Responsibilities
• UX Research 👀
• Crazy 8s, Wireframing ✍️
• UI design + Prototyping 📱
Project Context
• Timeline: 7 Days
• Team: Solo Design Sprint
• Tools: Paper and Pen, Figma
THE PROBLEM
The start to finish process of adopting a new pup is not easy. How do you find the right one?
1.6 million dogs are adopted each year in the United States. I'm all about adopting shelter animals, but many people are interested in finding a breeder rather than going to a shelter.
There are only a few apps & websites that help users understand which breed is a fit for their lifestyle, and connect them with trustworthy breeders nearby.
THE SOLUTION
futurebred helps future dog owners find their new best friend with confidence and ease.
In this scenario, our user is looking for a purebred dog to purchase from a breeder and maybe they already have a good idea about the specific breed they desire to own, but need some more information and assistance.
1. Search by breed and view a list of breeders nearby
Compare by price, distance, and more.
2. Fall in love immediately! Get a personal video & summary of each pup 😍
Energy Level, Potty Training Level, even Velcro Level? It's easy to know this pup.
3. Find a new best friend, then easily contact the breeder
Can even video chat with a future pet before picking him up!
DAY 1: RESEARCH + UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
I interviewed 5 participants who had already begun the process of finding a new 🐶.
These are some of the questions I asked:
1) How has the process of looking for a new dog been so far?
2) When considering a breed, what are the most important factors to you?
3) What doubts or fears, if any, have arisen while on the search for a new best friend?
I wrote down key quotes, formed insights around them, and added some ideas based off those insights.
From these quotes, I uncovered 10 key factors
1) Breed
2) Breeder
3) Cost
4) Location
5) Age
6) Size
7) Gender
8) Energy Level
9) Independence Level
10) Training Level
How Might We...
Design an easy-to-use platform that instills confidence in the user when buying a dog from a breeder. 🤔
DAY 2 + 3: COMPETITOR RESEARCH, CRAZY 8's, STORYBOARDING
Understand the landscape well first.
Primary Competitors
1) WeRescue (iOS)
2) AKC Marketplace
3) Atlanta Humane Society
4) Good Dog
Secondary Inspiration
1) Craigslist
2) Facebook Marketplace
3) Reverb.com
4) Tinder (for the swipe feature only!)
Where the competitors come up short:
• WeRescue - The UI is clunky and it doesn’t focus on the niche aspect of purebred/crossbred dogs.
• AKC Marketplace & Good Dog - No names, pictures, videos, anything to immediately capture your heart as a future dog-owner.
• The Atlanta Humane Society - Searches frequently missing multiple pictures, a video, and necessary bullet point information on each dog.
I produced 8 sketches with the Crazy 8's method
Some sketches were worth exploring more.
I used those to begin crafting a storyboard.
DAY 4: DECIDING + PROTOTYPING
Time to narrow down the user flow and MVP.
DAY 5: TESTING + IMPROVEMENTS
The test results were positive overall. But there was room for improvement after the first couple rounds of testing.
• Should be able to call the breeder, or video chat to see and connect with a dog in real-time. I added the appropriate components.
• Two users tried swiping on the first 3 screens, instead of clicking the next button. I added swipe motion and animation to the first flow.
• There was an option to choose “purebred, crossbred, or all” when filtering for a dog, but I realized this only added confusion.
• Initially, there were no clickable elements within the filter and sort screens, so I made them more interactive.
Final Prototype with added revisions.
Thanks for reading!
Compared to the months of research + design that went into earlier case studies, I found this design sprint to be refreshing.
Please take a look at my other projects below!
