Pawtners- Find your Next Four-Legged Friend

This week’s design challenge was to design an app to connect those looking to adopt a pet with shelters and rescue organizations in their area.

Problem: According to the ASPCA, “Approximately 6.5 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.3 million are dogs and 3.2 million are cats.” (USPCA.org). The goal is to connect pet shelters and rescue organizations to potential adopters.

User Audience: Male or female users, between the ages of 20-35, looking for animal companionship.

Concept: Since the idea behind the app is to connect pets to new owners, I decided to give it a Tinder treatment. After completing an onboarding process, users set their preferences and then swipe through a collection of pet pictures suggested by the app based on their preferences. When one finds a pet they like, they can find out more information, select it as a favorite, and get contact information for the shelter or rescue that has that pet.

Logo:  For the picture logo, I kept a simple paw print, stylized somewhat after the Tinder flame.

The combination logomark used the name Pawtners using the paw print for the "a".

The orange color is actually a radial gradient of peach and bright orange. Peach is traditionally seen as a nurturing, soft and fuzzy color. Bright orange is fun, playful, and childlike. I felt this is a good combination for a pet app. I used Chalkboard SE for the font on the logo, as it also conveyed playfulness, however, this is subject to change.

Persona: Michael, a 24-year-old recent college graduate, is currently single and is looking for a furry companion. He isn't aware of all the potential shelters and rescues in his area. He prefers to be able to see what's available in a single location, and then if he finds a pet that matches his interests he can get contact information for the shelter.

Research: I scripted a survey to present to user testers meeting the audience criteria. It included questions such as:

• Have you adopted a shelter or rescue pet previously?

• How difficult did you find finding the right animal?

• How aware are you of the different animal shelters and rescue groups in your area?

• When you are looking to adopt, what traits are most important to you? Please rank these from 1 (less important) to 5 (more important)-

  • Friendly

  • Breed

  • Affectionate

  • Energy Level

  • (others)

I will modify the finished iteration of the app based on the answers provided in this survey, mostly regarding the preferences page.

Wireframes

I began design work by drafting a set of wireframes for the app. The home, or main, page includes categories such as "Suggestions by Area", "Pick of the Litter" which are pets that have been upvoted by users, and "Favorites" which the user would find their saved pets.

Once a user clicks on a category, they can continue through the pets by "swiping" left to see each next one. A swipe right would go back to the previous pet. Tapping the information icon will present the user with more detailed information regarding that pet, and the chat icon will allow the user to see contact information for the shelter or rescue. It might also possibly allow direct contact to the shelter or rescue through an email form or chat.

The bottom nav has an "X" icon to remove the pets who are not a match from view, a "star" icon to upvote the pet to the "Pick of the Litter" category, and a "heart" icon to save to favorites. To return to the main page, tap the "doghouse" icon at the top left corner of the screen.

At any time a user may update their preferences by tapping the settings icon.