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Mobile App helping rescue organizations connect dogs with potential fosters until they find their furever homes.
Millions of dogs die in American shelters yearly. Hound Watch is an app that connects rescue organizations with potential fosters. Hound Watch helps local rescue groups connect them with potential fosters by matching their dogs with a temporary home and loving human, while they wait for their future forever home.
Figma, InVision, Axure, Usability Hub
UI/UX design, research, prototyping
2019
There are many people who are interested in fostering a dog but there is a lack of information surrounding the fostering process, and therefore opportunities are limited. The often-used pet finding apps are focused on adopting animals and there is not a dedicated space for fostering.
Rescue organizations rely heavily on volunteerism and assistance from the community. Fostering is one of the biggest support systems for rescue animals. Fostering helps a dog adjust to a new living space, provides them with a safe and loving home, and it aides in reducing overcrowding in shelters and kennels.
Hound Watch was created to connect people with dogs that are in need of a temporary home. Some of the animals have already been matched with a home and only will have a short stay with the foster home. Others may need a longer stay before being placed with a loving owner. With Hound Watch individuals can find a dog that matches their comfort level and requirements to foster temporarily.
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I wanted to learn what users knew about the process of fostering a dog – If they understood the requirements to qualify for fostering, the responsibilities and benefits, and if they were willing to learn more about fostering a dog. I conducted a survey that was completed by 17 participants and I conducted follow-up interviews with some participants to better understand their specific needs.
I analyzed three possible competitors and assesed their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Adopt a Pet | Petfinder | Local Humane Society
I constructed three user personas: Anne, Jake and Carla. Creating user personas helped me understand and empathize with the user on how I can help them achieve their goal while using the app based on their individual needs.
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I created user stories to better empathize with the user – the user stories were integrated alongside the user personas. The function of user stories was fundamental in maintaining user focused. You can find the full list of user stories here.
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After gaining an understanding of what the users needed, I created a sitemap to show the overall hierarchy of the application. This was to illustrate the pages relationship with major and minor features.
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I developed a flow that allowed for a seamless and user friendly experience. It was built with the user in mind, it was created with the flexibility of the user browsing and interacting at different levels within the app. Users are able to seamless apply to foster a dog, contact a rescue organization, and favorite a dog's profile for a later time.
The flow represents two types of users:
New users who will go through the onboarding process and sign up.
Returning users who will login if they’ve logged out or start off at the home page where they will find the latest dogs in need of a foster.
Using the data gathered from the user surveys and analysis, I began to sketch possible ideations. The initial sketches were focused on possible looks for the onboarding page, sign up pages, login page, dashboard, dog profile and the rescue group profile.
After analyzing the different pages that were sketched out, I decided on the sketches that would fit best with the mobile app. My initial sketches were iterated on Figma.
I created a low fidelity prototype to test the initial layout and functionality of the app.
Once the changes were incorporated to the wireframes I proceeded with the visual design. I wanted to create a clean design with a high level of contrast among the colors with a touch of boldness for CTA (Call To Action) buttons.
Testing on the initial wireframes were conducted to see how users would complete certain tasks, which helped in determining pain points. A few of the task users were tested on were:
The initial onboarding consisted of three scrollable pages that illustrated why fostering was important, the fostering process, and what was provided to the foster for providing the service of fostering the dog. Users hesitated in the process because they were unsure if they needed to click through or swipe-through the pages. One change that I implemented was the onboarding screen was changed to a single page that informs the user of the importance of dog fostering. Further information on fostering was placed on the designated rescue page.
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Users also struggled with the dropdown menu, so the filter page was changed to showcase all the options on one page. I also added the ability to view the breeds on a separate page, as an option for ease of use.
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User testing was conducted through InVision. A test script was created to walk the users through the testing process. Users were given a list of seven task to to complete. Three user test were conducted and iterations were made based on user testing. Some of these changes consisted on updating the welcome page, favorite page, dog profile and the filter page.
Creating a mobile app UI/UX project from beginning to end was a challenging but rewarding experience. It was a reminder that design thinking process is not linear. Through every phase I learned something new from the user, with empathy at the forefront. Fostering is something I’m very passionate about and I was often reminded that I am not the user. Through surveys, interviews, and the creation of personas, I was able to encompass what the users wanted out of the app. Testing early in the ideation process was critical because it helped illustrate pain points the user faced and I was able to rectify those issues quickly, which saved time later on in the process. Creating a palette and aesthetic for the brand from scratch was challenging on its own; having no guidelines meant the possibilities were endless. Finding a palette and typeface that I was content with, while also ensuring it was accessible was pivotal in ensuring a great user experience.
Although this project concluded with a solid prototype, I am continuing to develop the design and continuing to test its functionality. I will like to connect with local rescue groups to further learn about the rescue needs and learn how they would benefit from an app like Hound Watch. Eventually I plan to also incorporate other animals into the app development.