The Little Red Dog Prototype
Case Study
Project Goal
Web and mobile-based improvements on local non-profit to allow potential dog owners to find their best match with a dog. How might we improve matching dog to owner and vice versa while providing relevant info to the potential adopters, quickly and effectively at all hours, so that our users are successful in being able to make a decision to be a new dog owner. Concept created in two weeks by an unaffiliated team of 3 (Laszlo Kovesdi, Sophie Lee, and myself).
Project Focus
UX Research, UI design, Mid-fidelity Digital Prototyping
My Role
Wireframing, User Interview, Storyboards, Digital Prototype for Web and Mobile
Tools Used
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, InVision, Google Forms
Final Project Deliverable
Mid-Fidelity Clickable Prototype, Hi-Fidelity Website Redesign
About
“The Little Red Dog” is a local orange county dog rescue that focuses on saving pups from high kill shelters and placing them in a foster home until they can be paired with a family that will be their forever home. We are not affiliated with the company, but wanted to see if we could improve the current experience.
User Persona
We came to the decision to improve the web experience for organization “The Little Red Dog” from a moment
that occurred leading up to this project. Laszlo stumbled upon a 404 page on Amazon, which used their “Amazon
Dogs”; they have a whole team of dogs with bios and what they like to do the most at work. Finding our
mutual love of dogs, led us toward the idea of focussing on a local dog rescue for our nonprofit revamp.
The first step we took to understand what a potential user needs on a pet adoption site was to conduct
an interview.
We spoke to Tristan who was one of people who also took our survey. When we talked to him, he said “Dogs
are awesome! They are great companions and that they are amazing to come home to.”
Tristan is recently married, super tech savvy and coincidentally works at Amazon which was our inspiration
for choosing this organization; he and his wife are thinking about expanding the family, but don’t want
kids yet. They are considering getting a dog instead. We based our story boards and user flow to what Tristan
would use in finding his next pet. We learned a lot from Tristan and his needs, but we also got a broader
perspective from a survey we created.
Research and Observations
We conducted a survey to find out what was important to our user when deciding how and where to get their
dogs from. Through the survey we were able to gain insight into dog owners’ behaviors. The data showed
that most of our participants got their dog from a breeder or a rescue. Furthermore, we found out what
qualities were important to the user when picking a dog. Characteristics like breed, appearance and hypoallergenic
traits which are also closely related to the breed were the top reasons for choosing a particular dog.
Through our user persona and survey the insight we gained:
+ People want to adopt but are breed sensitive
+ Moral/ethical reasons for adopting is strong
+ People don’t like going to the shelters, they find it depressing and sad
Opportunities we found were to:
+ Provide an alternative way of finding rescue dogs on a smart device
+ Streamline the adoption process to make it easy and pain free
+ Increase conversion of site visitors to adopters
The Little Red Dog was created to achieve finding local, permanent, loving, homes for all of their rescue
dogs. Their current website isn’t allowing potential dog owners to find the best dog fit for their lifestyle,
quickly and easily. This slows down their adoption rates and it time it takes for potential owners to meet
the right dogs.
We wanted to improve matching dog to owner and vice versa while providing relevant info to the potential
adopters quickly and effectively, so that the users are successful in being able to make a decision to
become a new dog owner. We decided that the best way to do this would be by getting the company on mobile
and create an app.
Storyboard
Our story shows Tristan deciding that it’s a good time to add a dog to his family’s life and then he starts
researching what type of dog he’d like and decides on a breed, Italian greyhounds.
He then starts to the weigh the options between breeders and shelters/rescues. Tristan likes brands that
stand behind a cause and is also cost conscious. He believes he will get best of both worlds by going through
the shelters and rescues to find his future pup. He then begins his search for local organizations and
finds “The Little Red Dog.”
After figuring out the basics he takes his search on the go and continues his search through TLRD’s site
on his phone. He goes through their adoption section of the site, filtering down and browsing through the
recommended dogs that are in his area. After some searching, he finds a dog he thinks would be a great
fit. Happy dance ensues.
He checks with his wife to see what she thinks. She is also just as excited about this particular dog.
At the end, Tristan pulls the trigger and gets in touch with the organization to begin the adoption process
and to schedule a time for him and his wife to meet the dog in person.
Designs and Prototypes
During our design process we figured out our work flow on paper with post its to make changes quickly.
We focused on finding a solution where more people are able to get the breed, looks, and personality of
dog they want easily and efficiently. In order to accomplish these goals we started ideating, wireframing,
prototyping, testing and reiterating.
During our wireframe testing process we were able to find opportunities for improvement while user testing.
The first iteration had the user going through a questionnaire to find the best dog to fit them. It became
a long, drawn out process. We took our interaction from a stepped process with our questionnaire to a filter
design where the user can input their preferences and change their mind at any time.
Each dog profile has a variety of information, based on the survey and the information the users wanter.
We highlight the personality, breed, and other info that people use to decide whether or not they like
certain aspects in each pet.
Once we finalized our flow we were able to digitize our prototype.
Final Prototype and Reflections
Our goal for The Little Red Dog website redesign is for it to successfully match dogs with an user and increase
adoption rates, so that every dog can find a forever home. In the process we created the style guide so
that the site can scale for future development.
With advancements in mobile technology further developments can be made with Virtual Reality Technology
so that users can have a more realistic experience with the dogs without ever having to set foot in a shelter,
which was a pain point for a lot of users. They dislike going to rescues because it makes them sad. Without
that interaction, those adopting a pet can have a better experience.
The final result of the web prototype.