CityPups Design Sprint

This project was a design sprint provided by Springboard and Bitesize UX, using the Google Design Sprint process. The project was set up as a 1-week sprint including mapping, sketching, decision making, prototyping, and testing. The goal of the project was to create a tool that provides more detail and creates confidence in users when making a decision about adopting a pet.

Making the decision to welcome a new member of the family into the household is a big one. For individuals who live in a dense city population, adopting a dog can have many obstacles. Existing adoption sites provide vague information that leaves users needing to inquire more before making the decision to move forward with adoption. Another issue is that users may connect with a dog that doesn’t end up meeting their needs, leading to disappointment and discouragement.

The user and audience information was provided by Bitesize UX. The persona was a young adult (27 years old) living in New York City. Their main pain points are: 

She doesn’t feel 100% confident that a dog will be a good fit for her and the dog 

Adoption sites create connections but don’t have much information about the dog’s needs, which leads to disappointment if a match doesn’t work out

Since the user research was already conducted, the research I did was about the platform I wanted to create. I decided that I wanted to create a dating app experience for users to find matches with pets available to adopt. I surveyed various platforms that use a matching interaction: 

Otta - job search platform

Bumble - dating app 

Schmooze - meme based dating app 

I also looked at existing pet adoption sites and took note of areas that I felt were successful and areas that could have used improvement. 

After surveying existing websites and platforms, I did a crazy 8. This is the process where I set a timer for 8 minutes and create 8 sketches for different solutions.

I selected the first idea I had from my crazy 8 but I want to combine it with the 4th idea (top row, farthest on the right). I like the idea of giving the user a match based on a quiz or questionnaire they fill out on the previous screen, like a dating app. They can easily exit out of the matches and see a grid of their matches as well.

My web tool features the following functionalities: 

A pet finder quiz to express your needs 

Compiles available pets from shelters in your area 

Ability to take action to adopt a pet by submitting an inquiry to the hosting shelter 

Browse all available pets 

Ability to browse your matches and “favorite” pets

For the entire process prior to the prototype, I used FigJam for sketches.

I put together a prototype rather quickly in Figma so I could test it with a dog professional. I had a lot of fun putting this prototype together and it’s clear it’s because I enjoy the subject matter. I was envisioning myself using this site as a future dog owner and I was getting excited at the prospects of being able to be virtually matched so easily. 

My goal for testing is to see whether the quiz functionality is an effective way to collect the appropriate information from users. The user interviews showed that people were frustrated that they had to inquire further and go through so many additional hoops to get in contact with shelters. By adding a more detailed quiz within the site, I wanted to eliminate the need for that additional interaction. I want to see whether users think these questions will generate enough information for them to confidently move forward with adoption.

After testing, a few more pain points were revealed: 

Hesitation to trust the match because of negative previous experiences with online tools 

Would like more options in quiz 

There is risk with online pet finders - duplication of profiles, scams, cat-fishing 

Wants to know more information about the shelter’s adoption process 

I had a lot of fun putting this prototype together and it’s clear it’s because I enjoy the subject matter. I was envisioning myself using this site as a future dog owner and I was getting excited at the prospects of being able to be virtually matched so easily.