Connecting humans to adoptable animals by improving shelter appointment scheduling
Project overview
The problem
In an increasingly overscheduled and digital world, people are finding it difficult to find the time to navigate the convoluted scheduling process at their local animal shelter. COVID-19 has also caused many shelters to limit drop-in appointments, making scheduling ahead of time necessary for many people.
The following case study was created for the Google UX Design Certificate program.
The goal
Provide a way for users to schedule appointments at a local animal shelter quickly and easily. This will enable users to connect with adoptable animals at their convenience.
Success metrics
Success was measured by analyzing the number of appointments booked through the app compared to appointments booked through direct contact with the shelter.
My role
Researcher, UX Designer
Responsibilities
Plan and conduct user research and competitor analysis, interpret data and qualitative feedback, create user stories, personas, and storyboards, determine information architecture and create sitemaps, create prototypes and wireframes, and conduct usability testing
Project duration
March 2022–June 2022
Understanding the user
User interviews
For this project, I conducted interviews with four users to better understand them and their needs and to inform the design of the app. Each person interviewed was actively looking to engage in pet ownership in the United States.
The goal of this research was to:
Identify challenges that users are facing when adopting a pet
Determine how and to what extent scheduling causes these challenges
Identify ways to mitigate user pain points faced during the adoption process
Learn about user preferences for meeting adoptable pets
Based on the user interviews, I found that users had three main pain points when adopting from their local animal shelters.
Pain point 1: Schedule inflexibility
Users have busy schedules and cannot attend last-minute appointments.
Pain point 2: Restricted availability
COVID-19 protocols have made it difficult for users to meet adoptable animals.
Pain point 3: Complicated process
Communicating with shelter staff through email is clumsy and time-consuming.
Meet the users
Defining the personas
Based on these interviews, I developed goal-directed personas. I found that these could be divided into two groups: Persona 1, whose goal is to meet a specific type of dog on a tight schedule, and Persona 2, who was interested in meeting a variety of dogs who were all available during the same visit. I further developed these personas to better understand how their goals would influence the design.
Persona 1
Name: Carlos
Age: 28
Occupation: Data scientist
Carlos is an overbooked professional who is ready to welcome a dog into his busy life. The apartment where he lives has breed restrictions and only allows dogs under 50 pounds. Carlos only wants to meet dogs that fit his lifestyle.
Persona 2
Name: Kim
Age: 41
Occupation: Freelance copy editor
Kim is ready to add a dog to her family since she owns her home, no longer has young children, and leads an active lifestyle. She would like to meet a wide variety of dogs and hopes to feel a connection with the dog she ultimately adopts.
Starting the design process
Initial sketches
After conducting interviews, I determined that users were most interested in viewing adoptable animals, filtering them based on lifestyle preferences, selecting an animal that they would like to meet, and then scheduling an appointment at their local shelter to meet that animal. I started designing this initial flow by sketching several iterations on paper. I arrived at the sketch pictured below.
Wireframes
Once I arrived at a design that met the user’s needs, I transferred my designs to Figma. To ensure that the focus of this stage was on the functionality of the app instead of the visual design, I created low-fidelity wireframes that did not include visuals such as color or images.
Refining the design
Prototypes
After creating a prototype from my low-fidelity wireframes, I conducted two rounds of moderated usability testing with five participants. During this testing, I asked participants to complete two tasks on the prototype. The data that I collected during these interviews allowed me to generate several insights that helped determine the next steps. I then used the insights identified from the usability study to inform the design for the high-fidelity prototype (below).
Insight 1
Participants said the card view of each animal did not provide enough information to encourage them to click. This means that the user needs more information about each animal on the card to inform their decision-making.
Insight 2
Participants were overwhelmed by the scheduling page rendering each day of the week’s available time slots. This means that the scheduling screen needs to filter appointments by date to appear less overwhelming to users.
Insight 3
Participants were unsure of appointment duration when on the appointment booking page. This means that users need more information about appointment duration during the scheduling flow to inform decision-making.
Going forward
Impact
This application made scheduling appointments with animals at a shelter more convenient and streamlined. By using the app, users, who are typically very busy, can select a specific date and time to visit an animal they want to meet. Additionally, a user without strong animal preferences could schedule a drop-in appointment. Finally, all of these interactions can happen independently of contacting the shelter, which many users cited as being an ever-growing issue due to COVID-19. This app enables users to find and schedule appointments with their future “furrever” friends.
Next steps
Enable users to schedule appointments with multiple animals within a single user flow.
Provide a way for users to upload required pet adoption documents in the app.