Whiskers — a UX/UI Case Study for a Pet Adoption App

This case study is about a bridge that allows animal adopters to connect with people who want their pets to be adopted. Let me give you some context-

Introduction

If animals could talk, we all would have had a ‘Talking Tom’ of our own. Apps like Talking Tom were built with the idea to appeal the psyche of humans, by providing users a sense of responsibility and ownership. Humans are social creatures who crave comfort and attachment, why else would you carry the teddy bear around as a child that you fed, bathed and put to sleep?

Social Psychology time and again has focused on the human nature of craving social interactions. Be it with Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that puts the need of love and belongingness third on the pyramid, stating how important companionship is for a person to reach self- efficacy and attain happiness or the famous Carl Roger’s theory of unconditional positive regard.

These theories are true not just for humans but also for animals. Millions of animals are currently in shelter homes awaiting adoption. Adoption saves lives as animals that end up in shelters often end up getting euthanized due to lack of space and funds and others who don’t, end up being a victim of a road accident or animal abuse. The movement “Adopt don’t shop” has recently gained a lot of momentum. It was observed while people understand the benefits of adoption, the doubts nested in the minds of adopters leads to a lot of failed adoptions.

The goal was to build a system that connects pets to potential adopters, and streamlines the adoption process by smoothening the multiple stumbling blocks that might arise during the adoption process.

Before we dive into the design thinking process used to come up with the solution, let’s understand the problem at hand better.

Problem

Starting the process of adoption might be similar to opening a Pandora’s Box, the uncertainties might discourage the potential adopter from taking the pet home. The aim was to build an app that provides them the reassurance whilst making the process hassle free and efficient.

It’s time for our favorite design thinking process to be put to use. The User Centered Design guided my project, which contains 5 phases — Empathize, Define, Ideate, Design and Test.

Empathize

To empathize with the users was a crucial step to design adeptly. We conducted Secondary research followed by Primary research to gain deeper understanding of the problem.

Secondary Research

Before directly hoping on the internet, I defined the goals of my research to understand the scope of the problem and not lose sight of the project.

Goals of Secondary Research-

1. Understanding the current legalities and documentation process involved during adoption of animals.
2. Learn about Pet Psychology and gather information on pet adoption statistics and related organizations
3. How does the adopter’s demographic details co-relate to the type of pet they might choose to adopt?
4. What factors contribute to failed adoptions? What is the psychological impact on animals?

It is evident that a lot of thought goes behind choosing a right partner, compatibility becomes so much more than just bonding with that person. Choosing a pet is similar to finding a companion. This research focussed on analysis of multiple variables that play a role when it comes to adoption of these fur babies. Prospective owners may not fully understand the time, energy and financial commitment entailed in their decision to acquire a dog. We through these findings keep in check the trends in the behaviour of potential pet owners. After reviewing a lot of literature here are some finding that helped me design better.

Insights -

1. Research shows a strong inclination towards acquiring a dog as a puppy, while this could be associated with a preference for infantile-like features it could also be linked to the perception that puppies will not have acquired bad habits, or an owner’s desire to experience the “puppy stage” of a dog’s life.
2. Two distinct categories of motivation for pet ownership — intrinsic and extrinsic — were identified. People who are intrinsically motivated supposedly value their pets for the sake of the individual animal itself. Meanwhile, those who are extrinsically motivated are more likely to acquire fashionable dog breeds, commonly those of distinctive physical appearance that may influence social acknowledgment. It was also observed that people extrinsically motivated when chose to adopt led to more dog surrenders when they realised they weren’t pet people after all.
3. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be applied to animals as well. Two common reasons why pet owners abandon their pets are — first, because of lack of experience and second, when adopters receive pets with incorrect health and behavior information. This often leads to abandonment issues, distress and anxiety in pets.
4. Dog Adoption and Rehoming Agreement is an agreement between the owner/rehoming family who has the lawful owner of the dog and the adopter/adopting family who wants the ownership of the dog. This agreement transfers the ownership of the dog from one party to another. Everyone who wants to adopt a dog should enter into a Dog Adoption and Rehoming Agreement, this not only makes you the lawful owner but also helps in avoiding any future disputes.
5. A cross-sectional study of pet owning households across the UK, reported that the likelihood of dog ownership increased as the number of people within a household increase. A significant positive association was observed between a person’s contact with pets during childhood and their reported likelihood of keeping pets as an adult.

Primary Research

For Primary Research i conducted 6 user interviews. I interviewed people- who have adopted before, who would want to adopt a pet, people who volunteer in animal shelters and rescue teams and get adoption done and a person who has surrendered a pet before.

This research focused on analysis of multiple variables that play a role when it comes to adoption of these fur babies. Prospective owners may not fully understand the time, energy and financial commitment entailed in their decision to acquire a dog. We through these findings keep in check the trends in the behavior of potential pet owners. Below mentioned are few questions that i asked during the interview.

Questionnaire-

· Have you heard about the campaign “Adopt, don’t shop”? What is your opinion on Adopting pets or Rehoming a pet?

· How has your experience been with Indies? Would you adopt an Indie breed?

· Are you a cat or a dog person? Why?

· If you were giving away an animal you fostered, what would you like to know about the adopting family? What assurance would you look for?

· How did you adopt your existing pet? Describe your feelings during the entire Adoption process? Where did you face difficulties? Where did you go to understand the process?

· What age group of pet would you prefer? Why?

· How does your family feel around your pet? Or what is your family’s take on adopting a pet?

· What were your reasons to surrender your previous pet? What emotions did you go through?

To encapsulate the insights from so many interviews conducted and sort them out to synthesize an actionable course and discover opportunities within was a challenge.

Define

It is important to define the problem well, so you are sure that you are working on the right problem and not a symptom of another underlying problem.

Affinity Mapping

It was time for sticky notes and charts, grouping the insights further helped define the problem and discover opportunities.

After drawing the insights I divided them into 5 categories- Goals, Motivation, Pain points, Needs and Variables.

Here are some insights that were further considered during the Ideate phase-

1. Adoptions right now take place through NGOs or through a friend’s reference and social media pages. Question of credibility arises in the minds of potential adopters.
2. “Before adopting I need to know about the — vaccinations, medical history, food preferences, vet records, aggression instances if any.”
3. “Information like medical helpline numbers in cases of road accidents or animal abuse need to be made more accessible.”
4. People don’t choose aged pets and Indies because they don’t have easily accessible information about the previous history, no medical records, and behaviour records.

User personas

Lessons are understood better when communicated through a story. I found a pattern in motivations and frustrations of the users that was further used to create 3 user personas that helped me further simplify my research and understand it at a conceptual level. These personas represent different types of users who may interact with the app.

Third one is actually a Pet persona, although animals aren’t the primary users for the app, they are more of an indirect user, I created the persona to reflect on the needs of a pet awaiting adoption. When I started building this app my focus was also towards advocating for the mental health of these animals. Creating a pet persona allowed me to empathize with the animals that are up for adoption. It helps me understand the needs, preferences, and challenges faced by pets in finding a new home.

Ideate

User Experience Map

I had interviewed an animal activist who was kind enough to share her knowledge about the current scenario of how adoptions take place. I used her insights to draw my experience map.

I identified opportunities where I can make the experience better for the users.

Pet Diary –

A significant dip in the positive emotions of the user was observed when it was time to examine the pet. They say “Knowledge is power.” I realized that what the users needed was, some reassurance that they were being provided the whole truth about the pet’s history. Research says deception is the main cause for animal surrenders and failed adoptions. The solution to this challenge was a platform where potential adopters get all the details of the pet ranging from factors like –

· Demographics

· Vaccinations

· Medical History

· Behavior

· Psychological issues

· Preferences

· Routine

Pet diary provides you with a detailed description of the above mentioned factors. When I started building this app my focus was also towards advocating for the mental health of pets. Imagine moving abroad or even cities, starting up on a new course, big change isn’t it? A challenging one, perhaps!

Moving into a new family is equally difficult for a pet. Pet diary helps the user and its newly adopted pet to make the transition smoother and settle in comfortably. It is a virtual surrender of a document that consists of everything that is important to know about your pet. Once provided the access to the adopter, it can be accessed by both the previous owner and the present owner. Surrendering or rehoming your pet is an emotional time for the person giving the pet away, this way the past owner can still keep a check on the pet’s growth and be assured.

Quiz –

Another feature that I thought of was, a quiz that helps people identify what animal will be suitable to them according to their personality. The quiz actually relies on Attachment theory and suggests user’s pets accordingly. Initially came up with the idea of presenting users with a questionnaire in the very beginning which apps like Bumble do, until I realized that this could frustrate the user as their main focus here is to search for available pets. So I put the quiz feature as a choice for people who would want to take it up. (I haven’t designed it.)

Task Flows

Creating task flows helped me segment my design ideas. It gave me a understanding of how a certain task will be accomplished by the user using a linear pathway.

User Flow

I created User Flow by scrutinizing the Experience Map extensively. I identified the opportunities that will enhance the user’s experience.

One of my initial challenges was also not to make the app look and feel very commercial, as that would not appeal the adopters. Hence, I was skeptical of keeping an “Add to cart feature”, eventually I settled at designing a Pet Basket feature.

Why? Well, we humans have our limitations when it comes to retrieval of information, classic example would be how Ali Baba forgets the secret code “Khulja Sim Sim”.

Sitemap

After plotting a user flow it was time to identify the overall structure of the app, to show hierarchies and connection. Comes in Site Map!

Design

We are now at the design stage of the design process, while my batch mates enjoyed it to the core, I on the other hand struggled, being new to the field. I changed the overall design 3 times.

Having learnt the concept of mental models in my Psychology class, I tried implementing Jakob’s law extensively. Soon, I learned UX is all about finding a middle ground between existing mental models and innovation.

Low Fidelity Wireframes

High Fidelity Wireframes

Being new to the design field, my sketch pad turned out to be my best friend. Together, we have explored countless iterations, pushing the boundaries of design. As a budding designer I was always scrutinizing my designs, it took me a long while to be finally content with my work. One of the major challenges i had to overcome, was to stop my brain from thinking of ideas that I had no time to implement due to time constraints. It was always on the look out for the next cool opportunity or feature that could be added into the present design.

Style Guide — Color and Typography

To decide the colors that were to be used in the UI, I created a mood board which consisted of images of animals and pets with babies. The color extracted from it was Brown.

According to color Psychology, the color brown is usually perceived as neutral and natural. Because of this, brown is thought to evoke feelings of warmth, security, and earthiness. Brown is associated with reliability, dependability, and nurturing.

Coming towards the typography, It was imperative to choose a font that will be readable to the target audience ranging from age 15 to 60. With careful consideration the body size was set to 12 pts. The type face SansSerif was chosen because of its distinct letter form. Whisker’s being a pet adoption app, involved a lot of screens with information and documentation, as a UX Designer, I wanted to make sure that readability doesn’t become an issue.

Heading — SansSerif Bold 20
Sub heading — SansSerif Regular 16
Body Text — Open Sans Regular 12

Final Designs

Test

It was time to test the live prototype with potential users and check how the users respond to it. Based on the testing insights, I decided if there was a need for the designs to be altered or not

Usability Testing

After creating the final screens, I conducted a moderated usability testing with 5 participants that fit my target audience. I wanted to see how my users perceive the app’s main features such as,

1. Adopting a pet
2. Adding a pet for Adoption
3. Creating a Pet Dairy and accessing one

With keeping these goals in mind, I created a few tasks and prepared hypothetical situations to give during the testing session. The scenarios given to the participants were -

Scenario 1 — You have been meaning to adopt a pet for a long time, you have kids at home, choose and adopt a pet accordingly.

Scenario 2 — You come across a road accident, report it and help the animal in distress.

Scenario 3 — You are moving abroad for further studies and can’t take care of your pet anymore. Put up your pet doggo for adoption.

Testing Insight

The Aesthetic Usability effects states that users often perceive aesthetically pleasing designs as designs that work well, while its true it’s important for your designs to be intuitive and functional. When you look at a door with a handle you know it’s to be pulled upon, while some might say it’s because of the prior learnings and experience, we designers know that it’s the handle that acts as a signifier to the affordance of opening and closing the door has.

When I conducted Usability Testing on my final prototype, I came across something similar, the users were getting confused looking at Screen A, I realized it’s because there was nothing signifying that the user needs to tap on the steps to proceed. When I tried to understand, why? I recollected that when we look at a button we know it’s to be tapped upon, the shadow, the distinct shape and color are the signifiers here, I was missing signifiers in my design so I redesigned it, check screen B.

I have also made use of the Zeigarnik effect, which states that people remember uncompleted task better than completed task. The gamification of the adoption process helped me engage users with the product in a way its supposed to be used.

Learnings

If you are reading this, thankyou for taking the time to delve into this UX Design case study. It means the world to me, this journey of mine was full of challenges, but its safe to say that “I love what I do!”, this project taught me to solve problems, to empathize, to let my creative juices flow. For me curating this case study has sparked new ideas and inspired further exploration in the realm of User Experience Design. Whiskers will always be close to my heart as its my first baby, I grew as a designer with this. I identified that the future prospects for this app are a feature where the Pet Diary can be directly accessed by Veterinarians.

If you liked my work, feel free to follow me on Behance , there is more to come as I continue to learn.

Arya Gawade