Designing Doggos (UI/UX Case study)

Background

Doggos is an online dog application focused on matching rescued dogs with dog lovers. The company serves as a middle man between rescue care centers
and customers.

Problems

There are currently thousands of dogs in need of a home waiting to be adopted. Doggos is a web application that makes the dog adoption process easier and user friendly.
A customer can search for dogs according to breeds, age and behavioural traits.

Solutions

1. The major goal is to find prospective adopters, a dog that fits their preference based on certain criteria's like breed, weight, age and gender.
2. Create a smooth experience where the adopter can concentrate on finding the right dog.
3. Provide adequate information that can be seen by users on their web application

Phase 1: Discovery

Identifying my target audience

1. People that love dogs and would like to adopt.
2. Dog rescue shelters.

User Interviews

I reached out to my friends and asked how they felt about dog adoption. I started to note down some pain points of prospective dog adopters and their experience.

Questions

1. Do you have a dog?
2. Are you open to adopting a dog?
3. What type of service do you use to find dogs?
4. What dog breed dog you prefer?
5. Do shelters/ platform provide the needed information about dogs?

Some key responses

Snippet of Key Responses

1. Dog adoption process is lengthy.
2. Finding necessary information like contact and address is difficult.
3. Communication with the rescue shelters wasn’t smooth.

Empathy Map

Phase 2: Exploring Solutions

Market Research

I started by looking for ideas online. I took a look at pet adoption
web applications.

I gathered that dog lovers surf the internet in search of rescue platforms or organisations and research the breed of dog they preferred, then find the locations in order to visit the shelters however some of these platform do not have online presence or may not the the necessary information needed by the prospective adopters.
They will prefer if there was a system in place that enables them to find their favourite dogs and schedule appointments.

During this process I found out that when it comes to dog adoption, people are reluctant and they will rather buy a new dog.

Cons

1. Older dogs are more difficult to train in comparison to new puppies
2. Older dogs are have difficulty in getting used to new owners
3. Dog rescue shelters have a higher chance of harbouring sick dogs that might have been through trauma
4. Dog rescue shelters can be unhealthy

Pros

1. Adopting a dog is budget friendly in comparison to buying a new puppy.
2. Older dog have already developed their personality, however puppies can be dynamic.
3. Older dog are already trained along with basic commands.
4. Dog rescue shelters get routine health checks and medicines.
5. Time frame of training an older dog is shorter in comparison to puppies as they can change over time.

Quick Comparative analysis

The next step was to look existing platforms doing something similar

1. Milo Foundation
2. AARF

My take away:

1. User interface needs to be more aesthetically pleasing otherwise prospective adopters will loose interest
2. No testimonials to convince first time adopters
3. Adoption process isn’t very clear

After exploring different possible solutions, I choose the one with the highest impact and least effort in terms of technicality.
I created a simple landing page that leverages on Notion, Typeform and other
no-code platforms to simplify the building process and enable quick testing.

Reasons:

Web applications has more advantage over mobile application because it doesn't require downloading or installation.

Rough Sketches

I tried to capture various areas of the user journey

User Journey

User journey helps to visualize how the information will be displayed so that it is easily understood by the user. It lays out the user movement through the product, mapping out the steps the user takes from the point of entry to the final interaction.

User Journey Map

Low Fidelity Screen

Snippet of Low fidelity wireframe

UI Guides

Logo

Colours

Typography

Buttons

High-Fidelity Screen

Phase 3: Prototype

Conclusion

I tried my best to keep the application short and simple as possible for the users to navigate and understand. I couldn't do as much research as i would have loved to however I believe that the little I did will be quite useful.
Im super excited to have taken on this challenge and I want to say a big thank you to the Propelland Team.