The Ask  🐶 

Millions of animals are currently in shelters and foster homes awaiting adoption. Design an experience that will help connect people looking for a new pet with the right companion for them. Help an adopter find a pet which matches their lifestyle, considering factors including breed, gender, age, temperament, and health status. Provide a high-level flow and supporting wire frames.

Research

Online research

I started by looking at stories online. My first findings were negative impressions regarding shelters. Later, I found supporting research proving that shelter myths are mostly fake, and destructive. I wanted to understand why some people have a negative experience or end up returning their pet. Irith Bloom, from the Karen Pryor Academy says:

"Many animals lose their homes because their owners weren't prepared to invest the necessary money and time to care for a pet. In other cases, families and pets are mismatched."

Interviews

Two of my interviewees were certain they were a mismatch with their pet. Both were first time adopters of puppies who turned out to suffer from separation anxiety. This unfortunate disorder didn't cause them to return the dogs, but it was something that caused extra tension during the process of rearing the puppies. 

Surveys

With a sample of 15 people I was able to gather my most relevant insights!

• People in San Francisco prefer adopting from a shelter. There is awareness of shelter intake and surrender causing the deaths of many pets. San Francisco residents care more about saving a life and giving love to an abandoned pet, than buying from a breeder.

• Most people go directly to the shelter because they know that the application process can’t normally be done online. Additionally, most of these websites are out of date. Despite this, there are still many people looking online for the right match. All the colors but red represent online research.

• The most difficult part of the process for some people was communication with the shelter. For others, inaccurate websites led to disappointing visits where their ideal pet from online had already been adopted. A final contingent had trouble finding the right lifestyle fit, as personality is difficult to communicate online.

• 2/3 of respondents think technology allowing them to start the application process online could have made the process easier: “I'd want a more proactive system that sends me more notifications and more personalized information”

• 95% of respondents felt that meeting the pet in person was the most important part of the process!

Areas of Focus

• People care most about the right personality and lifestyle fit over breed or what the pet looks like.

• People are driven to search online but are skeptical due to inaccuracy and inefficiency.

• Shelters need their pets to find homes as fast as possible. The applications are competitive and move quickly.

• Application process is generally outdated and does not have a place online - this can slow down the process.

• Most people still go directly to the shelter.

Idea

A Google web tool “Google Pets” that focuses on testing people based on behavioral research to find the best match in personality and lifestyle. Users will be able to browse pets and favorite them, as well as track them.  

Notifications will be sent when one of their favorited pets has been adopted, but also when new pets matching their criteria come into shelters.

This tool will allow people to submit applications online that will be streamed into a Google account profile. For some people adopting from foster care, this will also show them their application progress and what to expect.

Constraints

This will be a web tool for San Francisco and Bay Area residents only. It will be a tool that uses Google’s ecosystem, creating a huge opportunity for Google to revolutionize an industry that remains unsupported by current technology.

Personas

I created two personas because I felt that pet adoption has a broad audience and it's important to build empathy for the different types of users.

Flow & Wireframes

Hero Flow Final Iteration

*Right click on picture and "Open Image In New Tab" if you wish to Zoom in.

The hero flow is indicated below with purple arrows. Alternative paths are indicated in blue. The idea is to get the user to match with pets in his/her area. Then, the user will be able to submit applications to shelters without having to talk to anyone on the phone or be at the shelter. This will help expedite the process and ultimately allow the adopter to meet the pet faster.  

Wireframe Executions

*Right click on picture and "Open Image In New Tab" if you wish to Zoom in.

Below are detailed wireframes for each of the steps starting with the homepage on the left. The homepage's purpose is to encourage the user to complete the quiz before they start browsing so that the tool can personalize their search and overall experience. The call to action to take the quiz is therefore on the hero section of the page. Once the user scrolls down he/she will be able to discover two other outstanding actions. He/she can choose to browse pets directly or simply make an appointment at any partnering shelter. On the right side screen is a wireframe representing the multiple choice question quiz in which the user will be able to answer detailed questions for best matching.

Next is the browsing screen. Similar to Google Maps but dedicated to pets and shelters only. It only shows pets that match the user's criteria based on the quiz. On the right, the pet profile. An Airbnb-like layout is great for this scenario because we have adopters looking for great amounts of detail willing to take action quick. Shelters should also have a profile or discoverability. A summary of their services and ratings can be seen directly from the pet's profile. When the user decides to send an application, these applications are unique to each shelter allowing the shelters to customize based on the internal policies. 

Below are the last three screens of the flow. On the top left, the application which utilizes Google Forms. On the right, a confirmation screen letting the user know that their application has been submitted, and last, the appointment maker where the user is able to see the shelter's availability and schedule appointments that will sync with their personal Google Calendar. 

High Fidelity Mockups! 

One of my favorite parts of the design process is bringing the concept to life. I felt that it was important to include high fidelity mockups to truly translate my vision. Below you can see the homepage fully skinned as if it was a Google tool. 

In my mockup for the browsing screen below I made a small update from the wireframes by adding a search bar that invites people to search for shelters within the map. This is taking in consideration the people that have a place in mind.

Animation!

I made this animation because I think that the experience of adopting a pet should be exciting. Bringing in delightful interactions to celebrate each step towards the adoption of a new pet enhances the experience by making people smile. Delight is friendly and important!

My Vision

I think this could scale to be an ecosystem. On one side we have a seamless and effective user end solution. On the other side we would have an enterprise application for shelter staff members and managers. That application could help shelters solve the problem of outdated sites by being able to upload photos of new pets that come in to the shelter in real time, as well as archive all adopted animals immediately. This would allow the user database to remain up to date. If this works in the bay area, it could successfully scale to be a tool helping shelters and rescues country-wide. I also think Google Pets could drive business by extending partnerships with veterinarians, professional trainers, and other important resources for people adopting! These partnerships could also focus on helping small businesses.