Roles
Designer,
Researcher
Team
Individual
Duration
8 Weeks
Tools
Figma
Photoshop
FigJam
Miro
Time
Spring 2023
Do they have enough space for the pet to be comfortable?
Are they financially stable to adopt/support a living creature?
Does their lifestyle align with providing suitable support for a pet, and how do they plan to take care of their furry companions?
Cometitive Analysis
Analyzing the existing applications in the market & understanding what worked and did not work for them.
User Interviews(6)
Understanding the user journey, user pain points and user needs.
2 Rounds of Design Iteration
Executing two iterations of user feedback sessions on the high-fidelity prototype to gather individual responses.
Empathy Mapping
Grouping up insights from interviews to coming up with like trends to inform with design ideas.
To steer my design process, I came up with some research questions. Here are some questions I wanted answers to at the end of my user research.
What are some of the issues users face while adopting a pet?
What things would a user want to know about a pet before adopting?
If a user has a pet already, what are some of the steps that he/she takes up to look after their pets?
Based on six user discussions, it emerged that individuals worry about their lifestyle being incompatible for their pets. They fear that their pet might be too difficult to handle, and they might fail to devote ample time and care for them.
Process of finding a Pet should be enjoyable & stressfree.
Users felt that the procedure of adopting a pet is daunting and are uncertain where to start.
Worried they don't have enough time for their pets.
Users feel like they don't have enough time for their pets because of their busy schedules and responsibility, making it challenging to meet the needs of their pets.
Want a pet that suits their lifestyle & personality.
Users feel like having a pet can be overwhelming, and may not align with their way of life.
How might we give an enjoyable and seemless pet adoption process?
I wanted the users to be more aware of the adoption process
How might we help users with busy schedules ensure they take care of their pet?
Giving them a trustable & accessable pet-sitter who can take care of the pet/pets when in need.
How might we provide trustworthy information regarding pet care?
By making the users aware & educated about pet care.
Using the inputs from the user observation, I came up with a rough handsketch, without worring about the design pattern.
I then turned my concept into low-fidelity interactive digital prototype & showed it to the key users to get their comments.
.
Initially, users were unable to get information about the pet-sitter's availability. I therefore implemented the check availability option to allow users to see if the pet sitter is available at a particular time.
Importance of all the Resources: I've learned how crucial it is to have all the resources and make the most use of them as I've worked on this project.
Communication is the key: Speaking with users showed me what to prioritise while designing and that I should never assume that something would work for everyone.
Thank you for taking the time to read through it all. Feel free to get in touch with me at kumara.s@northeastern.edu to discuss your thoughts, explore potential collaborations, or simply drop a friendly "hello!"
