PetConnecter

Find Your Soul Pet šŸ¾
Exploration & Discovery
AI Assisted Tech
Human-Animal Interaction
1 month
Weiting Gao
Miley Hu
Sihan Wu
Lead Product Designer

Team

My Role

Domain

Timeline

Executive Summary

Solution

I designed a website called PetConnecter that enables potential adopters to connect with their "soul pet". It is a responsive solution, the mobile counterpart of which is designed for assisting users to discover animals that match their preferences in nearby shelters. The desktop counterpart provides a conducive experience to gauge the personality of selected animals and build a bond with them virtually before starting the adoption process.Ā 

Problem

6.3 million companion animals enter shelters nationwide every year that need a forever home. A lot of them donā€™t get adopted because potential adopters are not able to connect with these animals. Adopters need to get to know the personality of the animal before starting the adoption process and gauge if they are the right fit for them. This has become more difficult to do without visiting the shelter in person since the onset of the pandemic.

My Role

Product Designer

I was in charge of the user experience and product vision for this project. I took lead in deciding what features add the most value for the user. I designed the user flow, wireframed the screens, and divided sections for teammates to own for the hi-fi design. I also led the final prototyping for the hi-fi screens.

Technical Bridge

I brought in ideas regarding how AIĀ and computer vision technology can be employed in our solution to build a meaningful connection between the user and the shelter animals. I also made sure that our solution was technically feasible, and optimized the work required on the dev side to actually build out this platform.

Project Manager

I also took up the responsibility of scheduling internal team meetings and organized in-person white-boarding sessions. I took charge of scoping the project according to available bandwidth and impending deadlines. I made sure my teammates' needs were met and maintained an amicable work environment.

Problem Scenario

Simar had always wanted a pet cat and now that she has the resources to take on the responsibility, she has decided to adopt a cat so that she can do her part for a shelter animal by providing them a home.

She wants to make sure the cat she adopts is right for her. She googles a bunch of shelters nearby, but is concerned about the risk of exposure to COVID if she visits a public place like a cat cafe or shelter in-person.

How might we help Simar find her soul pet?

User Research

Target User

College students & young professionals looking to adopt a pet.

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Method

Conducted directed storytelling with 5 participants followed by a semi-structured interview. Took notes on observations.

Goals

  • Find peopleā€™s motivations to adopt pets.
  • Know the process people follow to adopt pets.
  • Identify the current pain points people experience in the pet-adopting process.
  • Understand how people connect with pets on a personal level.
The final adoption decision is more tightly associated with oneā€™s emotional connection with the animal, rather than a rational weighing of pros and cons.
There is insufficient communication and coordination between different stakeholders in the adoption process.
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People build stronger connections to those shelters that convey a feeling of trust and happiness/ positivism.
The transition process can be more effective to help the adopter get prepared and start building the connections with the pet.
Adopters often do not have enough information about the know-hows of pet care & costs involved in the post-adoption process.

Insights

Synthesis & Ideation

User Journey Map

I built out a journey map of Simar's current experiences while going about the pet adoption process from a nearby shelter. Then, I identified areas where a digital intervention can add the most value.

Collaborative Ideation through Whiteboarding

I find real value in being able to ideate in a collaborative setting. I took initiative for organizing in-person whiteboarding sessions with my teammates to come up with diverse ideas about how we can make the experience for a potential adopter better at different stages of the adoption process.

Design & Iteration

Paper Prototyping

I led low-fi prototyping of ideas tackling different stages of the adoption process.

Think Aloud Testing

I conducted 2 and observed 4 think-aloud testing sessions with potential users. The goal of the testing session was to understand:

  • Whether the overall flow of the experience makes sense.
  • Out of the current flows, where are some areas of innovation that we should pivot towards.
  • For the matching process: what are peopleā€™s preferences on the default view (card vs grid) on different devices.
The overall flows make sense, and people showed interests in the swiping feature and the shelter live streams.
People indicated that the survey section should remain simple, because a long questionnaire might deter people from signing up in the first place.
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Some participants were confused about the purpose of pet-profile and whether it was a publicly visible feature or only for the adopters themselves.

Insights

Reframing the Project Scope

Based on the feedback from lo-fi paper prototype testing, I decided to narrow down the design focus to the following main features:

  • Pet matching preferences survey.
  • Browse personalized pet matches.
  • Browse available shelters.
  • View pet live-stream videos broadcasted by shelters.

The Solution - PetConnecter

Confident & reassuring first impressions

When Simar searches for shelter cats online on her phone, Google directs her to PetConnecter.com - at first glance, she is delighted to see warm colors and the words ā€œfind your soul petā€ which she finds reassuring. She scrolls a bit and is excited to see live streams of cats from different shelters and many cute potential pet options nearby. She is intrigued by what the website has in store for her and clicks on the ā€œGet Startedā€ button.

Getting user preferences for personalizing their experience

Simar is then directed to a short survey where she chooses the ideal characteristics for her soul pet - like the type, size, and preferred personality traits. She also shares her level of experience with pet adoption.

Suggesting potential matches in an approachable way

Simar is redirected to a card view showing pets where she can scroll through photos of each animal, and swipe through these pet matches selected for her based on her answers in the survey and her location. A 1-year-old ā€œaffectionateā€ cat Samantha catches her eye. She presses the love icon and Samantha is added to her ā€œfavoritesā€ list. The interface reminds her of a dating app and she giggles as she goes through the profiles of her adorable potential cat dates.

Providing relevant details in a consumable manner

She decides to click on Samanthaā€™s profile to know more about her.Ā On her profile, Simar is able to see all the relevant details about Samantha organized in a logical manner. She is attracted by Samanthaā€™s trusting and affectionate traits. She also likes that Samantha is impulsive like her. Her health records seem in good shape and she loves that the adoption cost is listed upfront. Simar appreciates the transparency of information on PetConnecter, which shows the website is trustworthy.

Annotated live-streamed video to connect with the animal virtually

Simar notices that Samantha is at Shelter Coco, so she opens the shelter page and finds a cat live stream at the top. The livestream provides annotations to help identify the individual cats in the video using a Computer Vision AI model. She clicks on it and is delighted to find Samantha and other cats at the shelter frolicking around.Ā 

Assisting the search through more tools on a bigger screen

When she gets time, Simar opens PetConnecter on her laptop. Here, she can easily put filters and view pet options in an easily scannable grid view.

Facilitating conversation and interaction with the shelter

The livestream provides a space for potential adopters to engage in a conversation with each other and the shelter through the chat section.

Providing tools to make a satisfying decision

Simar explores the profile of one of the cats from her favorites list called Samantha, identified by a blue tag in the video. She observes her interactions with the other cats and her surroundings. She clicks on Samantha to view her detailed information.

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Simar found Samantha <3

As Simar gradually narrowed down some of her favorite matches, she now finally feels confident in physically visiting a nearby shelter and starting the adoption process for Samantha.

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Next Steps

The current design tackles the user journey to the point of connecting the adopter with the ideal animal. Future work would entail:

  • Designing a flow for the adoption process. Translating the legacy paper-based procedure to an efficient digital process.
  • Providing information about how to take care of their pet to adopters post-adoption. Including features like managing the pet's vaccination record - would be helpful in raising the pet after adoption.

Reflection

My favorite part of this project was how I was able to help my team identify various opportunities in a servicescape through mixed-methods user research, hone into a specific scope keeping in mind time constraints, and refine our design solution well for that particular scope.
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In terms of design, identifying the modality of a responsive-web based solution, and implementing it on different screen sizes keeping in mind the contexts they would be used was engaging to me. Keeping in mind how the solution can create value for not just the user, but also other stakeholders like the shelter employees and shelter owner was a challenging task. All in all, coming up with this solution that can make a difference in an innocent animal's life was rewarding.
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