The Problem

People during the pandemic adopted many pets, but as soon as they got back to their work, more than half of the pets were disowned and were left on the streets and abandoned places without food and water. Many pet lovers are rescuing pets as possible, but still there are many pets yet to be rescued. These pets need Medical treatments, a Family, and the Shelter to live.

The app’s main goal is to save the abandoned pets. It helps users give shelter to the rescued pets. App also allows the users who are willing to adopt these pets. App recommends nearest Veterinary Hospitals and also to book appointments with them.

My Role

UX designer leading the Fur Friends application design from the concept to delivery.

Conducting interviews, low and high-fidelity prototypes, paper, and digital wireframes to account for accessibility, conducting usability studies and iteration on design.

Target audience

2 weeks.

User Research

I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users that I am designing the app for and their needs. A group who are identified as pet owners since very long who like to know more about the rescued pets and their needs.

These people have given their points regarding the issues faced during rescuing new pets. They have mentioned that not only the information but also the Pet clinics, Accessibility, locations and also the Transport issues faced by them. Not only the pet lovers but also the people who would want to adopt a pet for the first time are facing issues with the paper work.

User research: pain points

1. Location : Some people find it difficult to get the medications for the rescued pets in emergency.

2. Accessibility : Using different apps for adoptions and to connect with vet’s might be difficult for people who use technology for the first time.

3. Experience : New pet owner might find it difficult in finding the information about the adoption center and the paper work.

• Most of the pet adoption websites and apps are outdated and need a revamp.

• The interface is too cluttered and there is too much going on the home screen.

• It was difficult to find emergency veterinary doctors nearby.

• Filters are provided in these apps like age, gender, breed etc.

• All these apps have images of that pet, which makes the search useful.

Summary of Findings:

User personas

I created user personas for mainly two types of users:

• Users who already have a pet and want to adopt another one

• Users who are adopting a pet for the first time.

I created two user personas based on design interviews and surveys to help aid design decisions.

• Main goal of the App is to have a platform where the users can easily know about available pets or can also search for them in the search bar. And also find the nearest veterinary doctors with a single click.

Mockups

High Fidelity Prototype

The final high-fidelity prototype presented clear user flows on how the users can adopt pet and also can look for veterinary doctors nearby.

Conclusion

This project gave me a chance to improve my UX skills. It also gave an insight into the decisions I made.

Here are some of my top learnings:

• Visual Hierarchy: How to navigate the user to grab the important information first.

• User Research: Importance of research during any project is vital. I have spoken to many rescue team members, which allowed me to learn primary research skills.

• Iteration: The more you iterate on sketches, the more time you save and come up with better ideas.

This project really helped me understand the current adoption situation and the Experience of the rescuers and what they go through from rescuing a pet to finding a right home for those pets

Thanks for watching.