary

• 5/5 of participants completed both parts of the task.
• 5/5 of participants reported that the task was straightforward.  
• 4/5 participants utilized the search bar on the landing page
• 4/5 participants utilized filters on the search results page.  
• 3/5 participants encountered issues of low severity when utilizing the initial search bar.  
• The time to complete the task ranged from 1:10 to 3 minutes.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed this project as it allowed me freedom in branding choices. I wanted to maintain a very personalized, intuitive feel while also infusing an edge of professionalism and trustworthiness. This project challenged me from a visual design perspective, and I will take this enthusiasm for visual experimentation into future projects.