CityPups
Dog Adoption Search Design Sprint
September 2020
Overview
Context
I designed the website and search process for CityPups, a new startup company helping people living in cities find the perfect dog to adopt. The challenge came from a modified Google Ventures design sprint, which is a 5 day process for solving problems and testing new ideas.
Problem
Since very little information is shown on adoption sites, people don’t feel confident that the dogs listed will be a great fit for them. As a result, less dogs are being adopted.
User
- People who live in cities looking to adopt a dog that fits their city-specific needs.
Constraints
- The solution must be a desktop website. CityPups is not an adoption site, but a third-party contact looking to match people with dogs from local organizations and shelters. The focus will be on helping users find the right dog to adopt.
Solution
I included more information about the dogs available for adoption and created an 11 question quiz that matches people and dogs based on compatibility and lifestyle.
Duration
5 Days (September 2020)
Role
Solo Project – UX / UI Designer
(Information provided by the GV Design Sprint – research highlights, a persona, user test & interview, design constraints and goals.)
Tools
Design Sprint Process
Day 1 : Understand
Research Highlights
I started by synthesizing the research shared in the initial challenge brief.
The CityPup’s team surveyed and asked ten people to tell us about what they consider when looking for a dog to adopt?
Affinity Map
- In addition to the survey, the CityPup's team also conducted a user interview and usability test. Based off this research, I already started to see commonality between the participants. I separated my findings and grouped them into 3 categories – Pain-Points of Frustrations, Successes, and Priorities & Considerations.
Persona
User Insights
How Might We..?
- How might we increase the adoption rate for dogs?
- How might we improve the browsing experience for people looking to adopt a dog?
- How might we create better “forever” homes for dogs?
End-to-End User Experience
I drew a map of the possible end-to-end user experience beginning with the initial interest of adopting a dog to applying for a dog.
- Lastly, I finished my day by reaching out and recruiting people to conduct user testings with my prototype on day 5.
Day 2 : Sketch
Lightning Demos
I completed a solo-version of lightning demos by researching and compiling competitive analysis from three different websites.
PawsLikeMe
Pet Adoption Matching Website
PawsLikeMe helps match people to dogs available for adoption. Before entering the search, you are prompted to take a quiz to help find the dog (or cat) that fits your personality. However, the quiz results didn’t provide a type of breed that best suits you, but a small summary of all the questions you answered. I continued my search by clicking on the ‘Fetch My Matching Pets!’ button, which brought me to a list of dogs. Here, I was shown a matching percentage for each dog. I like the idea of a percentage bar, but would prefer more clarity around what actually matched up with each dog. I would also change the preview information shown within the card layout so the user isn’t misled or gets their hopes up on a dog that isn’t the right fit.
PetFinder
Pet Adoption Website
PetFinder is similar to PawsLikeMe, but allows you to inquire directly about the animal on their website instead of being redirected to an adoption agency. They also have a quiz, ‘Find the Right Dog for You’, that is optional to take at any point in your search. The quiz is essentially a walk-through of the filter options. I would make better use of the quiz by asking questions that help users gain an understanding of what they are looking for in a pet.
Pedigree
Dog Food Retailer
Pedigree provides a plethora of information about dogs including everything from volunteering to oral care. They also provide an interactive quiz on their website that helps find the best dog breed match for your family. After completing the quiz, I was shown multiple breed options that fit my needs. I could either click on the dog to learn more about the breed or continue browsing the website. I think their questions are the best because they are relevant to personality and lifestyle. However, it seemed impossible that every breed shown in the results would have been a 'perfect match'.
Crazy 8's
I decided to sketch ideas based on the most critical step for the users – Enters/Filters Search Information. This is the most important step because it cultivates the pet options shown to the user. According to the provided research, users felt that the search results were not providing options that best fit their needs or addressed their concerns. They would see dogs they liked but quickly became disappointed when they found out the dog didn’t meet their city-specific needs.
- 1. Create a quiz to find the best fit for the user – one question per page.
- 2. Create a quiz to find the best fit for the user – multi question per page, list format.
- 3. Basic search forms on the landing page. Example – zip code, dog or cat, and age. The next page would list options and more detailed filters to simplify your search.
- 4. A walk-through of the filters. This sketch is similar to the quiz option, but more straight-forward with its purpose. Example – it will be direct and ask the user what size dog they are looking for versus how big is your living space.
- 5. Layout similar to a dating app where you see one dog at a time and check 'Love It' or 'Pass'. Previous matches will be shown on the side with a status update of availability or where you’re at in the adoption process.
- 6. Search begins with all the possible pet and filter options listed out. The page will auto populate with every filter update.
- 7. Create a profile with your specific needs that act as your filters within the search engine. The user will only see the options specified to their needs.
- 8. Start by browsing dog breeds, then select one to view available dogs to adopt. The breeds would have separate pages listing out their temperament, needs, etc.
Solution Sketch
- After reviewing the sketches from my crazy 8’s exercise, I chose to proceed with sketch number 1 for my solution – Create a quiz to find the best fit for the user – one question per page. I treated this as my critical screen and drew out a three-panel storyboard of this along with the screens that come directly before and after it. The first screen is the landing page where the quiz is presented to the user as an option, followed by the first two quiz pages.
Day 3 : Decide
Solution Sketch
- I started day 3 by figuring out all the questions and answers I wanted to include in my quiz. After reviewing my initial research and insights, I knew I wanted my questions to address the following topics:
- Location
- Gender
- Age
- Size
- Energy Level/Exercise Needed
- Independence
- Social Level
- Training Level
- Traits
Next, I sketched out the rest of my storyboard and increased my original 3-panel to 14 screens. The screens include – the landing page, full match quiz, account set-up, results page, and a dog view page.
Day 4 : Prototype
High Fidelity Mockup
I created a digitalized prototype based on my sketches from day 3. In this transition, I added one more quiz question and increased my screens to a total of 15. I thought this was necessary in covering all the topics/concerns of the user.
My goals for testing out this prototype is to have successfully solved my HMW questions.
–> Will this increase adoption rate for dogs?
–> Does this improve the browsing experience when looking for a dog?
–> Will this create better “forever” homes for dogs?
Landing Page
The landing page explains how the site works – Take Match Quiz, Find the Perfect Pup, and Create Forever Homes.
Match Quiz
A 12 question quiz to best match the user with their perfect dog based on compatibility and lifestyle. The quiz addresses the information most asked about during user research. Since sketching, I added another question about specific neighborhoods in their search. This will help people living in cities that rely on public transportation get to the shelters.
Account Set-up
Following the quiz, users are given an option to create an account or skip to view their results. Creating an account will allow the user to save their results and receive email alerts of new matches.
Results Page
The results page shows the recommendations based on the answers from the match quiz. The user can now either browse through options, update their information, or add additional filters to find exactly what they are looking for in a pet.
Dog View Page
The dog view page lists out all the details shared by the shelter on the specific dog being viewed. The user can now ask about the animal, go straight to filling out adoption papers with the shelter, or go back to view other pet options.
Click here to interact with the prototype
Day 5 : Test
Usability Testing
On day 5, I tested my prototype with the 5 participants I had recruited on day one. All testings were moderated and conducted remotely via Skype. The participants were selected based on living in a city and having experience adopting a dog through an online site or nearby shelter in the past.
During the usability testing, I followed the Google Ventures 5 Act Interview Process – Friendly Welcome, Context Questions, Introduce the Prototype, Tasks, and Quick Debrief.
I asked the participants to complete the following tasks:
- –> Explore landing page and receive initial feedback
- –> Take the match quiz
- –> Review results page with matches and filters.
- –> Select a dog to learn more about them.
- –> Ask about the selected dog.
I then asked the participants the following questions:
–> Do you feel confident in this search process for a pet?
–> Do you think it covers your city-specific needs when looking to adopt a dog?
–> Is there anything you didn’t like or information you thought was missing?
Issues Ranked by Priority
Once testing was complete, I ranked every issue by priority and provided solutions.
“I think it’s important to mention their health – even if it’s good. I recently adopted a senior dog and was pleasantly surprised when she didn’t have a lot of health issues. I think people assume older dogs have all these problems so they pass and miss out on a great dog.”
Conclusion
Lessons Learned
People commit if they feel confident of their decision. By including and prioritizing information that mattered the most to the user, I was able to gain trust and interest to complete the tasks.
Users also responded well to limiting their amount of options. By separating the questions out by page and limiting the amount of words, I prevented the user from having cognitive overload and wanting to drop off mid-quiz.
Next Steps
- –> Add detailed information about the animals health and possible allergen causes.
- –> Add another route/option to manually search for pets from the landing page.
- –> Create a separate portal/log in for shelters looking to post new dogs or update current information.