Pet Adoption App

A 3-day task to research, analyse and create an application for customers to seamlessly adopt a suitable pet.

Role: Survey, Analyse, Market & Competitor Research, Wireframes, Styleguide, UI
Client: Personal Project
Duration: 3 days – Aug ’19

Status, Role & Contribution

The app was to be designed from scratch. A thorough study and analysis of the market, status of users was done in-order to arrive at a plausible output.

The complete article can be found over at Medium

Challenge

To design an application in a marketplace of heavy confusion and lack of technology as well as spreading awareness about common misconceptions.

I. Research

To arrive at a solution, a thorough study of the market and system was necessary. The key points from research are as follows –

I. Understanding the problem

Each year, approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized. Among those are majorly dog & cats.

II. Problem with existing apps & services

A quick research of existing services highlighted the core issues which were

Adoption process is not clear.
There was no automation or real-time data syncing.
The app UI and overall experience was sub-par.
There was no way to connect to other users online.
The app doesn’t deal with common misconceptions of shelter pets.

III. Adoption concerns

There are quite a few concerns people have regarding the state, health and overall quality of pets of those in shelter.

IV. Solution

The goal of the app is to -

Find the right match for the customer.
Spread awareness by including social media.
The user has access to visit & book an appointment with the shelter.
The app focuses on maintaining the interest and motivation of the user by including after-adoption services.

II. Design Stories

After sorting the findings from research phase, a few features stood out from complaints of similar apps.

Navigation Flow

I decided to split the app to four tabs –

Homepage: The user can search, filter, view details of the pet available per stores.
My Pet: Shows a timeline view of important activities of your adopted pet.
Chat: Get in touch with a professional for quick queries and insights.
Profile: Displays a quick look at your account profile

Information Architecture

After sorting, prioritising the features and research findings, I created an information architecture.

III. Sketching

After doing some more research and brainstorming on UI and layout, I came up with a minimal, yet feature packed design. So, my next step was to put these ideas on paper with quick sketches.

IV. Wireframes

The next step was to make a Wireframe out of this design. I used Adobe XD for this.

V. Design Decisions

The whole structure of this app is based on stacks and hierarchy that they provide.
The stack-based design can be moulded to reshape and fit screen of any size and ratio, without the need to re-design from scratch.
The importance / flow of navigation is always from left-to-right, left being the foremost task & right the last one.
All design decisions were thought of and implemented with the developer in mind.
As you go through the final snaps, you’ll notice that the design is consistent, and minimal with colors from material color palette and 2 fonts used.

VI. User Interface (UI)

VII. App Scaling

There are a few steps/features in my mind that could improve the over-all user experience and make it a complete app. A few of those are:

Multiple Users seamless integration.
Adoption Management app for Shelter-Workers.
Add custom pet activity.
Add group activity.

Result

Designing an app from scratch after researching and brainstorming was an interesting experience. I am content with how I managed my time and resources. I was able to create an experience the way I’d like it to be.