The Product

PawFinder App is offering to help people who want to adopt a pet but who don’t have good knowledge about pet. App helps to people about which pet and which pet’s breed is suitable for their lifestyle and their needs. The app provides online reservations (day and time basis) to hold the pet which they want to see or adopt and provide ask a question via chat option as well. In addition to this, app gives visual information about pet information including differentiate dogs, cats and rabbits with colours as well. It is beneficial to avoid losing in technical terms and focusing on only what people need to know before they decide to adopt. It is included the feature of aging a pet. We can basically see how a pet will look when it gets to age.

Responsibilities

Doing interviews with users, designing paper and digital wireframes. Creating low and high-fidelity prototypes, conducting moderated & unmoderated usability studies, providing accessibility options and iterating on designs. Motion design and UI Design elements.

Role

UX, UI, Motion, Interaction Designer and Reseacher

Time Line

September 2022 - November 2022

Tools

Figma - Photoshop - iMovie

Project

Non-Profit Design Sprint

Self-Learning

Research & Analysis

User’s Psychology

When the pandemic started in 2019, spreading over the whole world in 2020, most companies turned to the remote work concept.

According to a research, the proportion of people who were working in the office was 65.5% in 2019, with 34.5% working remote. However, in 2020, the proportion has dramatically changed to 12% working in office with 67.6% of the employers working from home. (Marks, Museri, 2022)

Due to this change, people started to experience loneliness more and it prompted them to spend more time on meeting with their friends after work or doing their work in coffee shops. A survey has concluded that people don’t want to rely primarily on meeting with friends or working in the coffee shops due to their high cost of money, time, along with anxiety of spreading the virus.

The people who are experiencing loneliness are struggling to socialize and make a friend. Those people are generally shy to talk with strangers. In other words, they are mostly introverted people who avoid meeting new people. In addition to this, shy and introverted people prefer to use online apps and prefer to talk with people via internet instead of using phone call or meeting with them in person. According to a research “many introverts prefer online communication because it gives them more time to think before responding, and they don’t have to worry about being judged by others if they say something wrong.” (Forgeard, 2022)

The anxiety can bring many problems and impact critically to their lives. Researchers stated that “Loneliness appears to be a fundamental part of the human condition, and can have serious consequences. Research has found that loneliness is a major health risk that can increase the risk of premature death by 14 percent.” (Eric W. Dolan, 2020).

Study has shown that people tend to adopt an animal to reduce their loneliness, socialize more, and even find a perfect date. Researchers find that “Dogs could help you get a date and make you look more attractive” (Rabin, 2018)

Researchers added on that “Continues to support pet ownership and human-animal interaction (HAI) for improving social connections, providing social support, decreasing loneliness and depression.” and

“A nationally representative survey of pet owners and non-pet owners commissioned by HABRI and Mars Petcare found that:

• 85% of respondents agree interaction that pets can help reduce loneliness

• 76% agree human-pet interactions can help address social isolation

• 72% believe human-animal interaction is good for their community

Of the pet-owning respondents:

• 80% of pet owners say their pet makes them feel less lonely

• 54% say their pet helps them connect with other people” (Lisa Wood; Karen Martin; Hayley Christian; Andrea Nathan; Claire Lauritsen; Steve Houghton; Ichiro Kawachi; Sandra McCune ,2015)

Epics

The Problems

Let’s look at the problems to understand their needs;

1.) Some people don’t have good knowledge about pets or pet breeds and they don’t want to read too much unnecessary information to select a pet.

2.) Going to all shelters and finding out if they have the exact animal that the user wants to adopt. Sometimes, people cannot find the exact pet which they are looking for and it can waste all time, money, gas and hope.

3.) Some people who want to adopt a pet are shy to talk with strangers and they don’t want to ask for information verbally or in person but wants/needs to get information to adopt a pet. According to research, The majority of people who are living alone and wants to adopt a pet have socialise problem and they just avoid to talk with people if it is not necessary.

4.) Going to shelters and making an instant decision can make a bias and because of feeling pity for pets, people are biased and wants to adopt a pet instantly instead of looking for a pet which is a good match with their needs, lifestyles and personalities.

5.) People don’t know how the pet will look when it gets to age.

The Goal

The app will help the users to find a good match pet and it will provide all pet’s features including users can see how the pet will look when it gets to age. So, people who don’t have any knowledge about pets can select a pet easily. In addition to this, users can reserve the pet which they want to see and thanks to this, users won’t waste their time, gas or hope.

Pain Points

• People cannot find the exact animal in the shelter so they needs to go every shelter

• People are having a problem with the finding out the pet’s vaccination and features.

• People don’t want to go to the shelter and wasting their time, money, gas in case of cannot find the right pet.

• People are disappointed when they cannot find the exact pet which they are looking for.

• Users don’t know how pet will look when pet is old.

• Users don’t know which pet is suitable for their lifestyles, needs and desires.

• People dont want to talk every shelter one by one.

• People can be biased when they see cute pet, and they dont make a wisely decision.

Usability Studies

• Pet Selection

  Pet selection page is not clear and it seems complicated. Users cannot differentiate among animals.

• Feature

  Pet’s features should be more detailed and more visually understandable

• Pet Type

  Pet’s type can be chosen in main menu

• Personality Test

  People felt uncomfortable because of questions.

• Match Rate

  People are confused which animal has more closed to people’s desires.

• Animal Suggestions

  People want to see which animal is most popular.

High-Fidelity Prototypes

1. Registration flow

2. Main Menu - Pet Page

3. Pet Age Estimation Chart Design

4. Book an Appointment

UI System Schema